Comments Thread For: Photos: Wladimir Klitschko, Alex Leapai Go Face To Face

[Jedi Vader]

Lepai is Klitschko's mandatory.

[Szef]

Absolutely.

It's a far too easy excuse to use when this fight is quite clearly a joke any way you wish to twist and turn it. The guy hasn't beaten any good competition, he has multiple stoppage losses on his record to guys with little-to-no pedigree whatsoever and you said it was similar to tony tucker who coincidentally was the WBC #1 contender as well as #5 in the world by ring magazine. Lewis knocked him down for the first and second time in his career as well. something Tyson couldn't do.

Speaking of Lewis and mandatories, he gave up his WBA belt so he didn't have to fight John Ruiz - an opponent he didn't think was up to the standards required to face Lewis.

There are many fights on Lewis' resume you could have chosen, but Tony Tucker is simply not one of them. Other than that, Wlad doesn't even want to fight Leapai and has said motivation will be hard to find. so why defend it when even he thinks it's a joke of a fight? Now, this is actually coming from the man who said Mormeck was like Mike Tyson, only faster.

Leapai must be pretty **** no?

But I do respect Wlad for fighting his mandatories.

Just because he lost to Tyson before facing Lewis doesn't make him a worthy opponent.

The same thing with Leapei, he beat Boytsov but other than that he's never done anything worth mentioning.

Both fights are shit.

That's the point I was trying to prove to Princess Leia and Frankie Bruno when they said that Klitschko - Lepai is the worst HW championship bout ever.

[LacedUp]

Just because he lost to Tyson before facing Lewis doesn't make him a worthy opponent.

The same thing with Leapei, he beat Boytsov but other than that he's never done anything worth mentioning.

Both fights are shit.

That's the point I was trying to prove to Princess Leia and Frankie Bruno when they said that Klitschko - Lepai is the worst HW championship bout ever.

I completely understand where you wanted to go, you just picked the wrong fight. Choose someone like akinwande or someone like Mavrovic.

Tucker was a pretty decent heavyweight for his time and had beaten pretty decent competition. Especially compared to Leapai who has done absolutely nothing.

[TaurusJ27]

Wlad tko's Leapai in the 8th.

[PainfromUkraine]

Why should or would Wlad appease some haters on an internet forum and lose one of his belts? Then I bet someone would say he ducked a bum and was responsible for releasing a paper title into the pool to make the division more convoluted. It's not his fault that the WBO is a **** organisation who had that bum Boytsov up there as a mando and even worse to then hand that to bum Leapai based on one win which I don't think was an even an eliminator but a scheduled tune-up 10 round fight for Boytsov!

Clearly, Leapai has shown no pedigree at all that truly warrants him a fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. This fight with Leapai though may be a joke, but that is simply not the fault of Wlad and as others have said, he might as well get his mandatories out of the way as champions should, and set himself up for bigger fights in the year having tuned himself up and cleaned out another fighter from the division, while also allowing the rest of the division to sort itself out a bit and give some true contenders rather than unproven prospects or hype jobs

[Phatfarm1980]

I am impressed how Wlad manages to stay hungry and dedicated to the sport after so long. Especially since he fights bums. It must be difficult to get motivated and up for a fight if you're rarely challenged as the opposition is poor.

[Grimmer]

I'd rather Wlad get his mandatory out of the way now whilst the other heavyweights are in a bit of a number 1 contender vacuum. Wlad just beat Povetkin and Fury/Chisora/Wilder/Stiverne all need a couple of wins to build to establish themselves are the number 2 in the division.

If Wlad doesn't fight Leapai then he loses his WBO strap which then gives one of the other heavyweights a chance to call themselves world champion and avoid Wlad.

I'm glad Wlad is holding onto the belts and pretty much ensuring the other top contenders have to fight each other to get a shot. Wlad's 38? If he didn't fight his Mandatory he probably wouldn't be fighting more than once a year. The Wilder/ Fury fights will still be there in the autumn, I can wait, I'm not desperate to see Wlad fight any of the current crop like I was for Haye v Wlad. There's not a clear number 1 contender yet Wlad should face. He just beat Povetkin.

Like I said, it's not a great opponent, but I'm happy Wlad's getting his mando out of the way now, whilst it's not holding up a bigger fight.

[Dr.Eisenfaust]

Mismatch like all Klitschko fights. This dude doesn't have the reach and sure as hell doesn't have the power to make a threat. Wladimir by ko within 5 rounds. Lets see this guy fight Wilder, someone who is just as big and hits harder.

I know for a fact that not only Wlad hits harder with both hands but Wlad also gave him a beating when they sparred together back in october 2012.

That's why Wilder was fighting journeymen : to gain confidence.

[Grimmer]

I know for a fact that not only Wlad hits harder with both hands but Wlad also gave him a beating when they sparred together back in october 2012.

That's why Wilder was fighting journeymen : to gain confidence.

Sparring is not comparable to a real match at all. Many fans mistakenly think sparring is an "off the record" boxing match. They're not.

When sparring partners from the same gym fight, they are told to fight a certain way, either to learn a style to prepare for a certain gameplan, or just to tune up and develop certain skills. When sparring partners are brought in to replicate a style, it's still not about trying to beat the other guy in sparring, they're usually paid and instructed to fight a style to mimic an opponent, if you're a fighter who literally attempts to KO a sparring partner, you ain't likely to get hired or paid as a sparring partner again. They're suppose to spar to let the other guy get practice against a style or specific attributes. Not as warm up fights. Nobody gains anything from KOing a sparring partner, whom isn't treating the sparring session as seriously as the other guy.

[Dr.Eisenfaust]

Sparring is not comparable to a real match at all. Many fans mistakenly think sparring is an "off the record" boxing match. They're not.

When sparring partners from the same gym fight, they are told to fight a certain way, either to learn a style to prepare for a certain gameplan, or just to tune up and develop certain skills. When sparring partners are brought in to replicate a style, it's still not about trying to beat the other guy in sparring, they're usually paid and instructed to fight a style to mimic an opponent, if you're a fighter who literally attempts to KO a sparring partner, you ain't likely to get hired or paid as a sparring partner again. They're suppose to spar to let the other guy get practice against a style or specific attributes. Not as warm up fights. Nobody gains anything from KOing a sparring partner, whom isn't treating the sparring session as seriously as the other guy.

Anyway, Wilder got dropped...