Comments Thread For: “Fighting Words” – Wladimir Klitschko: Jab Jab Jab, **** **** ****

[BattlingNelson]

Fine article David. I like your analysis on Chambers-Wlad: Klitschko makes the opponent look bad. too bad for his own good. I think that sums it up quite nicely as Chambers was a proven commodity. Still I would have liked to see a little more praise for him going for the KO despite the fight being decided.

"4. Can anyone really blame HBO for not buying Klitschko-Chambers?"

Nope.

You can definetely blame HBO for not broadcasting Wlad-Chambers. We a dealing with the biggest title in sports. The heavyweight championship of the WORLD. HBO should be the beacon of light for our sport and yet it igores the biggest spectacle our sport has to offer.

So maybe Wlad isn't Tyson, but how many heavies have ever been as exiting as him? Perhaps a handful. However there's has been plenty who has dominated without exiting yet those fighters always got lots of yank ink and lots of yank air-time. Why is that? I really hate it if the honest answer is that it's because the champion isn't a yank but something as exotic as a german based ukrainian.

Compare Wlad to Larry Holmes. Holmes was badmouthed by the american broadcasters, hated by Howard Cosell and shown on prime-time US television despite boring the living daylights out of the viewers on most occasions. Holmes never got shown on european television except for his fights with Ali and Tyson, and it's clear who the draw was in those fights.

The way I see it HBO is doing boxing a disfavour by not showing and hyping this present great specimen of a WORLDS heavyweight champion.

[Pirao]

Larry Holmes fought about 5 guys who had 20 or less pro fights during his lo-o-ong title reign... And all of them were credible enough to get a shot at the title and be a part of his (Larry`s) incredible run! Why isn`t Boytsov with 27 fights/victories isn`t credible enough? Said that and judging on what many say about Wlad, Boytsov has the style to test Wlad`s chin!

On the other hand it speaks about Wlad a lot! He seems so effective to people, that even a 81% Ko ratio (Boytsov) cann`t persuade them that Denis has a chance...

You misunderstand me, I'm not saying he shouldn't fight Boytsov because he has few fights, but because he has not faced a high level of competition. He's still at prospect stage, it's too early to throw him to the Klitschkos because he could get ruined.

[Ravens Fan]

Larry Holmes fought about 5 guys who had 20 or less pro fights during his lo-o-ong title reign... And all of them were credible enough to get a shot at the title and be a part of his (Larry`s) incredible run! Why isn`t Boytsov with 27 fights/victories isn`t credible enough? Said that and judging on what many say about Wlad, Boytsov has the style to test Wlad`s chin!

On the other hand it speaks about Wlad a lot! He seems so effective to people, that even a 81% Ko ratio (Boytsov) cann`t persuade them that Denis has a chance...

Holmes actually fought eight fighters that had less than twenty fights, six had less than fifteen fights, during his title run. The only none title fight was with 10-0 Marvis Frazier. And if you through in knuckleheads like Scott Frank and Randell "Tex" Cobb, in reality, Holmes fought a lot of bums.

[Savino]

That jab, jab........jab.........................jab then right hand is why I never paid Ł9.95 for it.

[Mr. David]

Bat,

Thanks for the comments. My responses below your thoughts:

I would have liked to see a little more praise for him going for the KO despite the fight being decided.

I'm glad we got the knockout, but why praise him for not showing the killer instinct until he finally got tired of Manny Steward pleading for him to show it?

Lee Groves had a very good piece today. Statistically, Klitschko "epitomizes everything Americans supposedly want in a heavyweight champion."

But watching Klitschko is like watching the Detroit Pistons championship basketball team from about five, six years ago. Technically magnificent, a great team, but really boring to watch en route to victory.

I have no hate against Klitschko, not that you're accusing me of that. I just think a fighter who has his opponent completely outmatched should put his foot on the gas pedal.

