How would Klitschko's career have looked without the use of illegal tactics?

[marvelousmatt]

You should kno better. Peter was never that good. At his best, when he was really motivated he beat Toney in a fairly tight rematch. These guys are also now claiming that Sander's was a devistating puncher....All to try to say that Vlad is on the level of a guy like Lewis, and furthermore better than a great fighter like Ali.

Peter at his best would not be trifle for an ATG heavyweight. Peter never beat anyone of any substance and was relatively slow....Vlad went tooth and nail with him...lets just compare the Golata that Lewis fought and took out with a few punches to that version of Peter where Vlad was floored, and had to really fight to win....Ridiculous to assert that this makes Vlad a great fighter.

And I want everyone to notice how Sanders (who I think the world of RIP) becomes a "devistating" puncher when trying to make a case for Vlad. Usually Sanders is considered quite mediocre otherwise.

Sanders was never considered "mediocre." He was a legit top 10 HW who could hit like a mule and was a southpaw. Vlad needed that KO loss to fix some huge mistakes that he had gotten into and get an American legend to train him.

[marvelousmatt]

Do you think an ATG heavyweight would have to go tooth and nail with a figher of Sam's calibre? Do you think that Sam's chin, because of modern training and size is immeasurably better than other heavyweight's punch resistance? and do you think that Sander's qualifies as an awesome puncher who could have beat any great heavweight? Because this is how the Sam victory is used when trying to get Vlad a decent win by many knuckleheads here. Sam was always a ponderous fighter. Toney when taking him seriously had no real problems with him. Do you think Lewis would have problems with Sam? I don't.

ATG Ali got dropped by cab drivers and LHW's.

Lewis got KTFO'd by Rock and McCall.

And....even the best HW ever..Joe Louis... got KTFO'd by Schmelling.

It happens, it is called HW boxing.

[billeau2]

ATG Ali got dropped by cab drivers and LHW's.

Lewis got KTFO'd by Rock and McCall.

And....even the best HW ever..Joe Louis... got KTFO'd by Schmelling.

It happens, it is called HW boxing.

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[marvelousmatt]

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alt for who?

I am Marvelous Matt.no alts here

[Elroy1]

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And yet another invalid point

[Jim Jeffries]

Funny how people still bring up the Puritty fight over 16 years later. Lennox Lewis' entire career was only 14 years.

20 straight wins over the last decade, 17 of them title fights. Not bad considering most had written him off after the 3rd KO loss. If he were to lose tomorrow, people would claim he was still in his prime. Must be the longest prime in HW history.

[Scott9945]

Funny how people still bring up the Puritty fight over 16 years later. Lennox Lewis' entire career was only 14 years.

20 straight wins over the last decade, 17 of them title fights. Not bad considering most had written him off after the 3rd KO loss. If he were to lose tomorrow, people would claim he was still in his prime. Must be the longest prime in HW history.

Wladimir is definitely past his prime, even if his terrible recent competition doesn't reveal it. I think Pulev will be a surprisingly tough fight for him. Your points are all very valid here.

[Elroy1]

Wladimir is definitely past his prime, even if his terrible recent competition doesn't reveal it. I think Pulev will be a surprisingly tough fight for him. Your points are all very valid here.

What was so terrible about his recent competition?

In particular Povetkin?

[Joeyzagz]

Even if Wladimir was undefeated in this shtty era of Hws, his resume is so poor he'd still be regarded as decently mediocre at best.

Calzagge and Mayweather went unbeaten AND had stiffer comp than Wladimir. No ones out calling them the greatest.

[Elroy1]

Even if Wladimir was undefeated in this shtty era of Hws, his resume is so poor he'd still be regarded as decently mediocre at best.

Calzagge and Mayweather went unbeaten AND had stiffer comp than Wladimir. No ones out calling them the greatest.

Yes, as opposed to the undefeated reign of Marciano.

Or the murderous slog that Louis had to endure,

Or the pinnacle of the elite that Muhammad Ali had to face.

No wonder Louis and Ali had losses, what with competition like that.

Peter, Thompson, Povetkin, Haye, Chagaev, Ibragimov, Rahman etc could not hold a candle to such awesome forces as these guys opponents.

Every generation has been labelled as the worst era in history.

And every generation has viewed it as pretty much the death of hw boxing, yet it has endured.

If that's to be believed then things have gotten progressively worse since Sullivan hung up his gloves.

From the taboo, illegal, drunken bum sport of backyard America, to the highly professionalised and globalised sport HW boxing is today, the growth of it's athletes the application of sports science, the roughly quadrupling of the talent pool and the popularisation of boxing, the notion of this being the worst HW era is nothing short of insane.

There has never been an era stronger than what might be termed the Klitschko era, with the single possible exception of arguably the Lewis era.