Will Klitschko-Gomez Prove To Be A Bracket Buster?

[The Hammer]

Let's face it, half the reason these two own the top of the division is that the division is weak and that the brothers are physically superior in size and strength. They are the corporations of the heavyweight division who regularly crush small business and then brag about it. I'm sure outside the ring they are great guys and in a way they are good for the expanding identity of the sport but it will be very hard to be a cheerleader for their technical skills until they come up against a challenge that is bigger than they are.

Wlad has fought many opponents who were about the same height, and had a longer reach and weighed more. Wlad wins because he's a great fighter, not because of his size!

McCline - similar height, heavier
Rahman - longer reach
Peter - heavier
Wolfgramm - taller, much heavier, longer reach
Thompson - longer reach and heavier
Austin - similar size all around
Monroe - heavier
Purrity - 25 pounds heavier
Jefferson - heavier
Jackson - heavier

and there quite a few more.

Why didn't people ***** about the size advantage Lennox Lewis had over almost all his opponents? Lennox had a longer reach at 84" than either Klitschko.

[JakeNDaBox]

The difference is that Byrd and Ruiz were boring fighters who won close decisions over mediocre opponents - the Klitschkos KO their opponents, winning decisively. Byrd and Ruiz were not really elite heavyweights, but the Klitschkos are. I liked Brewster though, he added excitement to the division.

Wlad gets KO's but it's a monotonous affair getting to that point.

Besides, I know of few people who were rooting for Byrd against Wlad going into the rematch (going into either fight, for that matter). Like I said, I honestly believe people WANT to rally behind Wlad - he has the look of the prototypical heavyweight champion.

But you can't honestly sit here and tell me that fans watching say any of his three fights in 2008, would walk away saying "I can't wait to see his next fight." A good ending helps, but it doesn't tell the entire story.

I forget if it was you or another poster who mentioned Ali, Holmes and Lewis in citing technical and methodical fighters. What's left out of the description is the fact that Holmes and Lewis both had a hard time gaining worldwide acceptance DESPITE their dominance. Appreciation for either fighter never came until after their day was done as heavyweight kingpin. Any other view of their career is revisionist history at its finest.

Ali was on a different level altogether. He made his mark early, plus always had the supporting cast to further enhance his legacy, something both Holmes and Ali (and now Wlad and Vitali) sorely lacked.

[The Hammer]

But you can't honestly sit here and tell me that fans watching say any of his three fights in 2008, would walk away saying "I can't wait to see his next fight."

I honestly can't wait to see Wlad's next fight!

I PRACTICALLY LIVE FOR the next Klitschko fight.

[Chase8400]

vitalia has a big fight to win Saturday.what happens if he loses?

It will not come into play because he won't. But, if he did happen to lose by some miracle, there would surely be a rematch and then Vitali would win that one. Gomez simply does not have what it takes to beat the Vitali that showed up in the Lennox Lewis, Kirkland, Sanders, Williams or Peter fights. It will be apparent on saturday @ about 4:30 CST. Come back and see me then.

Note* I'm with you on wanting a competitive fight. I just don't think it will be one.

[Walt Liquor]

I dissagree. Ali, Holmes and Lennox Lewis were technical and very methodical. They also happened to be from african descent though. I don't know if their popularity had to do with that, but one thing is for sure, they weren't sheer brutes that went into the ring mindless and only attempted to destroy their opponent with no plan B. Tyson did that and gained allot of respect, but he was also popular because he was a menace outside of the ring and brought allot of drama. The only reason the Klitschko's don't garner the respect they deserve is because they are not American and they are respectful outside the ring. If they would crank up the arrogance , claim they would 'whip' anybody and go in an American ring to handle business, the public would respect them. But this is not who the Klitschko's are. They are dedicated and educated family men . They are respectful to their opponents and are realistic. Unfortunately in this sport, at this time, this attitude is frowned on. It is what it is and it will not simply go away. The Klitschko's will just need to keep knocking guys out like Lennox Lewis did and eventually they will be respected worldwide. You don't have to be a fan to respect a guys dominance. It will come eventually, like it did for Lennox.

Everybody likes Adamek and he is a family man and very respectful AND he's white and European. He fights here so people know him much better. He is great TV and They need people to fight, and Wlad fights so scared. They really need better comp, if Vitali was fighting for those 4 years and knocking fools out the whole time, I believe he would be much more popular, especially if he were to go to war with someone like he did Lennox.

