Will Wlad Be The Last Heavyweight To Win 60 fights?

[Hitman932]

I think the question is worth asking. The days where fighters consistently fight 3-4 times a year every single year are over. Rarely does a guy start his career as active as Klitschko and then continue to fight frequently on the world level.

If you look at the current heavyweight division there is not a single guy with more victories than Wladimir. Being that he has at least 3-4 good years left it almost certain he will cross the 60 mark and possibly get as high as 65 victories.

James Toney of course has more wins, but very few at heavyweight so he does not factor in. Even Nicolai Valuev has fewer wins and he fought 42 consecutive patsies before taking on Larry Donald. Even he will not manage as many wins.

The shelf life on a typical heavyweight is 10-12 years. Most have setbacks such as losses, personal problems or promotional/managerial disputes that prevent them from fighting with regularity. Nowadays just to schedule an average of 6 fights a year over 10 years is a miracle in and of itself.

Some may choose to criticize the early career of Wladimir for padding his win total, but the fact that he may end up with as many as 20 title defenses speaks more to the overall quality of the list of wins.

Of course someone like JD Chapman may win 60 fights but I am talking about a legit world champion type fighter who consistenly fights tough fights.

Do you think we will see it again?

[The Hammer]

What I find most frustrating about the heavyweight division is how infrequently the contenders/fringe contenders/up-and-comers fight. It used to be, the titleholders/champions would fight once or twice a year, but the contenders and up-and-comers would fight three to five times.

- top young heavyweight up-and-comer Alexander Dimitrenko fought only twice in 2008
- Sergei Lyakhovich has been ruined by long periods of inactivity
- Oleg Platov went over a year without fighting
- prospect Mario Preskar signed with Don King in Oct 2007, and he was kept inactive for over a year.

I don't think it's the boxers who want the inactivity, it's caused by the promoters indolence and their haggling over money.

Right now, only about 12 of the BoxRec top 100 heavyweights have a fight scheduled.

[The_Italian]

I think the question is worth asking. The days where fighters consistently fight 3-4 times a year every single year are over. Rarely does a guy start his career as active as Klitschko and then continue to fight frequently on the world level.

If you look at the current heavyweight division there is not a single guy with more victories than Wladimir. Being that he has at least 3-4 good years left it almost certain he will cross the 60 mark and possibly get as high as 65 victories.

James Toney of course has more wins, but very few at heavyweight so he does not factor in. Even Nicolai Valuev has fewer wins and he fought 42 consecutive patsies before taking on Larry Donald. Even he will not manage as many wins.

The shelf life on a typical heavyweight is 10-12 years. Most have setbacks such as losses, personal problems or promotional/managerial disputes that prevent them from fighting with regularity. Nowadays just to schedule an average of 6 fights a year over 10 years is a miracle in and of itself.

Some may choose to criticize the early career of Wladimir for padding his win total, but the fact that he may end up with as many as 20 title defenses speaks more to the overall quality of the list of wins.

Of course someone like JD Chapman may win 60 fights but I am talking about a legit world champion type fighter who consistenly fights tough fights.

Do you think we will see it again?

its a very valid point.

Heavyweights or non-heavyweights its a rarity to have 50+ wins and be at the top of the sport...VERY RARE.

however i believe its something that will happen every FEW decades or so by one special fighter who has enough love for the sport to fight so frequently.

In the early stages of a fighter's career they do have half a dozen (or even more) fights a year...

A) to pad their record (20-0 fighting a good "contender" looks better than 12-8)

and

B) they dont make as much money...


c) MONEY (if i didnt mention that)

i believe MONEY has a big part to do with it...guys that make 5 million a fight or so (who have been around long enough to consistantly earn at LEAST that much a fight) i believe lose the desire to fight on a regular basis.

Thats what i think it is...however wlad came into the sport NOT needing the money...he just purely LOVED the sport...

then look at the otherside of the coin...like a jermain taylor (no offense to anyone i like watching him fight) who says he doesnt follow boxing, doesnt watch it on tv, etc.

thats why taylor is what??? 30 (or right near it) but has what 30 fights or so?

i think there has to be a certain amount of love to do it...

even someone like mayweather who can make 20mill fighting de la hoya (who DEFINATELY LOVES HIS MONEY) isnt even convinced enough by that to fight 4 times a year.

its a love.

[Hitman932]

its a love.

