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I liked them and all, but how come they never ran boxing as double-headed champions like they planned to when they were both active? Contrary to what press releases may say, they weren't immortals. They were top-quality athletes with their own skill sets and flaws.
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There are some that watch 4 Klitschko youtubes a day and think to themselves, "Muhammad Ali ain't got **** on the Klitschkos."
I liked them and all, but how come they never ran boxing as double-headed champions like they planned to when they were both active? Contrary to what press releases may say, they weren't immortals. They were top-quality athletes with their own skill sets and flaws. -
Klitschko was too robotic and predictable to beat Ali, he never beat anyone close to Ali's caliber.
You taking any more bets on the Byrd-George fight Ryan?Comment
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If the fight was held right now I have to take Vitali.Comment
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Not to be a hater or anything, I just think it's time for a reality check.
Vitali was good, very true. But let's look at this objectively.
He began his WBO reign by knocking out Herbie Hide. He's a good, solid guy with very limited punch resistance. A decent quality win for Vitali, it gave him the opportunity to present shock value by blowing out a guy with some exploitable flaws.
Then he beat two trialhorses before going up against Chris Byrd. He was absolutely dominating Byrd, then just gives up in the middle of fight citing a shoulder injury. I remember thinking to myself "WTF?" Larry Merchant summed it up by saying, "He doesn't have the mentality of a champion."
The only parallel I can recall was when Sonny Liston quit on his stool after the 7th against Cassius Clay, but that resignation followed a resounding beating from the future Ali. When Klitschko quit, it was the quintessential anticlimax.
He fought on, beat a few solid contenders like Larry Donald. Then he got the opportunity to fight Lennox Lewis. Here was Klitschko's big opportunity to restore the Klitschko name after his brother took a spill against Sanders. For the first two rounds, it looks like he's really going to pull it off, then Lewis landed a huge right hand at just the worst possible angle and tore Klitschko's face apart.
Now, most pro-Klitschko supporters will say that if the referee didn't stop the fight, Klitschko would have won. He may have. That said, the referee's decision was aided along by the fact that Lewis had just begun to turn the tables on Klitschko and was cutting the fight down to size with uppercuts, no pun intended. The fight was beginning to go Lewis' way more as the fight progressed.
The fact that Klitschko was unable to secure a victory on the worst night of Lewis' professional career is in many ways an indictment against Klitschko. What would have happened if Lewis showed up in the form he did for his last two previous fights, KOs of Mike Tyson and Hasim Rahman? Disaster, that's what would have happened.
Most of Vitali Klitschko's aura and merit comes from the Lewis fight. In essence, his reputation is built around the valor he showed in a loss. What all-time great lists a loss as his defining moment?
Klitschko then blew out Kirk Johnson, who didn't even bother to train for the fight. Then he got in there with Corrie Sanders, who didn't spend much time in the gym either and blew him out. Somehow, despite Sanders being ranked #3 by Ring and Byrd being the number 2 guy, they allowed Vitali and Sanders to fight for The Ring championship, despite Byrd holding a TKO win over Vitali.
Regardless of what ardent Klitschko fans believe, outside of HBO, the majority of media outlets felt Klitschko was a weak champion since he never avenged his loss to Chris Byrd.
Klitschko devastated Danny Williams, kudos, and then fell apart training for Rahman.
As big a Vitali fan as I was, I cannot justify people saying that he was some all-time great who would have crushed Muhammad Ali or George Foreman or whoever they say he could have. It just wasn't in the cards for him.Comment
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