Comments Thread For: Klitschko, Leapai Agree To Terms, Avoid Purse Bid

[cupocity303]

This is getting kind of redundant... and the ATG talk is ridiculous. If there was a super heavyweight division in the pros, I think it would improve the sport. Make the cutoff 225-230. Look at all the other weight classes leading up to HW, some every 4-5 lbs. No reason a SHW class shouldn't exist.

And if Wlad didn't have so much height and reach advantage, he'd just be a gatekeeper...

Red K given for a fallacious post. You clearly haven't thought this through.

1. No Super-Heavyweight division is necessary. We already have too many divisions , we hardly need to break tradition and make the "Heavyweight Championship of the World" even more worthless.

2. Do you say to Shaq O'neal that if he didn't have the height and weight advantage, he wouldn't be such a great Center. Or basketball player in general? If height and weight was all there is to it then how come the other fighters who were/are just as tall aren't as effective as Wlad or Vitali?

Finally, in conclusion:

[joe strong]

Sorry, it's just your post read exactly like you're blaming Wladimir for things he's not in control of and putting things on him that I don't think are on him. Let me state my case in why I'm disagreeing with you, not trying to get personal or anything, but I say this: No, it's not on him to get anybody out quickly. It's on him to win his fights. Everybody always seems to say the same thing when it comes to Wlad, haters and lovers about him getting guys out early. It's not his responsibility but it's also not smart. His faults do not play well with trying to blitz people fast. He's a 240+ guy in his late thirties now and he wasn't built for it in his twenties in the 220's. He learned. Almost all of us like that Wlad more but we all need to learn that's not what works for him and he knows it. His responsibility is to make sure he's not vulnerable and get the win. People are not being sensible when they want him to work against himself.

It's not on him to call out his contenders. It's on them to get him. That's what the job of a contender is. Literally. That's their job. That's why they have the avenue to become mandatory challengers. That's the entire system for over a century. Contenders go after champions.

It's on Fury and Wilder if they wanted the fight in the first place to get there before somebody like Boytsov drops one to someone like Leapai. That's if they really want it. Fury was the one who dropped out of the eliminator to earn a shot at Wlad. Wilder is the one who fought Firtha instead of someone like Jennings. If they don't want to be contenders and that's not why they're here, I get that. Business is business and if they don't think it's good business to try and become the best at any given point in their career, I get it. But if they're not trying to get Wlad, it's not on Wlad at all to get them unless they're holding a belt that should be his. He takes care of his mandatories. I'm an American Wilder fan, by the way.

You know what happens when Wlad calls out Fury? I do. Nothing but talk from Fury. I like Fury, he's a fun guy and a good fighter. But let's be real. He has not wanted this. He could've had it in 2012. You know what happened when he called Arreola out? Arreola said he wasn't ready like a lot of guys and Wlad ended up fighting Mormeck with everybody saying **** like "He should be fighting somebody like Fury or Arreola at least." Then Arreola started talking after Wlad had the fight signed as though he's been after it when he was on record saying he wasn't when it was offered. It's pretty funny really. Bottom line, guys complain about contracts, but won't earn a better deal as mandatories? Because they don't want it. So Leapai? If he's the one that wanted it and earned it and signed on the dotted line there's nothing wrong with that. He did what he was supposed to do.

Yeah, on one hand I do agree that the WBO made a crapy eliminator. They rarely enforce a mandatory for Wlad and this one was just ****** and uncalled for and yes Wlad would be doing a cool thing if he told the WBO to f**k off but A. Why would Wlad let them take his hard-earned belt and ruin what to him has always been the ultimate success of keeping all the belts in the family, while pretty much snatching away the lottery ticket won by a guy that came to fight through to a big upset when these other contenders like Wilder haven't even taken fights like that in the first place let alone won them?

