By Jake Donovan

It happens every time Wladimir Klitschko steps into the ring. The talks begin the moment his bout is scheduled, and picks up as we get closer to the opening bell. Will this be the fight where he separates himself so far from the pack that we automatically anoint him status as THE heavyweight champion of the world?

Pardon me while I disagree with a few of my peers… but the answer is still no.

A mandatory title defense against Tony Thompson is just that - a routine heavyweight title fight. Sure, Thompson is a legitimate top ten contender, even after his dismal showing against Klitschko last weekend in Hamburg, Germany. But he's still just a contender.

And Wladimir Klitschko is still just a heavyweight titlist.

A unified titlist, and the best of a very bad bunch of heavyweights.

But a linear champion, he is not.

He's not linear champion by default; it just doesn't work that way.

The old –and perhaps outdated - saying suggests that how the heavyweight division goes, so goes boxing.  If that's our reason for increased urgency in crowning a heavyweight kingpin, then why would you want to cheapen the status of the sports alleged most cherished prize by merely hand it off rather than make him work for it?

If anything else, it would make him an interim linear champion. Don't we waste enough time bitching about the sanctioning bodies creating titles solely for the sake of claiming more champions and extorting sanctioning fees?

What exactly do we get out of having a single heavyweight champion to point to, especially if that one candidate is someone who can't even deliver entertaining fights on a regular basis? We're not talking Fight of the Year candidates every time out; just something where the sport gains more fans than it loses whenever he steps foot in the ring.

There was no shortage of fans or critics following his bout against Sultan Ibragimov. Most of the blame went toward Ibragimov's reluctance to fight back. Not an unfair complaint and perhaps for one night a good enough excuse to give Klitschko a pass.

So what happens when the same complaints resurface just one fight later?

Thompson reached a point in the fight where he all but refused to let his hands go. But he wasn't running. He wasn't holding on for dear life anytime Wladimir came within sneezing distance. He was there to be had, and he'd eventually get got.

But it wasn't before experiencing ten-plus rounds of a fight that had very little flow to it, but did have fans wondering why they were wasting their Saturday afternoon watching this when they could instead be out and about enjoying the weekend.

The final right hand to end the fight was perfectly placed. But it takes a really great ending to make up for a bad movie. This wasn't a great ending, so much as it was a relief that the fight was finally over. And contrary to popular opinion – on this night and the fight this past February – Klitschko shares at least some of the blame.

Or are we going to blame every less-than-entertaining performance on his opponents? It doesn't work that way for other fighters – even fighters who AREN'T boring are blamed when fights are anything short of a bloodbath (Winky Wright, anyone?). So why should Wladimir Klitschko get a pass?

He shouldn't, much like he shouldn't be given a title just because you can't bear to wait around for what passes as today's top heavyweights to get together and fight one another.

An argument can be made that it's pointless for Klitschko to wait around for fights to materialize against the next two heavyweights behind him – Ruslan Chagaev and Samuel Peter. He already beat Peter three years ago, and Wlad's big brother Vitali now has serious competition from Chagaev in the Frequent Fragile miles category.

Peter himself is lined up to face Vitali in October, while Chagaev has now pulled out of three fights due to injuries – some legit, others mysterious - inside of a year, with an uninspiring win over Matt Skelton as his lone action since upending Nicolay Valuev in April '07.

If neither are available, then what's left for Wlad to prove, right?

Wrong.

Bernard Hopkins was assumed to be the best middleweight on the planet for the better part of his first six years as champion prior to the 2001 middleweight tournament. But he received no sympathy for the likes of William Joppy, Keith Holmes and any other middleweight titlist from 1995-2000 all but refusing to fight him, or more specifically, Don King disallowing any of them to fight Hopkins without options on or an exclusive contract with the famed Philly fighter.

It wasn't until Hopkins won the aforementioned tournament outright did he finally gain universal recognition as the one and only world middleweight champion. 

Perhaps your argument is that the heavyweight division holds greater historical tradition.

That's fine. We can even skip over Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield having to twice fight in order to declare a single universally regarded heavyweight champ, despite the fact that Lennox was the linear champ going into their two fights. We'll go all the way back to an even more famous heavyweight, one who came along while the state of the division mirrored that of today's sordid state.

Larry Holmes reigned as linear champ from the moment he beat a shoulda-stayed-retired version of Muhammad Ali in 1980 until he dropped a close, controversial decision to Michael Spinks in 1985. In between then, and even a year or so into Spinks' reign, the alphabet portions of the title were passed around like hot potatoes, with one uninspiring heavyweight after another laying claim as "world" champion.

That came to a violent end in late 1986, when Mike Tyson was ready to challenge the best the division had to offer. First up was Trevor Berbick, followed by James "Bonecrusher" Smith then Tony Tucker. Three belts scooped up in three separate fights, all in less than a year, and new life was breathed into the heavyweight division.

But Michael Spinks, as inactive as he was and as uninspiring as his career became, was still the linear heavyweight champion. It took for Tyson to obliterate him in their 1988 pay-per-view blockbuster to finally gain universal recognition as the one and only heavyweight kingpin.

This is Mike Tyson we're talking about, at the time the most exciting and feared fighter, on this planet or any other. With three belts in his possession and must-see-TV everytime he stepped into the ring – or really any time he was in the vicinity of a camera, you'd think such status would automatically be bestowed upon him.