[Allucard]

Whats wrong with the heavyweight division is not that the Klitschko brothers won't fight each other, that's BS. Vitali wasn't around from 2005 to 2008, and still the sportswriters complained.

The real problem is that the American sports media will not accept anyone named Klitschko as champion, and will continue being negative about (and usually ignoring) the heavyweight division until a black and preferably an American champion comes along.

They will not accept someone named Klitschko as a champion fighting in Germany against a random black 34-424-12 record guy (or someone carefully padded maybe by order) while thousands of ******ed Germans over 50 years of age spend their crack ******* money seeing the Thompsons of this world get beaten by a "champion" who has no class (not as a person, as a fighter) to throw an uppercut or fight faster than slow motion. There is a reason why bullfighting is not considered a sport in most places, you already know who wins. You sir should STFU because those brothers single handedly KILLED the PPV HW boxing.

[Chase8400]

Wlad gets KO's but it's a monotonous affair getting to that point.

Besides, I know of few people who were rooting for Byrd against Wlad going into the rematch (going into either fight, for that matter). Like I said, I honestly believe people WANT to rally behind Wlad - he has the look of the prototypical heavyweight champion.

But you can't honestly sit here and tell me that fans watching say any of his three fights in 2008, would walk away saying "I can't wait to see his next fight." A good ending helps, but it doesn't tell the entire story..

I forget if it was you or another poster who mentioned Ali, Holmes and Lewis in citing technical and methodical fighters. What's left out of the description is the fact that Holmes and Lewis both had a hard time gaining worldwide acceptance DESPITE their dominance. Appreciation for either fighter never came until after their day was done as heavyweight kingpin. Any other view of their career is revisionist history at its finest..

That's correct but when it was said and done, they were respected and the public should learn from their mistakes moving forward by respecting their current dominant champs. But that doesn't always happen. As you apparently know.

Ali was on a different level altogether. He made his mark early, plus always had the supporting cast to further enhance his legacy, something both Holmes and Ali (and now Wlad and Vitali) sorely lacked.

That statement in itself is contradictory. Ali was exceptional of course but his opposition was almost always one dimentional. He was in there against strong yet one dimentional brawlers and he made his reputation off of that limitedness. I don't see the Klitschko's having a great deal of trouble beating Frazier. I may get allot of flack for that statement, but It's the way I feel about it. He was a standout in a one dimentional era, no matter how good the one dimentional fighters were at what they did.

[Chase8400]

Everybody likes Adamek and he is a family man and very respectful AND he's white and European. He fights here so people know him much better. He is great TV and They need people to fight, and Wlad fights so scared. They really need better comp, if Vitali was fighting for those 4 years and knocking fools out the whole time, I believe he would be much more popular, especially if he were to go to war with someone like he did Lennox.

I agree about Vitali, but history is what it is. He was injured and needed the time to recover. We, as fans moved on and opened up a new chapter when he returned.

As far as Adamek, he was basically an unknown like Zoldt Erdei is until he lost to Chad Dawson and moved up to beat Cunningham. He is not really a big deal outside the Chicago area and will get more publicity just being mentioned by Hopkins than he has earned so far. Thats about it. He will lose that fight by the way. In Pavlik-Bhop fashion too. Hopkins knows how to pick em' aparently. He wants no part of Dawson.

[The Hammer]

Everybody likes Adamek and he is a family man and very respectful AND he's white and European. He fights here so people know him much better. He is great TV and They need people to fight, and Wlad fights so scared. They really need better comp, if Vitali was fighting for those 4 years and knocking fools out the whole time, I believe he would be much more popular, especially if he were to go to war with someone like he did Lennox.

Some people like Adamek because he lost to Dawson, and his success makes Dawson look good.

[Chase8400]

They will not accept someone named Klitschko as a champion fighting in Germany against a random black 34-424-12 record guy (or someone carefully padded maybe by order) while thousands of ******ed Germans over 50 years of age spend their crack ******* money seeing the Thompsons of this world get beaten by a "champion" who has no class (not as a person, as a fighter) to throw an uppercut or fight faster than slow motion. There is a reason why bullfighting is not considered a sport in most places, you already know who wins. You sir should STFU because those brothers single handedly KILLED the PPV HW boxing.

That post made zero sense whatsoever. This coming from a member with no Eastern European fighters in his top 10 list does not suprise me though.

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