Frankly if you had no problem with Pianeta and Wach who had nice looking records but no better wins than Leapai, then Leapai should be fine with you too. He did beat Boytsov and did beat Walker. Better wins than any Wach and Pianeta, don't you think? At least on par for when they beat their best guys. I don't like the fight but I'm not going to pretend Wlad has the ability to snatch anybody he wants or the obligation to give away his ***elry or fight against his winning M.O. People put a lot on Wlad that just ain't on Wlad. That's all I'm saying.

This is a longazz reply. Didn't mean for it to be. Hope it was coherent. I'm pretty tired and I ramble when I get sleepy. I was going to try and cut it down but I gotta be up in like four hours. I'm screwed. I can't worry about post rambling when I'm this screwed.



Yeah why do people think they're too good to become mandatory? Leapai sure isn't one of the most talented guys in the division but he has it over some of the top talents by just taking a fight that would get him a mandatory position and giving it his best. He took the risk and won. If a guy with class talent like Solis did that, we wouldn't have to be complaining about a poor guy like Leapai!





Wlad almost always does better against guys his size. What happened with McCline, Austin, Thompson and Wach, etc? Do people go spontaneously blind every time they see something that doesn't suit their agenda? Too funny. Wlad's size isn't your problem. It's his talent. Watch Chambers against Dimitrenko, then against Wlad. Watch Haye and Chagaev against Valuev, then watch them both against Wlad. Watch Ibragimov against Austin and Whitaker. Then watch him against Wlad. The list goes on forever. It's not a coincidence that average and smaller sized name heavyweights get dominated by Klitschko but not other "super" heavies. There's a reason why David Price and Tyson Fury are not dominating the division because they're bigger than the Klitschkos. Huge guys are all over the place. Wlad is still the boss. Not Valuev, not Helenius, not Kelvin Price and Julius Long. Don't kid yourself. You're talking nonsense.

kevin Johnson has done just this in my opinion. when he was coming up he had a difficult time getting fights. he didn't bring enough money to the table but he was dangerous. he was big, had a good beard & could box. on any given night he could toy with a guy like leapai (he did just that from my understanding). he has realized being an opponent has got him steady work & some travel time. a guy doesn't have to make a million a fight to make it in the sport. shane Cameron, ken lakusta (2 time Canadian champ)& rob calloway are 3 examples of guys who did okay in the sport & used their money to open gyms or other business adventures...

[Grimmer]

"Lineal" Heavyweight Champion? Let's trace that for a moment just starting with Ali. Ali beats Liston then comes out on top of the Frazier/Norton/Foreman storm. Larry Holmes (And Trevor Berbick) Dismantle Ali and retire him. Mike Spinks beats Holmes. Mike Tyson KO's Larry Holmes, Trevor Berbick, Michael Spinks...plus all of the paper title holders. Mike tyson loses to Busturd Douglas, who loses to Evanderoid "The Preaching baby Daddy" Holyfield. Holyfield is whipped by Lennox Lewis. Lewis KO's Tyson. Vitali Klitchko gets beat down by Lennox Lewis and quits. Vitali buys the paper Championship. Vitali quits against Chris Tyrd then becomes the unofficial president of the WBC. Fights when he wants, who he wants. Retires again. Along the way splits paper belts with Wladimir. Wladimir takes over the tradition, appoints "mandatory" contender that no one has ever heard of before.

Wlad has won one fight in his career, David Haye. Haye was obviously not even 80% and Wlad couldnt even hurt him.

Lineal?

He became lineal champ by beating Povetkin who was ranked as the 2nd best heavyweight. Since Haye and Vitali were both unranked not having fought in over a year.

I've been quite critical of people referring to Wlad as the lineal champ and most say he won it in the Chagaev fight, but Chagaev was not the 2nd ranked heavyweight at the time. To be fair to Wlad; Povetkin was. It took nearly a decade but Wlad can finally call himself the heavyweight champion of the world.

Shame his first defence couldn't be against better opposition!

[cupocity303]

He became lineal champ by beating Povetkin who was ranked as the 2nd best heavyweight. Since Haye and Vitali were both unranked not having fought in over a year.