Nope. He had to earn it. Much like Larry Holmes when the shell of what was Muhammad Ali was all but retired, or Ezzard Charles under similar circumstances against Joe Louis. Ditto for Jack Johnson, only James Jeffries had to be dragged out of retirement in order to make the circle complete.

Some of the greatest names in heavyweight history, all of whom had to earn their keep in order to gain universal recognition as the sole claimant to the sport's top prize.

If it was that way for them, then who the hell is Wladimir Klitschko to be given the same title by default? Worse, who the hell are we to willingly hand it over to him?

It's a discussion that needs to be remembered by the time Klitschko's next fight rolls around, most likely later this year or early next year. And most likely another mandatory title defense, this one against undefeated Alexander Povetkin.

Sure enough, the same questions will once again arise as that fight draws closer. Will this be the fight where Wladimir Klitschko separates himself so far from the pack that we automatically anoint him status as THE heavyweight champion of the world?

Once again, the answer will still be no. 

JAKE-N-DA-MAILBOX

Not surprisingly, most of the mail received over the weekend spoke out against the heavyweight fight showcased on HBO this weekend. Almost all of the notes mirrored one another, but two in particular raise additional interesting points.

UGH

That Klitschko fight was sickening to watch. Thompson fought so lazy-like… and he gave up at the end. I've never seen a guy go down while bracing his fall with his arm, but couldn't get back up. A joke.

Wlad's face sure looked bad considering he barely got hit.

Arreola would destroy him. - Ken McCusker

Jake's Take: I agree, there was very little pretty to come out of the fight. The final right hand was well-placed, but Thompson's body language suggested that anything remotely resembling a knockout blow would serve as the perfect exit. One thing I will say, my man Barry Hunter – one of the more underrated trainers in the sport – spoke the truth all night, whether or not Thompson wanted to hear it.

Wlad's face didn't look good, nor did his body language any time he got hit clean.

I'd love to see Chris Arreola take over the heavyweight division – dude is as real as they come, a true everyday man. But right now, he's still in the progression stage and not quite ready for the top level. I'm not a big fan of Klitschko, but readily acknowledge that he's the best heavyweight in the world. Not to say that Chris can't get there – but a little seasoning won't hurt.

WHAT FIGHT WAS EVERYONE WATCHING?

Jake, help me out brah. Why everyone acting like Wlad just cured cancer or some (stuff). That (fight) was ass, brah. Thompson ain't want none, and Wlad fighting just like he did against that other dude (Ibragimov). Only difference he got the knockout this time. But yo, I'm tired of these sorry ass heavyweights. Everyone talking like they don't matter, but they steady getting love from HBO and them. Sup? - Marcus Brown

Jake's Take: I didn't get it either. Perhaps some people are content with a happy ending, and that it's enough to make them forget about everything that preceded it. Personally, I though Wlad looked more flawed in this fight than in any of his recent wins. To his credit, Wlad hinted as much in his post-fight, soliciting Thompson's services for future training camps.

You took the words out of my mouth on the networks, but it's consistent with their usual hypocrisy. Everyone bitches about the alphabets and preaches one division, one champ. Yet when a titlist is in town, the network housing the fight goes into shill mode, billing it as a world title fight. HBO thinks that by omitting the sanctioning body's acronym, it makes it right, but in fact it's even worse. You're claiming they don't matter, but have no problem calling said fighter a world champion, and alphabet mandatory challengers "the number one contender in the world." Gotcha.

APPLE TITLE TURNOVER

Daniel Santos' knockout win over Joachim Alcine marked the third major alphabet title to change hands in the junior middleweight division in 2008. Of the four titlists, the only one to make a "successful" defense was Sergei Dzinziruk. That came via highly disputed majority decision over Lukas Konecny.

Santos joins Verno Phillips (W12 Cory Spinks) and Sergio Mora (W12 Vernon Forrest) at/near the top of the junior middleweight division now loaded with old faces in new places.

An even greater turnaround is occurring in the junior welterweight division. Gavin Rees, Junior Witter and Ricardo Torres have all seen their alphabet hardware land in the possession of others, with only Paul Malignaggi as the remaining titlist from 2007. It's possible that the statement doesn't still ring true by years end – Malignaggi, who has two defenses under his belt in '08, ends the year with a showdown against the division's linear champ Ricky Hatton.

Notable is the fact that a Hatton win would mean that all four major alphabet belts changed hands this year, yet the linear crown would remain the same.

This year in general has witnessed a massive turnover at the title level. Barely seven months into the year, a whopping 22 titles have changed hands – and that's not including the ones that were obtained via vacant title matches.

Interestingly enough, only one of the 22 title changes included a linear title at stake – and that was to fulfill the vacancy atop the junior lightweight division in the rematch between Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez. Of course, both the linear and alphabet titles won in the fight became vacant soon thereafter with Pacquiao moving up to lightweight.

Pacquaio is one of four linear champions to vacate a division's top prize in 2008. David Haye is abandoning the cruiserweight roost in search of cruiserweight glory. Joe Calzaghe is all but done with the super middleweight division, and of course Floyd Mayweather's retirement left a vacancy atop welterweight.

Last year might've featured more compelling action, especially in the final quarter. But if nothing else, nobody can accuse boxing of remaining status quo in 2008.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com