If Wladimir was American and black, would he be more accepted as a top heavyweight?

[The Hammer]

It seems to me Wladimir klitschko has always received more criticism than he deserves. The boxing writers and commentators, as well as some boxing fans, have always been very hard on him.

He's from the Ukraine and unlike the top heavyweights of the past 50 years like Ali, Holmes and Tyson, he's white.

If he was American and black, who he be better accepted?

[ИATAS]

he has been criticized for getting KO'd and, recently, because of the boring fight on Saturday.

If he continues to fight like that, and if he were black, he'd be about as famous as Chris Byrd.

[Drunk Punch]

he has been criticized for getting KO'd and, recently, because of the boring fight on Saturday.

If he continues to fight like that, and if he were black, he'd be about as famous as Chris Byrd.

That's about the size of it.

[Guest]

he has been criticized for getting KO'd and, recently, because of the boring fight on Saturday.

If he continues to fight like that, and if he were black, he'd be about as famous as Chris Byrd.

Aye, that's a good point actually. The Batty Byrd was black and a Fat Yank. He didn't have a **** though (his wife had it) but it didn't do him any good.

[Gareth Ivanovic]

I think even if he was black and american he would get the same amount of critisism. On the other hand if he was american and white the critics might be less harsh on him.

[MELLY-MEL...]

i do not see race or ethnicity changing his critics much at all! or hius fans for that matter! with wlad u either like him or not!

[paul750]

I don't think that's anything to do with it. There's a few reasons he's not being given a great deal of credit. The guy just doesn't seem like a cold blooded killer, or even appear to have that 'bit of a devil' in him that even Lewis had. Simply put, he doesn't come across as a badass or anything close to it. Then there's his personality in general. Yes he may seem like a nice guy and whatever, but he just doesn't have certain character traits needed to stand out. He's not an interesting eccentric or a moody hothead full of profanity. There's just not much there in the charisma department.

Then there's his actions in the ring. What has he really done? He's beaten a lot of opponents, but have there been defining fights? Ray Mercer is a decent name, but that wasn't the Mercer of the Holyfield and Lewis fights. What exactly has Samuel Peter achieved to warrant that win highly or as a defining fight? Peter is just a big strong clubber with only reasonable skills; he has no real wins on his own record unless you want to count the second Toney win, which is not much to shout about given Toney's age.

Klitschko has never shown he can recover from adversity in the ring. Other good heavyweights have shown that. A lot of people will not see him as that exciting to watch. He seems to be very robotic and lacks the fluidity the other past champions have had. His three bad defeats don't do him any favours either, particularly the Sanders one.

There's a lot of reasons, but I don't believe race is one of them.

[The Hammer]

i do not see race or ethnicity changing his critics much at all! or hius fans for that matter! with wlad u either like him or not!

But the media was never so hard on Larry Holmes or Muhammed Ali. Many of Ali's fights, especially in the 70s when he was Wlad's age, were decision wins and rather boring.

[mECHsLAVE]

Does a bear **** in the woods?

[kayjay]

Paul750, are you seriously mistaking ignorance for 'charisma'? I know your average teenage jegin or ****** makes that mistake, but I expect more from you.