I've been quite critical of people referring to Wlad as the lineal champ and most say he won it in the Chagaev fight, but Chagaev was not the 2nd ranked heavyweight at the time. To be fair to Wlad; Povetkin was. It took nearly a decade but Wlad can finally call himself the heavyweight champion of the world.

Shame his first defence couldn't be against better opposition!

This is all nonsense.

Rankings are subjective. Povetkin didn't even win a Title like Chagaev or Ibragimov or Haye, but won a "Regular" Title of the WBA that Wlad already was the owner of. Where is the logic in Wlad becoming a real champion by beating a non-champion in Povetkin? This would imply that Wlad and Povetkin were equals at the time they fought. That neither was a champion but both were ranked #1 and #2 and nothing else. But we both know that's not true as Wlad is a long time title holder who started the process of unifying the division years ago. Povetkin with his "Regular" Belt or ranking cannot be the guy who makes Wlad lineal. Only in bizzaro world of NSB ******s does this logic make any sense.

[beez721]

This fight is disgusting and inexcusible, seeing as Pulev has been in line for a title shot for nearly 2 years now. I was willing to give Wladimir a free pass for the Mormeck fight, seeing as nobody of note wanted to fight him at the time, but now there's at least 3 guys (Pulev, Fury, Wilder) who would take the opportunity right now and make an interesting fight of it.

Wladimir had better get Leapai out of there in less than one fucking round to erase this mess. If he so much as pushes him down once or falls into a clinch on his own, then he truly is a glass-jawed bitch like everyone says.

ive always been a wlad fan but im with you on this one. no reason why wlad cant just drop the crap corrupt wbo belt and fight pulev fury or wilder next instead. this fight is just beyond ridiculous

[LA_2_Vegas]

This matchup is ridiculous, the way talent is stratified in HW is all screwed up,...

he just had a meaningful fight, so I think he does have some wiggle room on who the next opponent is but

the other fights we'd like to see him in aren't particularly threatening to me..I hope they all turn out to be good fighters but, at this point, they are all a level below Wlad, and IMO Povetkin as well

I would have given him a pass fighting someone on the level below Povetkin not regional, journeymen status which Leapai probably is. I will watch the fight because he will wing his shots and go for it all, but not a good look for Klitschko I don't think. A boring fight, looking bad, or getting clipped by a dude like this and it makes atg discussions difficult

[Grimmer]

This is all nonsense.

Rankings are subjective. Povetkin didn't even win a Title like Chagaev or Ibragimov or Haye, but won a "Regular" Title of the WBA that Wlad already was the owner of. Where is the logic in Wlad becoming a real champion by beating a non-champion in Povetkin? This would imply that Wlad and Povetkin were equals at the time they fought. That neither was a champion but both were ranked #1 and #2 and nothing else. But we both know that's not true as Wlad is a long time title holder who started the process of unifying the division years ago. Povetkin with his "Regular" Belt or ranking cannot be the guy who makes Wlad lineal. Only in bizzaro world of NSB ******s does this logic make any sense.

A lineal championship is not dependant on 3rd party belts. Why is this a hard concept to understand? It had nothing to do with Povetkin's WBA belt. It has everything to do with the fact that Wlad and Povetkin were ranked 1 and 2 respectively by most ranking systems.

And when 1 and 2 face off in a division it creates a lineage. Learn your boxing before you start dishing out insults.

[JAB5239]

A lineal championship is not dependant on 3rd party belts. Why is this's I ch a hard concept to understand? It had nothing to do with Povetkin's WBA belt. It has everything to do with the fact that Wlad and Povetkin were ranked 1 and 2 respectively by most ranking systems.

And when 1 and 2 face off in a division it creates a lineage. Learn your boxing before you start dishing out insults.

Wlad has been the lineal champ since beating Chagaev. This should help clear this up.

[titanium]

Wlad has been the lineal champ since beating Chagaev. This should help clear this up.

No way. Wlad would have to beat his brother to claim that. The lineal title has been vacant since Lewis.

[JAB5239]

No way. Wlad would have to beat his brother to claim that. The lineal title has been vacant since Lewis.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dan-rafael/p...ineage-matters