Where do you rank Wladimir Klitschko among the great heavyweights?

[Fox McCloud]

Thompson is awkward, big and strong, but a faster, clever southpaw boxer like Chagaev would very likely beat him (he beat Valuev and Virchis, who was ranked in the top 10 at the time).

Thompson was outboxed and defeated by a smaller, quicker southpaw in Eric Kirkland.

That was a very green Thompson.

I'm actually not very impressed with Ruslan Chagaev. He's a counterpuncher who gets hit a lot, which is a bad combination. Holyfield did better work against Valuev than he did. Gomez outboxed Virchis more convincingly (although Chagaev's excuse is pretty legit for his poor performance against Virchis).

I think the length of Thompson would be poison to Chagaev.

[The Hammer]

That was a very green Thompson.

I'm actually not very impressed with Ruslan Chagaev. He's a counterpuncher who gets hit a lot, which is a bad combination. Holyfield did better work against Valuev than he did. Gomez outboxed Virchis more convincingly (although Chagaev's excuse is pretty legit for his poor performance against Virchis).

I think the length of Thompson would be poison to Chagaev.

We may never know, since neither fights very often, they are very unlikely to ever face each other..

I think Sultan Ibragimov is an underrated win on Wlad's resume, he was a skillful counterpuncher who was elusive and difficult to hit. Too bad he retired.

[Fox McCloud]

We may never know, since neither fights very often, they are very unlikely to ever face each other..

I think Sultan Ibragimov is an underrated win on Wlad's resume, he was a skillful counterpuncher who was elusive and difficult to hit. Too bad he retired.

I agree.

Unfortunately, his resume BLOWS for being a heavyweight champion.

Asthma Briggs and Holyfield... yeah, not what you want to hear when someone is discussing their best wins.

[Fox McCloud]

BlackIrish says the following:

Chagaev is overrated
-he couldnt beat Ruiz more convincingly than two middleweight and a Cruiserweight could
-a 45 year old man looked more impressive against Valuev than he did.
-He struggled with Carl Drumond(who lost virtually every round against Derrick Rossy 5 months later) and 40 year old Skelton, who got Koed by Martin Rogan, Pianeta and some random guy with 4 fights not long after.

At least Thompson outlanded and outjabbed Wladimir and won a round, I dont think Chagaev could do anything but run into punches all night against Wlad.

[Spray_resistant]

Look, you can only rate these guys based on how they did over all through their career against the fighters that were fighting in the division. I have recently been swayed towards the view that you can't compare any of the best of from different eras with any legitimacy because its just an imaginary fantasy fight and who cares because what you think can never be proven anyway when trying to compare that way.

I look at longevity and consistency most of all over 1 signature win, saying who you beat is more important is like saying Rahman>>> Wlad because he beat ATG Lewis.

What ATGs do and makes them memorable most of all is dominate their era which is what Wlad at his best now is doing regardless of what anyone thinks of the comp. Speaking of the comp, keep in mind a good fighter can look just awful against a great fighter and look incredible against an ok fighter.

[check hook]

Holyfield
Tyson
Lewis
Louis
Frazier
Ali
Foreman
Holmes
Liston
Marciano
Riddick Bowe


All off the top of my head rate higher than Wlad and Vitali in a list of great HW's. I'd say Wlad is somewhere around 20-35.

Not all his fault....the competition in his era is the worst it has ever been IMHO.

And no i don't hate Europeans and am not racist towards Eastern Europeans (i am from EE)----> it's just a fact.

Also i rate Vitali as better than Wlad......i don't care what he says!!!

Wlad because of his style, power and dimensions would give plenty of HW's in the top 25 problems......for others, again because of stylistic reasons he would be cannon fodder. If i could bet on a Wlad vs Mike Tyson fantasy fight i would bet on Tyson KOing him in rd 1.

[Motofan]

16-25. Based on the fact that he is a great fighter, but has never had another great fighter to prove himself against. Plenty of other guys have.

[The Hammer]

BlackIrish says the following:

Chagaev is overrated
-he couldnt beat Ruiz more convincingly than two middleweight and a Cruiserweight could
-a 45 year old man looked more impressive against Valuev than he did.
-He struggled with Carl Drumond(who lost virtually every round against Derrick Rossy 5 months later) and 40 year old Skelton, who got Koed by Martin Rogan, Pianeta and some random guy with 4 fights not long after.

At least Thompson outlanded and outjabbed Wladimir and won a round, I dont think Chagaev could do anything but run into punches all night against Wlad.

Speaking about resumes, who has Tony Thompson ever beaten?

Chagaev defeated three HWs who were Ring top ten at the time he fought them: Ruiz, Valuev and Virchis.

Ruslan was a world champion in the amateurs, and defeated the great Felix Savon twice, the first time at age 17.

Thompson's highest ranking by the Ring was #10, because he never defeated a top ten Ring fighter. Chagaev has been in the Ring top 5 during much of the past several years.

Tony's best win is past-prime Krasniqi (who was KOed by Dimitrenko).

[Pin Galarga]

I haven't seen them all, but in 40 yrs I have seen at least 15-20 better heavyweights.

[RimmyDelicious]

I haven't seen them all, but in 40 yrs I have seen at least 15-20 better heavyweights.

no, you haven't.