He never loses his edge either. It is not a coincidence that the most consistently active fighter in the division is also consistently dominant in his performances. (like the style or not)

[Fox McCloud]

What I find most frustrating about the heavyweight division is how infrequently the contenders/fringe contenders/up-and-comers fight. It used to be, the titleholders/champions would fight once or twice a year, but the contenders and up-and-comers would fight three to five times.

- top young heavyweight up-and-comer Alexander Dimitrenko fought only twice in 2008
- Sergei Lyakhovich has been ruined by long periods of inactivity
- Oleg Platov went over a year without fighting
- prospect Mario Preskar signed with Don King in Oct 2007, and he was kept inactive for over a year.

I don't think it's the boxers who want the inactivity, it's caused by the promoters indolence and their haggling over money.

Right now, only about 12 of the BoxRec top 100 heavyweights have a fight scheduled.

Agreed...

I am impressed with Povetkin though... even though he hasn't been taking a bunch of fights every year, he has been cutting out the bull**** fights, and has legitimately been moving up as quick as he should have been. Having beaten the fighters he has beaten with less than 20 wins is beyond impressive... it's almost astounding.

[Derranged_]

I think boxing in general these days, and not just the hw division, perpetuates the trend of elite fighters fighting infrequently and rarely reaching benchmarks of 50 or 60 plus wins…

Wladimir Klitschko is an exception to this trend. If you look at Wladimir Klitschko’s record, it indicates that he fought 34 times before fighting for a major world title (against Chris Byrd for the WBO in 2000). I guess you could argue this point in two or more different ways. You could say that he wasn’t confident enough in himself to push for a world title sooner or you could say that he was committed to getting enough experience before fighting for a title. However, I don’t know the circumstances in why he didn’t fight for a title earlier because typically, contenders will try to fight for a world title before reaching the 33 win mark…

In any event, Wlad now has 53 wins, including 46 KO’s, and as Hitman has stated, is on par to win 60-65 times before calling it a career. And that’s a testament to his consistency and the good management of his career and why he’s one of my favorite fighters…

But to answer the thread question; I think that there will always be fighters that buck the trend and fight and win more often than others in the pack. I think the real question is, when will we see; and who will be the next 60 + win hw champion? The answer is, IDK who it will be it and it will probably be a while before we see another one…

[BrooklynBomber]

I think boxing in general these days, and not just the hw division, perpetuates the trend of elite fighters fighting infrequently and rarely reaching benchmarks of 50 or 60 plus wins…

Wladimir Klitschko is an exception to this trend. If you look at Wladimir Klitschko’s record, it indicates that he fought 34 times before fighting for a major world title (against Chris Byrd for the WBO in 2000). I guess you could argue this point in two or more different ways. You could say that he wasn’t confident enough in himself to push for a world title sooner or you could say that he was committed to getting enough experience before fighting for a title. However, I don’t know the circumstances in why he didn’t fight for a title earlier because typically, contenders will try to fight for a world title before reaching the 33 win mark…

In any event, Wlad now has 53 wins, including 46 KO’s, and as Hitman has stated, is on par to win 60-65 times before calling it a career. And that’s a testament to his consistency and the good management of his career and why he’s one of my favorite fighters…

But to answer the thread question; I think that there will always be fighters that buck the trend and fight and win more often than others in the pack. I think the real question is, when will we see; and who will be the next 60 + win hw champion? The answer is, IDK who it will be it and it will probably be a while before we see another one…

If you check his record, first couple of years he fought around once every month and I think he got his title at arond the age of 24-25, which is quite good.
You also have to understand that the boxing politics of the 90s largely prevented european heavies from getting title shots, I mean name 3 other european heavyweight titleholders and when you think about it, it quite makes sense.

[MANGLER]

If he can keep winnin fights without sufferin any damage. He can get away wit 3 fights per year. It ain't outta the question, and I don't see any HW's beatin him right now either.

[DarchinyFAN]

I don't think we will see too many more serious contenders reach the 60 win plateau after the current group retires.

Most contenders todat usually run up between 20-30 fights in the prospect phase of their career. By the time they have done this they are usually between 25-30 years old. Once they have proven themselves they become investments for their promoters, and start to fight on 3-4 times a year. Meaning that last 30-40 fights will take a long time to reach.

Add to this the fact that fighters no longer fight timing/keep busy fights in between their bigger fights.

Also, add in the fact that if a guy is not dominant, he loses some of these fights, meaning he has to fight that many more. If he is a top guy he is usually fighting only other worthy opponents, making wins that much harder to come by.

So other heavyweights might reach the 60 win mark, but few if any will be major contenders, after this generation of fighters is finished.

[Derranged_]

bump...