You can definetely blame HBO for not broadcasting Wlad-Chambers. We a dealing with the biggest title in sports. The heavyweight championship of the WORLD. HBO should be the beacon of light for our sport and yet it igores the biggest spectacle our sport has to offer.

So maybe Wlad isn't Tyson, but how many heavies have ever been as exiting as him? Perhaps a handful. However there's has been plenty who has dominated without exiting yet those fighters always got lots of yank ink and lots of yank air-time. Why is that? I really hate it if the honest answer is that it's because the champion isn't a yank but something as exotic as a german based ukrainian.

Compare Wlad to Larry Holmes. Holmes was badmouthed by the american broadcasters, hated by Howard Cosell and shown on prime-time US television despite boring the living daylights out of the viewers on most occasions. Holmes never got shown on european television except for his fights with Ali and Tyson, and it's clear who the draw was in those fights.

The way I see it HBO is doing boxing a disfavour by not showing and hyping this present great specimen of a WORLDS heavyweight champion.

A fair point, but here's why I disagree:

One, we don't know how much Klitschko's team was asking HBO (and Showtime, and ESPN, and Versus) to pay for this fight. HBO didn't air the Chagaev fight either, but ESPN apparently felt that one to be worth it.

Two, while HBO is the boxing network of record, this is a bit different than say, The New York Times choosing not to cover a major national story. While the Times does have to pay staffing and travel costs to cover a story, it doesn't have to pay for the right to cover a story. HBO would have to put out millions of dollars, money that might be best spent delivering something its viewers would enjoy. Remember, the early days of Boxing After Dark didn't always have fights of consequence, but it had good fights. HBO cannot buy anything and everything.

By the same token, you could ask Camp Klitschko why it didn't price the fight at a level that would make it the most accessible to the widest audience of fans in the United States.

Interested in your response. This is a good topic of discussion, one I covered somewhat a few weeks back:

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=25679

[BattlingNelson]

Bat,

Thanks for the comments. My responses below your thoughts:



I'm glad we got the knockout, but why praise him for not showing the killer instinct until he finally got tired of Manny Steward pleading for him to show it?

Lee Groves had a very good piece today. Statistically, Klitschko "epitomizes everything Americans supposedly want in a heavyweight champion."

But watching Klitschko is like watching the Detroit Pistons championship basketball team from about five, six years ago. Technically magnificent, a great team, but really boring to watch en route to victory.

I have no hate against Klitschko, not that you're accusing me of that. I just think a fighter who has his opponent completely outmatched should put his foot on the gas pedal.




A fair point, but here's why I disagree:

One, we don't know how much Klitschko's team was asking HBO (and Showtime, and ESPN, and Versus) to pay for this fight. HBO didn't air the Chagaev fight either, but ESPN apparently felt that one to be worth it.

Two, while HBO is the boxing network of record, this is a bit different than say, The New York Times choosing not to cover a major national story. While the Times does have to pay staffing and travel costs to cover a story, it doesn't have to pay for the right to cover a story. HBO would have to put out millions of dollars, money that might be best spent delivering something its viewers would enjoy. Remember, the early days of Boxing After Dark didn't always have fights of consequence, but it had good fights. HBO cannot buy anything and everything.

By the same token, you could ask Camp Klitschko why it didn't price the fight at a level that would make it the most accessible to the widest audience of fans in the United States.

Interested in your response. This is a good topic of discussion, one I covered somewhat a few weeks back:

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=25679

Of course we do not know if K2 priced themselves out, but I doubt it since the obscure ESPN classic picked up a recent klitfight if I'm not mistaken. However you could be right. It could also be that K2 should try a different approach namely by going for a major network like ABC, CBS or NBC who BITD showed plenty of boxing, so if anyone from K2 reads this feel free to take this input from me .

