Wladimir Klitschko

[Joey Giardello]

Why doesnt klitschko get the same respect as former great fighters who were saftey first, had defence and always wasnt great to watch, such as jack johnson and gene tunney, tommy loughran, maxie rosenbloom. Wladimir has never avoided no one and is the true art of boxing hit and not be hit. After he shuts haye up i think he will get his due respect as a truly great fighter. On a side note how can bert sugar give this man no respect when he ranks fighters as maxi rosenbloom so high who got the nick name slapsie maxi cos he didnt want to commit to a puch so he would just slap or paw his punches. Bert is full of bull ****!

[StarshipTrooper]

Why doesnt klitschko get the same respect as former great fighters who were saftey first, had defence and always wasnt great to watch, such as jack johnson and gene tunney, tommy loughran, maxie rosenbloom. Wladimir has never avoided no one and is the true art of boxing hit and not be hit. After he shuts haye up i think he will get his due respect as a truly great fighter. On a side note how can bert sugar give this man no respect when he ranks fighters as maxi rosenbloom so high who got the nick name slapsie maxi cos he didnt want to commit to a puch so he would just slap or paw his punches. Bert is full of bull ****!

Wlad doesn't get respect because he was KTFO by Ross Purrity of all people.

Poet

[JAB5239]

Wlad doesn't get respect because he was KTFO by Ross Purrity of all people.

Poet

I half heartedly agree with my friend Poet. His loss to Purrity came when he was younger and his inexperience ruled that particular fight. But his losses to Brewster and Sanders were pretty devastating whe looking at his career as a whole, and his wins, while being mostly dominant, have been pretty lackluster overall and against a very weak crop of fighter.

Wlad has skills, but many times he looks afraid to engage and I believe that takes away from his appeal, thusfore he does't get the respect some think he deserves. Add to that his rather dull personality and I think that is why his career is ridiculed by some.

Myself, I think him and Vitaly are the two best heavyweights out there. But what does that really say when you look at the rest of the fighters in that division?

Almost every era encounters ridicule. But todays heavies are mostly fat, throw very few punches, gas out easily and are incosistent. Just my opinion of course.

[ßringer]

I half heartedly agree with my friend Poet. His loss to Purrity came when he was younger and his inexperience ruled that particular fight. But his losses to Brewster and Sanders were pretty devastating whe looking at his career as a whole, and his wins, while being mostly dominant, have been pretty lackluster overall and against a very weak crop of fighter.

Wlad has skills, but many times he looks afraid to engage and I believe that takes away from his appeal, thusfore he does't get the respect some think he deserves. Add to that his rather dull personality and I think that is why his career is ridiculed by some.

Myself, I think him and Vitaly are the two best heavyweights out there. But what does that really say when you look at the rest of the fighters in that division?

Almost every era encounters ridicule. But todays heavies are mostly fat, throw very few punches, gas out easily and are incosistent. Just my opinion of course.

I concur with JAB and Poet.

It's hard to imagine Wladimir Klitschko being a serious force in a stacked Heavyweight division.

Vitali? Yeah. I could see that. He'd be a tough go for damn near anyone.

Wlad? Not so much.....

[LondonRingRules]

Wlad has skills, but many times he looks afraid to engage and I believe that takes away from his appeal, thusfore he does't get the respect some think he deserves.

** You talking about Wlad or a prime Ali?

No heavy save Joe Louis and Mike Tyson has ever gotten proper respect in their primes. The accolades start near the end of their careers, build to a peak, decline, and then settle into a range.

Purity loss was less to inexperience and more to being overtrained and over worked without a break, 25th fight in 25 months as a pro in a 12 rounder. His team basically projected the Superman tag on him where he just showed up and they fell in each new serial release.

Once he gets a belt he has to slow down since title fights are harder to negotiate and sign and the opponent base is so much smaller, but he's been a very active champ.

About your perception of his "unwillingness to engage." He is a made fighter, not a natural fighter like his brother and has never learned to fight at mid range or inside save his signature defensive move, the wrap. Typical fans want to see a fight and pick up on this.

There is also the perception that both lack the "killer instinct" in spite of prodigious KO ratios. Their forte is the methodical way they dismantle opponents, but the typical fight fan lacks the attention span to appreciate workman like craftsmanship.

Both very good at controlling pace and distance from outside. Heavies are dismissed for fatness and lack of pace by those shortsighted critics who always fail to see history in the making. The nature of the division has changed because of new regulations, thus changing the nature of the fighter. With the money available to a dynamic champ, plenty of incentive for non-fat, fit fighters to rise to the top, but they have generally proven to be unable to cope over the long haul.

There is also the prejudice against Eastern Europeans, particularly against "Russians," and then the prejudice against "Giants." Willard the first giant can be seen today as being widely disparaged as is Carnera.

In general, most heavy champs until the ABC era were elected to the HOF. Seeing how dominant Wlad and Vitali have been, I suggest that will be true unless there's a dramatic downturn in their careers.

[BattlingNelson]

Wlad will be higher regarded once his career is over. It's quite common that current champions is rated quite low and it's difficult to gauge the value of a career when it's not finished and one is unaware of future accomplishments of the opponents faced.

[GJC]

It is true that fighters don't always get the respect they deserve whilst their career is active. Many would say they are getting the respect they deserve at the moment.
I haven't seen anything to make me think that either is going to make the ATG HW list of anyone who is not going to base that list from Tyson onwards.
I do think they are probably the best HWs out there at the moment, sadly.

[kenso]

i dont think the loss to brewster was legit... it was clear that wlad was very ill. his blood sugar level was like 4x higher than normal after the fight. he destroyed brewster up until the time where he basically fell out. brewster never landed anything clean or devastating, he just threw a ton of punches and got the crowd wild. also wlad avenged that loss with relative ease.

with that said, wlad has shown significant improvement in each fight. hes a fighter that has learned from his losses.

[PLATE]

Wlad will be higher regarded once his career is over. It's quite common that current champions is rated quite low and it's difficult to gauge the value of a career when it's not finished and one is unaware of future accomplishments of the opponents faced.

Those ridiculous KO losses, coming so early in his career, may not sit well with historians though

[BennyST]

The Purrity loss and the Brewster loss were because he was poisoned? That's what I was told by Klitschko fans.