Klitschko on retirement.

[KnockoutNed]

The man's gotta go for the Joe Louis record.

If you're that close, there's no turning back!

If he can fight into his late 40s he may have a chance. Chances are he'd get brutally KO'd again long before then.

[MDPopescu]

Wilder destroys Wlad in less than one round. Wilder's the true champion of our hearts!

[LacedUp]

Vitali yes, but i'm sure not you or any other actual fan of the sport who knows their stuff would really class any of the 'belt holders' who often held on to their paper titles for a defence or two at most as legitimate champions or could really stake their claim as champ.

You really think Povetkin was ever classed as a champion by a large portion of fans? The guy was less of a champ than even Haye when holding the WBA 'regular' belt.

Let's not over-exaggerate the "brutal knockout" stoppage, which you well know was less the product of 'brutal punches' as much as Wlad falling over the referee's leg and being so tired as to hardly being able to get up at the bell and completely exhausted definitely unable to continue fighting.

However, that's irrelevent, a loss is a loss, and that particular defeat was good for him.

Regarding fantasy points or not, in this era my view is that 'the' man is the guy who has the majority of the belts, or who has the overall fan's view as 'the champ'. With Wlad it is arguable because of Vitali, but I wouldn't say any other fighter in his reign was really classed as a better champ except for maybe at the beginning back in 06.

I know what you mean, but that wasn't the case at the time. Wlad had won his belt of Chris Byrd who was every bit a champion as Shannon Briggs who Ibragimov won his title off. And Ibragimov was actually quite a good fighter. At that time, nobody knew Wlad was going to be as dominant as he became with his KO losses still fresh in the memory. Not saying Ibragimov was as talented as Wlad, because he clearly wasn't, but they were equal in terms of champion status.

No but Povetkin was the official #1 challenger in the division which means when him and Wlad fought it would have been for the legitimate lineal championship - because Vitali had retired and previously held that position. I get that they are brothers, and in no way am I suggesting they should have fought because that's idiocy, but Wlad only had the opportunity to fight the #1 after Vitali retired - which made it for the lineal title.

But he was brutally knocked out? It looked pretty brutal to me. I don't buy into the whole drugged water excuse or whatever. That's just nonsense.

In my view, and what is generally accepted, is that the man who beat the man is the actual champ. In Wlad's case there's no base to say he was the actual man in 2006 because there were other belt holders who he hadn't fought. But I considered Wlad the actual champion from around 2009 I think - also because he was clearly fighting and beating the best competition in the division. Still, he's not getting fantasy lineal championship wins based on what you and I think. If Wilder defends his belt 20 times against bums ala Sven Ottke, I'm sure everybody would think differently. I know I would.