If Klitschko fights them both at the same time then he may be in trouble, but one at a time, he destroys both. Ibragimov does not hit hard and Chagaev isn't as good.
If Wlad wanted to make any kind of statement or pull at a legacy beyond physical talent and a suspet chin, he should go out of his way to unify. Ibragimov, Maskaev, Chagaev may be the three worst HW champions in history (besides Briggs) and bringing clarity to the division can't be a bad thing for the sport, or for Wlad's mainstream pull either
I think Chagaev is a genuine top heavyweight, as we'll see in his title defenses, although he's a tad small. Ibragimov is a decent fighter, but not top notch. Maskaev is actually very good, and might have been a great one, but he started too late as a pro. His early losses came as a result of moving up too fast (his 7th fight was with Oliver McCall and he was KOed) but he later improved greatly and has won 12 in a row against mostly decent opposition.
There's been far worse heavyweight titleholders than those three, such as Ruiz, Akinwande, Briggs and Hide, to name a few. The division is much better now than it was a few years ago, but some people are reluctant to accept non-Americans as the top fighters and so complain about it being bad. It will likely continue to improve, with talented young boxers such as Boytsov, Dimitrenko, Platov and Povetkin coming up.
Well we'll have to agree to disagree about Maskaev. History and the future will tell us that he is a decent fighter with average skills and a bad chin. Chagaev fought Ruiz evenly IMO, and Ruiz is certainly not one of the worst HW champions, he does fight like a disgusting Judo lover, but he is effective and has some quality wins.
Ibragimov does nothing out of the ordinary. He has average power, average hand speed, but he's champ because Shannon Briggs is worse than he is. Besides Klitschko the division is extremely poor, regardless of what up and coming talent may get here soon
Floyd has the fastest hands of those choices. Calzaghe does have fast hands, ut alt of that is that he slaps instead of punches alot of the times and that makes it look like he's raining down bombs when he's really jsut throwing pussy shots
Asthma is a legit excuse and it does explain his lack of activity and embarassing output to some extent. HOWEVER if he was some nobody we wouoldn't even be talking about it. Fact is that Briggs is a disgusting fighter to watch and easily one of the worst to ever gain the HW title
At this point, Manny is the bigger name/draw, especially in the US. With the way he took care of Oscar people who watched Oscar and nothing else in boxing will transfer some of that over to Manny I think. As for him taking or not taking a 50/50 split.
Does anyone seriously think he's afraid of Hatton?
No, he's def not afraid. However, he deserves no more than 50% based on popularity and the fact that he is trying to earn the lineal crown @ 140. This is no catch weight coin toss like the ODLH fight. It's for LWW lineage. This status means something. The Oscar fight only meant money and proved nothing.
Well I disagree on the latter part. He was still a significantly smaller guy hopping up multiple divisions to take on DLH.
For whatever its worth i think Pacquiao gives DLH trouble at any point in his career. Oscar has always had trouble with guys who could match speed with him, and I don't see how Oscar's hesitance and ability to catch straight lefts with his face would be any difference.
I'd say at this point that Manny is more popular, not in the UK obviously, but just about everywhere else in the world. All told, its just posturing by both sides. The fight will happen, and the money talk is just a smokescreen to keep people talking about it in January.