Emanuel Steward: I Could Not Train A Man to Beat Wladimir Klitschko

[The Big Dunn]

Steward. “Wladimir is gonna be the one I don’t think I could train a man to beat the way he is. I’m serious. I’ve never had a fighter – I went from Holyfield and all the guys I’ve worked with, never, Lennox – (Wladimir) is a very, very committed, very difficult fighter to beat. Because he won’t let you fight him. He makes you fight what he wants you to fight. But the biggest thing which I think people are not looking at is his speed for a big man. Tremendous speed. Foot Speed. He can move in, explode, move out, move back in, explode, and I’ve never seen anyone that could…move in and out and be in perfect balance,”

Since people are using Manny as proof Ray and Hearns were better than todays fighters. I thought Id point out clearly Manny doesnt think anyone could beat Wlad.

Train Sam Peter. He can do it.

[WladIsTheChamp]

Prime bowe is an enigma. I will give you that. Like Tyson, his prime was so short that its become that of legend. I mean when was Bowe's prime. Ive hard some say it was around the first tillery fight. Ive heard first Holyfield fight as well although to me he was looking fat around 1992..The only truly good fighter he took on was Holyfield. To me the next best was Golota who was beating him pretty badly in both fights but just likes to hit people in the junk. Hide was alright, and a champ, but the man got killed by all big heavies. I mean a pretty green Vitali mercilessly beat him and it only took 2 rounds. So as for Bowe, I cant say I know, but Bowe's prime consisted of about 6 months in my opinion. Same with Tyson, who knows, fighting a wheeled out Holmes and blown up light heavies isnt necessarily class fighter. Both Tyson and Bowe ducked eachother and the best guy either of them beat around either Klitschko's size (not counting Golota cause Klitschko's arent morons and wont hit people in the junk over and over again) was Michael Dokes. So I cant say, prime bowe would lose anymore than you can say prime bowe would win, what I can say is I think Wlad and Vitali both have had better careers than Bowe or Tyson.

Also heres my problem with the way people view Wlad, Vitali and even RJJ...they talk about their entire careers. Its oh, but remember Ross Purrity, or remember the Byrd fight, or remember what Tarver did etc...Whenever people talk about past icons they always talk about their prime. Ali's prime according to experts on here consisted of a time when he wasnt even boxing, or Tysons prime ended when he turned 21, etc...Also with Bowe, Lewis and Tyson, they ducked eachother, all of them, the only man of that era was Holyfield, Holyfield would get in the ring against anyone. wlad and vitali, love em or hate em, theyll go into a war with anyone. 6 years ago, VItali's training for some undercard match, 12 days before it Lewis calls him up, Vitali takes the fight. When Bowe had to fight Lewis, he threw the belt in the trash.

As for Holyfield, I just think theres enough evidence otu there to show that Wlad would hurt Holyfield at any point in his career. Holyfield wasnt afraid of anything, and thats why hed get hurt by Wlad. It made him Tyson's kryptonite, but he struggled against big guys, beaten up twice by Bowe (borderline 3x imo), lost once and drew once to Lewis, really struggled with fat old big George. Im sorry, you wont ever beat Wlad on points, he throws too many punches and hits you too much and if you still think his chin is weak, that doesnt help Holyfield who never had the power to down the big guys. Sorry, but Wlad would be a nightmare for even the prime Holy. I like HOly a lot, he was a fearless guy, but against Wlad or Vitali today he'd stand no chance in my mind.

Yep, Wlad destroys any version of Tyson and Holyfield, too small with not enough reach. Bowe, prime, has a punchers chance but that is it.

[Pullcounter]

Steward. “Wladimir is gonna be the one I don’t think I could train a man to beat the way he is. I’m serious. I’ve never had a fighter – I went from Holyfield and all the guys I’ve worked with, never, Lennox – (Wladimir) is a very, very committed, very difficult fighter to beat. Because he won’t let you fight him. He makes you fight what he wants you to fight. But the biggest thing which I think people are not looking at is his speed for a big man. Tremendous speed. Foot Speed. He can move in, explode, move out, move back in, explode, and I’ve never seen anyone that could…move in and out and be in perfect balance,”

Since people are using Manny as proof Ray and Hearns were better than todays fighters. I thought Id point out clearly Manny doesnt think anyone could beat Wlad.

all u have to do is beat his jab.

