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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The old –and perhaps outdated - saying suggests that how the heavyweight division goes, so goes boxing.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? [details]
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The old –and perhaps outdated - saying suggests that how the heavyweight division goes, so goes boxing.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? [details]
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