Comments Thread For: Subpar Foe Doesn’t Mean Klitschko’s Not an All-Timer

[Jloro]

I don't get the criticism. People ***** when mandos get ducked then ***** when mandos get their shot.

Leapai beat Boytstov who would have been a very credible opponent for Wlad. Upsets are great but when the underdog wins and gets a shot on the big stage it creates for mismatches.

People will forget about this fight if he goes on to beat Pulev and Fury this year. Then next year it will be the undisputed showdown against Stiverne/Areola/Wilder.

I would be much more impressed with Wlad if he did that, Leapai did nothing for him but another number lol

[-PBP-]

boystyov hadn't fought a soul. why would that be a good fight? how he got to number 1 is mind boggling. he must have a powerful promoter. as to how leapai got put into the mandatory... more funny behind the scenes shenanigans. the fight against boystov wasn't an eliminator. it wasn't even a 12 round fight and all of a sudden he's appointed mandatory?

So what should he have done dropped the WBO belt?

Then you would have Leapai vs. Chisora for the WBO heavyweight title. Wlad needs belts or he would be ducked.

And weren't you saying Wlad is ducking Wilder? Who has Wilder beaten?

[Suavecito80]

The way Wlad choose to fight against Povetkin might have ******. But, he still beat him and did it rather easily.

I hope you don't complain about any Mayweather fights.

[Holywarrior]

He beat the #1 challenger in every aspect of the game and dropped him 4 times en route to a total annihilation to his mandatory.

When Hopkins holds, hits in the hip while holding, head butts, fakes injury, etc. it's brilliance from an old genius. When Wladimir does it, it's 'sucking'. Why do you show up in any and all Klitschko threads anyways?

Hmmm, I wonder?

Wladmir should've been DQ'd in the Povetkin fight. I agree he is great but there is nothing that can ever justify the Povetkin fight

[Holywarrior]

So what should he have done dropped the WBO belt?

Then you would have Leapai vs. Chisora for the WBO heavyweight title. Wlad needs belts or he would be ducked.

And weren't you saying Wlad is ducking Wilder? Who has Wilder beaten?

Who cares if he doesn't have the WBO belt besides the guys collecting the sanctioning fee?

[bojangles1987]

Who cares if he doesn't have the WBO belt besides the guys collecting the sanctioning fee?

Wlad fights often enough that fights like Leapai aren't a big deal. Nothing wrong with a bad fight defending against a mandatory when you know the champ will fight more credible opponents.

Besides, it would be cool if Wlad could get the WBC at some point and hold every belt. You don't see that anymore, and Wlad actually has a chance at it.

[Holywarrior]

Wlad fights often enough that fights like Leapai aren't a big deal. Nothing wrong with a bad fight defending against a mandatory when you know the champ will fight more credible opponents.

Besides, it would be cool if Wlad could get the WBC at some point and hold every belt. You don't see that anymore, and Wlad actually has a chance at it.

Titles are absolutely meaningless nowadays when you get to the level Wladmir has.

[kafkod]

To anyone that even tries to compare Wlad to the Great Joe Louis, read this excerpt below from a true boxing mind that is un biased.



"Louis was a quiet assassin. Wlad is just quiet"

I have read your comments in the past and you seem to be hard on Wladimir Klitschko but you praise Joe Louis. Both of their competition has been poor not just Wladimir***8217;s. Yet you rate Louis really high but not Wlad and the results were similar? Why?

Bread***8217;s Response: First off just look at Joe Louis fight. Pick a fight between 1938-42, which was his prime, and check him out. He was simply magnificent. He had perfect balance, perfect punch technique and the perfect demeanor. He was the greatest puncher and finisher in boxing history. He also had the best punch delivery and his prime was 70 years ago. That should tell you something about his technical skills.
Now you say Louis***8217;s competition was poor but I think it was average to good. I think the term ***8220;Bum of the Month Club***8221; was used at the time to discredit how great Mr. Louis was. Anytime you have a fighter defend a title in extended reigns he will have B and C class competition. Nobody will make 15 defenses against 15 HOFs. But those writers that called his competition ***8220;bums***8221; didn***8217;t mention that Louis crammed his 25 title defenses in about 7 years of an active reign. Louis was also robbed of some prime performances by World War II but NO ONE ever talks about it. Look closely at his record. After the first quarter of 1942 he didn***8217;t defend his title again until 1944 and that was really an exhibition bout that they decided to count. Then after that he didn***8217;t defend again until 1946 and his best days were over. So Joe Louis served his country and didn***8217;t get to defend his title for several years***8230;. In fact his reign could be considered more impressive because he probably would have made 40 title defenses instead of 25 consecutive which still have never been broken.
Now let***8217;s look at his competition. Joe Louis faced 7 Hall Of Famerss: Max Schmeling, Max Baer, Billy Conn, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott , Rocky Marciano and Jimmy Bivins. He also fought Buddy Baer, Abe Simon, Lou Nova and Arturo Godoy. The last 4 were decent, tough pugs... far from bums. The first 7 are HOF fighters. I find it ironic that Joe Louis***8217;s reign and competition was called the Bum of the Month tour but Jack Dempsey***8217;s title reign had no demeaning nicknames and he defended his title 5 times in 7 years. Tell me who were the best 3 fighters Dempsey faced. See how this goes***8230;..
Because we didn***8217;t live in those times, historians can be cruel. But I don***8217;t take anything for face value. I research, study and cross reference everything. Joe Louis didn***8217;t face the competition Muhammad Ali or Evander Holyfield faced but he faced decent guys. He cleared out an entire era and more importantly he didn***8217;t duck anyone unlike aforementioned Dempsey. By the way I am a fan of Dempsey***8217;s.
I bring him up to show an accurate analogy. Louis***8217;s reign started just 11 years after Dempsey***8217;s was over***8230; Since Wlad has been receiving criticism for some reason people pick out Joe Louis***8217;s reign. You guys need to stop. Name me the HOF fighters Wlad has beaten. Give Wlad the eyeball test and you will see a large man, who is extremely powerful, yet he fights as tepid as an elderly, frail skeleton. Louis is nothing like Wlad my friend. Louis was a quiet assassin, Wlad is just quiet.

