Was Sven Ottke good?

[daggum]

Didnt you just answer your own question? He was never a knockout puncher...

well a lot of people like to pretend he was and point to his high knockout ratio as evidence. i point to his early stoppages and slapping technique as evidence he couldn't punch.

[Dambala]

If he'd had the balls to leave Germany he would have lost several times and, possibly, been knocked out. A cynical alphabet strap wearer - a product of modern boxing.

This is the right answer. You gotta accept he had a nice defense but that's all, just an above average boxer, don't let his resume fool you, he really lost some of those fights.

[wazaa.]

I hated Calzaghe long before Calzaghe made any negative comments about Amir.

And I don't hate Froch. I think he is ok. I laugh at his boxing skills though.

[Suckmedry]

Good skills, but he was not really a standout fighter. Very lucky to have an "0".

[dan-b]

^^^^^This is a prime example of knee-jerk reactions I'm talking about.

The first part is of the post is obviously outragerous and the second part is one-sided bias. I mean was Calzaghe ever ready to fight an elite opponent in his hometurf?

So maybe Calzaghe would have 'destroyed' Ottke, but I doubt that very much. Ottke was very elusive and almost impossible to land a clean shot (or slap) on.

No knee-jerk here, boss; we got all of Ottke's fights on Eurosport UK. Sky Sports even picked up a few of his bouts when they were trying to build a Calzaghe-Ottke fight. As I said, team Ottke just straight up refused to acknowledge Joe's existence.

Personally I wish Joe had thrown his WBOgus in the trash and become mandatory for Ottke's IBF title, but he would have lost all leverage in negotiations had he done that. I criticised Stay Home Joe many times for not travelling to fight better opponents, but I don't blame him for Ottke as people were getting robbed left, right and centre in Germany at that time.

[check hook]

34 had tried. 34 had failed.

Ottke was a highly skilled technician and defensive master nicknamed the phanom for a reason. He had a superb AM-pedigree with over 300 fights including wins over Michael Moorer, Chris Byrd, Ibragimov, Tarver etc.

He turned pro very late and succesfully continued his AM-style in the proranks. He couoldn't crack an egg and was spoilerish in his style. He won several controversial decisions, but his resume gets overly ridiculed on these boards probably due to knee-jerk reactions from posters who never saw him fight or perhaps they have listened too much to biased commentary.

What stands is that Ottke was the no.1 at 168 above Joe Calzaghe, who first became no.1 when Ottke retired. At least that's how I remember it. Ottke has notable wins over Brewer, Markussen, Glen Johnson, Mundine as well as close wins over Reid, Larsen and Mitchell.

He is ok. An inexperienced Mundine (though he was very fast and sharp) was beating him in that fight.....**** luck, he walked right into a shot that caught him on the temple and he went down like a sack of ****e.

[K-Yo]

Originally posted by BattlingNelson

Watch from about 1.10 where Reid looks to be robbed of a legit KD although Reid might have tripped Ottke. After that Reid's fouling commences. I suggest taking of off the extremely biased brit commentators:

Could you please tell me how Reid tripped Ottke there because I've watched a few times and I can't see it myself. I see a legit KD

You mention the biased British commentating but you fail to mention the Biased German television company who refuse to show the replay at the end of the round?

[BattlingNelson]

No knee-jerk here, boss; we got all of Ottke's fights on Eurosport UK. Sky Sports even picked up a few of his bouts when they were trying to build a Calzaghe-Ottke fight. As I said, team Ottke just straight up refused to acknowledge Joe's existence.

Personally I wish Joe had thrown his WBOgus in the trash and become mandatory for Ottke's IBF title, but he would have lost all leverage in negotiations had he done that. I criticised Stay Home Joe many times for not travelling to fight better opponents, but I don't blame him for Ottke as people were getting robbed left, right and centre in Germany at that time.

Regarding Calzaghe-Ottke: Why put the entire blame on Ottke? Why not Calzaghe who was the no. 2 guy? It's not like he was eager to fight abroad.

[BattlingNelson]

Could you please tell me how Reid tripped Ottke there because I've watched a few times and I can't see it myself. I see a legit KD

You mention the biased British commentating but you fail to mention the Biased German television company who refuse to show the replay at the end of the round?

Oh I merely tried to give some kinda defense for the referee for not calling what looked like a legit KD. Point was we didn't get a replay and I think it's POSSIBLE that Ottke fell over Reid's legs.

In any case the reason for me posting the vid was simply to put the myth to rest that Reid was penalized for punching Ottke in the face.

[OptimusWolf]

That one is a myth.

Reid had been cautioned for holding and ramming his head into Ottke. When he rammed the head in Ottke's gut the ref had seen enough and deducted a point.

That was taking the ref's view.

So maybe the infractions by Reid wasn't enough to warrent a point deducted, but it's not the worst I've seen and it had nothing to do with Reid being penalized for landing a punch.

Watch from about 1.10 where Reid looks to be robbed of a legit KD although Reid might have tripped Ottke. After that Reid's fouling commences. I suggest taking of off the extremely biased brit commentators:

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I've not seen tha before. Did as you suggested and watched without sound....there was clearly something up wit the officiating. The KD I couldn't see from the camera angle, but he was calling the clinches completely wrong.....in one direction.