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Can a fighter only gain redemption through revenge? Obviously not in the opinion of Wladimir Klitschko, who lost three bouts as a professional to three different men and has yet to even try to avenge one of them.
Now it’s understandable why Klitschko never went after Ross Puritty. At the time of their bout in 1998, Wladimir was just 22-years-old and on the fringes of contention and Puritty was considered a tough journeyman that gave young heavies some good work.
Throw in the fact that Wladimir lost primarily due to exhaustion and it’s completely understandable why Wlad didn’t go back and avenge that blemish. What about the losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster? Wlad never mentions their names and they hold knock out victories over the Urikranian Olympian. I know that a lot of pundits claim that matches with those two aforementioned fighters would back-track his career, but I completely disagree.
Even though it’s not a requisite for being great fighter, it’s not a coincidence that a number of the greatest fighters in history avenged losses that took place before or around the time of their physical primes.
In 1917, Jack Dempsey was stopped in one round by Fireman Jim Flynn and one year later he avenged that knockout with a first round knockout of his own. Ali avenged his losses to Norton and Frazier, and Sugar Ray Robinson avenged his losses to Randy Turpin and Jake LaMotta. And Sugar Ray Leonard avenged his loss to Duran twice. Even the great Joe Louis was disturbed by his loss at the hands of Max Schmeling and stated right after he beat James Braddock for the title in 1937 that he “didn’t feel like a champion until he beat Max.”
Now those are just a few of the instances in boxing history where great champions felt it was necessary to prove their greatness and redeem themselves by reversing a past loss.
Those rivalries were between boxers who were thought to have been at the top of their game, but there are numerous other instances when great fighters purposefully avenged prior losses in order to try to erase the stigma of those losses even though the fighters they were facing were no longer in their prime. These fighters avenged those losses because they wanted to redeem themselves by gaining revenge. [details]
Now it’s understandable why Klitschko never went after Ross Puritty. At the time of their bout in 1998, Wladimir was just 22-years-old and on the fringes of contention and Puritty was considered a tough journeyman that gave young heavies some good work.
Throw in the fact that Wladimir lost primarily due to exhaustion and it’s completely understandable why Wlad didn’t go back and avenge that blemish. What about the losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster? Wlad never mentions their names and they hold knock out victories over the Urikranian Olympian. I know that a lot of pundits claim that matches with those two aforementioned fighters would back-track his career, but I completely disagree.
Even though it’s not a requisite for being great fighter, it’s not a coincidence that a number of the greatest fighters in history avenged losses that took place before or around the time of their physical primes.
In 1917, Jack Dempsey was stopped in one round by Fireman Jim Flynn and one year later he avenged that knockout with a first round knockout of his own. Ali avenged his losses to Norton and Frazier, and Sugar Ray Robinson avenged his losses to Randy Turpin and Jake LaMotta. And Sugar Ray Leonard avenged his loss to Duran twice. Even the great Joe Louis was disturbed by his loss at the hands of Max Schmeling and stated right after he beat James Braddock for the title in 1937 that he “didn’t feel like a champion until he beat Max.”
Now those are just a few of the instances in boxing history where great champions felt it was necessary to prove their greatness and redeem themselves by reversing a past loss.
Those rivalries were between boxers who were thought to have been at the top of their game, but there are numerous other instances when great fighters purposefully avenged prior losses in order to try to erase the stigma of those losses even though the fighters they were facing were no longer in their prime. These fighters avenged those losses because they wanted to redeem themselves by gaining revenge. [details]
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