Will Wladimir Klitschko break Joe Lous' 25 title defenses record?

[FreshPrince]

What do you think? Obviously two different cases here. Joe Louis was THE champion for all of his defenses while Wlad hasn't even gotten all the belts yet. But counting the main 4 belts, (correct me if I'm wrong) he has defended at least one of them 12 times. He's almost halfway there and just entering the prime of his career.

If he gets by Haye, I see him dominating easily for the next 3 years. That's when the next batch of prospects will be coming through (Fury, Wilder, ect.).

Keep in mind, other than waiting 6 months for Haye in 2009, Wlad fights 3-4 times a year.

[Verstyle]

I don't think so, but I still respect Wlad.

[Hitman932]

I think he will top out at 20 defenses which is as impressive as Louis' record if not moreso.

Louis was defending against the "bum of the month club".

At one point Louis made back to back defenses against guys with 23 and 40 losses. Those kinda fights would never get sanctioned these days. Considering also that back in the day he could fight 6-7 times per year without worrying about HBO and sanctioning bodies I think 20 defenses by a modern heavyweight is actually more impressive than 25 by a guy fighting 50 years ago.

[La_Vibora]

You are referring to Tony Galento as one of the fights with the 20 losses I believe. Tony was the Italian American Ricardo Mayorga of his time. He used to call Joe Louis' house to tell him that he was a bum and that he was going to knock him out. It was a fight that people wanted to see at that time as Galento was a very coloroful fighter during those days and a fan favorite. The other fighter was Jack Roper, who was somewhat of a known actor in Hollywood. That fight would go on to attract nearly 25,000 fans at Wrigley field. In any case, boxing is different from those days, if some of the bums that Wlad fought recently were fighting in those days they would have 20 or 30 losses too.

[FLYBOY]

Wladimir is good but he will never crack the Top 50, ever. The state of the heavyweight division, and his fighting style won't allow him to ever crack the Top 50 and I'm sure any Boxing historian will also say Top 100.

[daggum]

What do you think? Obviously two different cases here. Joe Louis was THE champion for all of his defenses while Wlad hasn't even gotten all the belts yet. But counting the main 4 belts, (correct me if I'm wrong) he has defended at least one of them 12 times. He's almost halfway there and just entering the prime of his career.

If he gets by Haye, I see him dominating easily for the next 3 years. That's when the next batch of prospects will be coming through (Fury, Wilder, ect.).

Keep in mind, other than waiting 6 months for Haye in 2009, Wlad fights 3-4 times a year.

no he's not. joe louis had 25 in a row not 5 then get gtfo then 7 more like klitschko. your title defense streak comes to an end when you are lying on the canvas drooling like an infantile ******. plus he was the only champ at the time and klitschko isn't.

[FreshPrince]

no he's not. joe louis had 25 in a row not 5 then get gtfo then 7 more like klitschko. your title defense streak comes to an end when you are lying on the canvas drooling like an infantile ******.

I'm not talking about streak, I'm talking about all together.

plus he was the only champ at the time and klitschko isn't.

Uh, no ****. I posted that.

[Heru]

What do you think? Obviously two different cases here. Joe Louis was THE champion for all of his defenses while Wlad hasn't even gotten all the belts yet. But counting the main 4 belts, (correct me if I'm wrong) he has defended at least one of them 12 times. He's almost halfway there and just entering the prime of his career.

If he gets by Haye, I see him dominating easily for the next 3 years. That's when the next batch of prospects will be coming through (Fury, Wilder, ect.).

Keep in mind, other than waiting 6 months for Haye in 2009, Wlad fights 3-4 times a year.

He's never held the WBC. Forget the 'major' titles though, for streaks to count like the old days the holder has to have defended the Ring title however many times it is for their division. That alphabet title **** is not fair to the timers and it's not legit.

no he's not. joe louis had 25 in a row not 5 then get gtfo then 7 more like klitschko. your title defense streak comes to an end when you are lying on the canvas drooling like an infantile ******. plus he was the only champ at the time and klitschko isn't.

This is true.

[BattlingNelson]

Wladimir is good but he will never crack the Top 50, ever. The state of the heavyweight division, and his fighting style won't allow him to ever crack the Top 50 and I'm sure any Boxing historian will also say Top 100.

I am sure any historian would say that the era today isn't much worse or perhaps even slightly better than the Holmes era, the the pre-Tyson era and the pre-Louis era.

Topic: I doubt Wlad making 25 defenses. He is like 33 or 34 years old and has had a lot of fights.

[knn]

Wladimir is good but he will never crack the Top 50, ever. The state of the heavyweight division, and his fighting style won't allow him to ever crack the Top 50 and I'm sure any Boxing historian will also say Top 100.

Pure hater's post.

Wlad _IS_ already ATG by being the Ring Champion.

When it comes to wins in world title heavyweight fights (200+ lbs) then Wlad is only surpassed by Holmes, Ali and Lennox. Joe Louis' title defenses were mostly against cruisers = play in a different league.

And stop complaining about the state of the heavyweight division. It's better than at the time of Louis, BECAUSE AT THE TIME OF LOUIS THERE WAS ONLY A CRUISERWEIGHT DIVISION: This picture summarizes the state of the heavyweights during Louis' times pretty well:

They were CRUISERS. Louis title defenses were against a median 196lbs opponent.

The same applies to the division in Ali's times (Ali was fighting for the Olympic Gold Medal in the SUB-CRUISERS division < 178lbs).

If you want to return to the overhyped 70ies heavyweights division where a guy with Parkinson (Ali) fights a 6-0 guy (Spinks) for the world heavyweight title (WBA & WBC belts, 1978) THEN TELL US RIGHT NOW.

Unfortunately sigs can only be 500 characters long, otherwise I would have added Spinks (26-17) and other bums (like Jimmy Young 34-19) to Ali's "greatest hits".

Wins in world title fights against 200+ opponents
Holmes: 21 (15 KOs) against a median opponent of 39-11
Ali: 19 (9 KOs within 12 rounds) against a median opponent of 45-13
Lennox: 15 (10 KOs)
Wlad: 14 (12 KOs) against a median opponent of 32-4 (= better than Ali)
Tyson 12 (10 KOs)
Louis: 10 (7 KOs) against a median opponent of 56-16
Holyfield: 10 (4 KOs)
Foreman: 4 (3 KOs)

Actually Ali's opponents are even worse since I mercifully included their complete records (= including wins against cruisers and subcruisers). In other words: Already now Wlad fights better opposition than Ali (with George Foreman and maybe Lyle being the only exception). Ali's greatest achievement is that he managed to to not rematch Foreman. Lennox was fighting the best opposition.