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Wlad: A Crown of Thorns
There was a time when being heavyweight champion of the world meant universal adulation and recognition. The heavyweight champion was not only the premier fighter on the planet, he was also the baddest man on the planet, and for a time, "The Greatest". Boxing has changed a lot since the heyday of Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Norton, Shavers and Holmes. The 1980s ushered in an era of multiple titles, the alphabet belts as they would come to be known, yet Mike Tyson, later succeeded by the likes of Evander Holyfield, Rid**** Bowe and Lennox Lewis, would work to unify belts and hold on to the once great lineage.Those days are long gone now and I don't think it's an exaggeration to claim that the current heavyweight era is the weakest in boxing history. Sadly, the king of this lost age is a highly skilled, very powerful and always professional champion, Wladimir Klitschko. The younger of the two most dominating brother's in the sports history has notched up a long reign with many, many title defenses. He has outclassed some of the pretenders and destroyed others. His reign is as emphatic as any that has come before but is it great? The question sits upon Wlad's head like a crown of thorns and on October the 5th, in Moscow, Wlad beat up what looks to be his last worthy challenger.
The heavyweight division has a string of successors set to follow Alexander Povetkin on the road to Klitschko, chief amongst them are Britain's Tyson Fury and David Haye; the latter of which has already lost to Wlad in an ultimately anti-climactic battle. Europe provides further names in Kubrat Pulev and Robert Helenius, yet all these men are yet to prove themselves at the highest level and have never competed with the consistency that is required of a true challenger. This is definitely not Wlad's fault, there are few men even worthy of sharing a sentence with him, let a lone a ring and the fighter who was once stopped by the likes of Brewster and Sanders seems to have disappeared. The new Wlad is a machine, he no longer throws as many punches as he used to and he no longer takes unnecessary risks. Yet he may be poorer for it, Waldimir Klitschko may be the only heavyweight champion in history who is the victim of his own success.
What Wlad achieved against Povetkin is a rarity in the sport: he thoroughly outclassed a previously unbeaten opponent and champion; they said the Russian would be his biggest test to date, Wlad himself tried to bill him that way but Povetkin was never on the same level. Is there anyone who is?How ever, that may not even be the biggest issue, there have been champions in the past who have fought in weak eras, think of Joe Louis' "Bum of the Month" club or Rocky Marciano's victories over practical OAPs. The difference this time out is that what Wlad does is ugly. He jumps on an opponent, pushes down on their neck and back, he tires them out due to sheer physical force and size rather than skill and technical ability. Don't get me wrong, he has the latter in spades but it seems that whenever he has a tough opponent in front of him, he goes into a shell. Gone are the combinations and the venom and in comes the pushing, shoving and holding.
It should be noted that Lennox Lewis, widely regarded as the best heavyweight since Larry Holmes had a similar, shall we say, method(?) He too had suffered a knockout loss before the late great Manny Steward took over. The great Kronk's gym patriarch molded Lewis into a terrific defensive fighter. He taught Lewis all the tricks of the trades, the holding, the pushing and the pressing o#down on smaller guys. It worked and the man became undisputed champion. Steward repeated the trick with Wlad but where Lewis had names like Holyfield and Tyson to trade punches with and a sizable US audience, Wlad has no one of that calibre...and HBO doesn't seem to be his biggest fan. The network has often shunned both Klitschkos, not always wrongfully but when you look back at the career of Lewis and see that he often stunk the place out, it's hard to favour Wlad's black mark. Yes HBO have shown the odd fight, Haye and Povetkin being two but he has never been marketed to the American audience. He doesn't have that same adulation as champions of the past.
The situation it seems, will not get any better. Wlad has cleared all relevant challengers, Povetkin was the last of any credible opponent. Haye may still be an opponent but do the fighters and the fight fans have an appetite for a repeat? Tyson Fury is loud and confident but will he make it through Haye? Pulev has shown he still needs work and Helenius is lost in the wilderness. For now, Wladimir Klitschko is the king of the heavyweights but his throne must be uncomfortable. He is derided in the US as a weak chinned pretender,his reign not recognised as legitimate. He needs a live dog, someone with bite and star power. The US may have that in Deontay Wilder but he has yet to face anyone with a pulse and his own punch resistance is largely untested. Much of Wlad's reign has been characterised by the search for the next heavyweight champion, yet we have a great one right in front of us. Yes he may not always deliver but he has skills, great technical ability, a huge heart, power and is a consummate professional who represents the sport like a man and not a hiphop wannabe. We should not take any of that for granted.
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