[TheMagicMan]

Train Sam Peter. He can do it.

Sam Peter is a fairly underrated fighter in my opinion, a big guy, with a punch, decent skill, moves pretty well for his weight, good chin. heck if it wasnt for the Klitschko's I hope people realize that the division would be run by Peter and Chambers with Haye and Adamek being the new blood challenge. Yeah, itd be pretty interesting and not many people would say its that weak. BTW Peter weighed in for his last fight at 237...6 lbs lighter than he was when he fought Wlad, almost 30 lbs lighter than when he fought Chambers. Dude seems to be taking this thing seriously, hes only 29, I think its very likely that when Vitali retires, or if Haye continues to duck wlad, that we see Peter as a HW champion again.

Wlad beat him fairly thouroghly in his first fight with Manny as his trainer. The things with Wlad is he always gets up. We all think of him as being soft, because, lets face it, the toughest man the sport has ever witnessed is his brother. But Wlad has a good chance of retiring around 62-3, without having lost almost the last decade of his career and dominating all comers. I dont take his first loss too seriously either, because he was young, and it was like his 9th fight in 12 months or something...no surprise he gassed. It was just bad management. I get it, they wanted a guy who would go some rounds with Wlad, but he wasnt trained for 12 rounds, wasnt in shape etc...

[WladIsTheChamp]

Steward knows what he is talking about. I would put Vitaly as the favorite against Wlad though but that is almost a non-factor since they are brothers and would have and never will fight against each other.

Wlad, H2H, would be a nightmare for any fighter in history.

[WladIsTheChamp]

all u have to do is beat his jab.

Yeah, it's so easy, anyone can do it, I mean that's all people had to do against Holmes. That's like saying: "All you have to do to beat Usian Bolt is to be faster than him." Very simplistic statement that underscores how difficult it is actually to beat Wlad. Everyone thinks Wlad is easy and that all you have to do is "pressure" him, until they get hit, then it's "he is just too big, I was not prepared, blah, blah..."

[elgaringo]

Steward. “Wladimir is gonna be the one I don’t think I could train a man to beat the way he is. I’m serious. I’ve never had a fighter – I went from Holyfield and all the guys I’ve worked with, never, Lennox – (Wladimir) is a very, very committed, very difficult fighter to beat. Because he won’t let you fight him. He makes you fight what he wants you to fight. But the biggest thing which I think people are not looking at is his speed for a big man. Tremendous speed. Foot Speed. He can move in, explode, move out, move back in, explode, and I’ve never seen anyone that could…move in and out and be in perfect balance,”

Since people are using Manny as proof Ray and Hearns were better than todays fighters. I thought Id point out clearly Manny doesnt think anyone could beat Wlad.

Link??????????

[Pullcounter]

Yeah, it's so easy, anyone can do it, I mean that's all people had to do against Holmes. That's like saying: "All you have to do to beat Usian Bolt is to be faster than him." Very simplistic statement that underscores how difficult it is actually to beat Wlad. Everyone thinks Wlad is easy and that all you have to do is "pressure" him, until they get hit, then it's "he is just too big, I was not prepared, blah, blah..."

I never said it was gonna be easy. I just countered steward's claim that he couldn't train someone to beat wlad. the truth is, steward could in fact train someone to beat wlad.

[jri9d0]

You sound like you know more than Manny. I mean, Manny only trained both of them while you've seen them on TV, so I guess you did have a chance to find out more about them than Manny...

But Wlad currently pays Manny handsomely and Lennox is retired, do you really think he'd say otherwise if Lennox was the reigning champ today and have Manny in his corner?

[Real King Kong]

if wlad had more heart and a better chin he would be unstoppable. his conditioning should be questioned too...i think he fights at the pace he does partially out of necessity. it wouldn't hurt if he could move his head either. as far as offensive technique/fire power goes..he's one on the best i've seen.