Oh and for those who say that Louis ***8220;almost***8221; lost to a Billy Conn, a light heavyweight, or if his fight with Conn would have been 12 rounds he would***8217;ve lost are just simple minded. Louis had the same physical dimensions over Conn that Wlad has over most of his opponents and none are as good as Conn. Louis was losing on the cards, it's true but he knocked Conn out conclusively and then did the same thing in a rematch. If it would have been a 12 round fight he would have attacked him earlier. Back to Dempsey, he was out boxed by a light heavyweight in Gene Tunney see how this goes.... A fight back then was 15 rounds***8230;.. That***8217;s a long time to be in the ring with a killer like Joe Louis.

Now let***8217;s talk about long reigns. Because the best fighter Wlad has beaten has been Tony Thompson, we don***8217;t even need to talk about him. Champions like Larry Holmes, Orlando Canizales, Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, and Bob Foster. Those modern reigns were some of the more notable lengthy reigns and Louis' competition were either equal to or better than all of them, yet Louis' reign gets called the Bum of the Month tour.
Name me the three best fighters each of them beat in their reigns and compare to the so-called Bum of the Month club. Get back with me after you come up with an answer and stop disrespecting Joe Louis Barrow. He was 10 times the fighter Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are.

Nobody would ever call the whole of Joe Louis' reign the "bum of the month tour." "The bum of the month club" was the name boxing writers back in the 40's gave to a series of quite poor opponents Joe fought, at the rate of one per month, from Dec 1940 to May 1941.
And he did almost lose to Billy Conn. Conn was ahead on points and seemed in control of the fight after 12 rounds, but got over-confident and went for the ko instead of sticking with his boxing. Doesn't mean Joe wasn't a great champion. Billy Conn was a very fast and clever boxer, but not wise enough to stick to his game plan, luckily for Joe.
The rematch didn't happen till more than 5 years later, after the 2nd WW ended. Neither was the same fighter by then.
Louis would have had even more defences if the war hadn't interrupted his reign as champion. He was an amazing fighter, no doubt about that.

[SUBZER0ED]

No he shouldn't have.



So when Ali hugs and holds guys heads (illegally), rabbit punches them, and chases them after a knockdown instead of going to a neutral corner, it's not worthy of a DQ? Ali got away with every dirty tactic because he was Ali.

When Ali decided to lay on the ropes and hug Foreman until he got tired, people called him brilliant. When Tyson's opponents hugged him after every punch to keep his arms quiet, they called it "frustrating Tyson." When Wlad uses a junky strategy to take the fight away from a guy, people say he ****** and needed to be DQ'd?

You guys have no idea what you are talking about.

Wlad is one of the best of all-time. He's dominating like great champions do. In a head-to-head match against the game's greats, there aren't many who would even lay a glove on him. Lewis retired instead of fighting him, that's for sure.

None of those dirty tactics of Ali or others I have seen, compare to the utterly cowardly looking crap that Klitschko used against Povetkin. No way that could be mistaken for "brilliant"! If you consider it as such, I pity you. That the ref didn't penalize him more speaks to his ineptness as an official. Grabbing and holding because you don't want to get hit, is different from hanging & leaning on the guy's neck and back for dear life, because you are afraid you will get KTFO! A battle-worn, unfocused Lewis stopped Vitali. A prime Lewis would have destroyed Wladmir. Don't forget, they were trained by the same late, great Emanuel Steward. The torch was being passed from an old champ to the future young champ from the same camp.

[Ravens Fan]

It was pathetic.

I am Wlad fan but I still won't make excuses for him. With that said it was very frustrating to watch that fight. However, Wlad still won easy and I believe he could have stopped Povetkin when ever he wanted to. I also believe that, as Haye was, Povetkin deserves his share of the blame on how the fight was fought. That is something that Wlad's detractors never seem to mention.