As I said we don't know who proced themselves out, but it's a fact that it's the biggest title in sports we are talking about and I simply do not buy or accept the notion of HBO not picking up the fight because Wlad is dull. Holmes was exceptionally boring at times as well. So I'm building up to say that maybe it's because Wlad isn't yank or maybe, MAYBE it's because wlad doesn't fight for GBP or Top Rank.

Another thing is that HBO broadcasters and a lot (most?) of the US media/broadcasters has a tendency to look for the bad things (robotic, jabzzz etc.) instead of the aesthetic in the dominance. I'm not saying that Wlad is the biggest thing since sliced bread, but I think you get the picture.

Another thing is the double standards. When klitschko (either) fails to KO an inferior opponent, or maybe even does it to late, it's always the klit that is to blame. Never or rarely is it mentioned that the opponent perhaps has a negative approach. It's the exact opposite when it comes to Pac. He didn't get ANY blame for failing to stop a negative opponent. I smell something here. I don't know what it is, but it is foul.

[Jim Jeffries]

I'm pretty sure Wlad would've stopped him a bit earlier if not for the torn glove incident, which bought Eddie a ton of time, and after which he was rejuvenated.

[Junito-Rulez]

[βetamax]

Of course we do not know if K2 priced themselves out, but I doubt it since the obscure ESPN classic picked up a recent klitfight if I'm not mistaken. However you could be right. It could also be that K2 should try a different approach namely by going for a major network like ABC, CBS or NBC who BITD showed plenty of boxing, so if anyone from K2 reads this feel free to take this input from me .

As I said we don't know who proced themselves out, but it's a fact that it's the biggest title in sports we are talking about and I simply do not buy or accept the notion of HBO not picking up the fight because Wlad is dull. Holmes was exceptionally boring at times as well. So I'm building up to say that maybe it's because Wlad isn't yank or maybe, MAYBE it's because wlad doesn't fight for GBP or Top Rank.

Another thing is that HBO broadcasters and a lot (most?) of the US media/broadcasters has a tendency to look for the bad things (robotic, jabzzz etc.) instead of the aesthetic in the dominance. I'm not saying that Wlad is the biggest thing since sliced bread, but I think you get the picture.

Another thing is the double standards. When klitschko (either) fails to KO an inferior opponent, or maybe even does it to late, it's always the klit that is to blame. Never or rarely is it mentioned that the opponent perhaps has a negative approach. It's the exact opposite when it comes to Pac. He didn't get ANY blame for failing to stop a negative opponent. I smell something here. I don't know what it is, but it is foul.

A few other things to consider as why HBO didn't show the fight:

-It would have been in direct competition with the NCAA tournament which is quite popular here in the US.

-The fight took place in Germany which as already touched on makes things a little more difficult, then say, having the fight held at Madison Square Garden.

-Chambers put on a poor performance in his lone HBO showing and Klitschko's recent fights against smaller opponents like Chagaev and Ibragimov weren't exactly entertaining so it wasn't unreasonable to suspect this fight might turn out the same way, which it did for the most part.

It's not like they haven't shown many of Klitschko's fights in the past so they data available as what is to be expected and I can only assume that they simply felt this fight wasn't in their best financial interest.

As far as Pacquiao, how could someone possibly blame him for not stopping Clottey? He did everything he could including throwing close to 1300 punches if I recall correctly.

I think the frustration with Klitschko comes from the fact that people see this 6'6", 250 pound monster dominating his opponent yet not willing to step on the gas when they're there for the taken even though he does eventually get the job done, just not in the most exciting fashion along the way up to that point.

Sure, there's some unfair criticism but let's not forget that our best fighter, Floyd Mayweather, is probably criticized even more by the US media.

[ShoulderRoll]

I keep saying this over and over: Pacquiao is not a Yank, yet we absolutely love him over here. Where is the supposed jingoism and nationalism that won't allow us to give credit to a foreigner?

You Klitschko fans need to maybe take a closer look and ask yourselves what does Manny have that Klitschko doesn't?