--- Rating Wladimir Klitchsko ---

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My ratings

Technical Ability - 9.5, Like him or not, for a heavyweight He is technically one of the most superior boxers ever, Excellent jab and right hands also has a good left hook. standing at over 6 and a half feet the guy can box great, obviously the smaller the heavyweight is the more skill he has to have but Wlad's techinique with his size means that you wont see him beat anytime soon

Defence - 8, alot of WK success is down to his boxing skills but you can't overlook his size when it comes to defense. Like his brother he uses his size to lean back and get out out punching range, he is light on his feet and that accompanied with his size means he can effortlessly move out of range, when an opponent closes him down although he is very negative and boring, he is very effective with clinching.

Offence -7, in this catagory Wlad can be much better than he is, but for one reason or another (could be low confidence in chin or just poor mentality) he is not that good here and was much better in his younger days. Example of his offence not being great would be in the haye fight - sure the Klit fans would cry that haye was too defencive but if Wlad was a great offencive fighter he would get him out of there, if haye did that vs Louis he would be out inside 5.

Footwork - 9, this in my opinion is a area where his ability is overlooked. He has great physical advantages over his opponents yes, but without excellent footwork and a poor chin people would find him and KO him, he is able to close of a ring when needed and is excellent backing away and getting out of range, Always in balance and always composed because of this .

Accuracy - 8, He has good accuracy but not great. He has very accurate jab and right hand but level of competition has to be looked at, he hasn't really faced an opponent who is exactly hard to hit, when he did in haye WK did not have the same succes he usually has.

Power - 9, He has great power - he has very powerful jab, right hand and left hook, tools that could have made him a very exciting fighter, but lack of aggressive mentality has meant it's rare you see Klitcshko take out an opponent before round 10, overmatched opponents are able to go 10 but that doesn't reflect WK's power, as he only throws few right hands per round and a even rare left hook before 10.

Speed - 7, he has excellent speed for a heavyweight of his size. He can throw quick jabs and right hands. But he isn't the fastest and not close.

Versatility - 6, He is able to both Box and if he wanted he would be able to brawl like his early days, but that's not how he fights now, meaning he only boxes and can only box - doesn' have confidence in his chin to trade punches.

Stamina - 7, He is able to go full 12 no problem, but he has no one to push him, he doesn't have a really high work rate so you can't know what's his limit, he in his prime takes very few punches and hasn't been in a fight where he needed to find his second wind - doesn't show how good is stamina is, but rather the lack of solid competition there is, meaning no one to push him out of his comfort zone and over his limit.

Heart - 7.5, He showed tremendous heart to come back from 3 KO losses and was floored 3 times against peter in the first fight, a fight many said it was not if but a when WK is going to get KO'd. But at his peak he is head and shoulders above his competetion, only his brother stand with him. Yet the man refuses to open up and be aggressive and give the boxing fans excitment, being the Heavyweight Champion of the world, he has the power to make boxing mainstream again, but to do that you need explosive KO's - something WK refuses - not can't- to deliver

Chin - 4, his chin is bad, just bad, terrible. I don't criticize people's all that often because the often get hit with excellent punches leading people to believe and say that that KO victim has a glass chin, ignoring the Great punch and not giving credit to the fighter delivering the punch. But I can't defend WK, the man has no chin, he gets hit and he panics, he has KO'd 3 times and not by fighter with solid punching power (apart from Saunders). David Haye, a cruiserweight puncher, stunned him with a normal overhand right in the 12th, Klit fans can deny it all you like, WK can't take a punch

Physical Attributes - 10, Do I really need to explain. Many times after the fight I read comments saying Klitchsko was too big, I don't agree with this - he beats his opponents because he is too Skilled, Ofcourse his size has a lot to do with it but it's not the main aspect. WK is excellent and controlling range and fighting to his strengths, his footwork and defencive technique of pulling back means the opponents more often than not fall short of there target. This isn't a rating of size, it's a rating of how the individual uses it, for example Paul williams would get that high of a rating although physically he was a freak of nature.

Overall - 8

Some attributes are missing though such as Cut/Swelling resistance and ring IQ etc...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwK4jhSZ-Fw[/ame]

 

Previous ratings

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=355428 - Shane Mosley

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=359199 - Mikkel Kessler

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363448 - Ricky Hatton

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367715 - Ward vs Froch

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392216 - Cotto vs Mayweather

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=354238 - Amir Khan

 

you're right what was I thinking when I thought Wlad was a good technical boxer

 

Dont you think he should have taken out David Haye then. I don't think he can fight without being KO'd against a top level fighter, that's why he clinches so much, he showed intent using aggressive 1 2's to back up david haye in round 12 when he was stunned

 

bump

 

I see your point, but if you go by that logic, his power shouldn't be as high since he's so big, e.g a smaller guy like shavers hit harder, that doesn't mean you drop WK in that department because he is much bigger and should therefore generate more power

 

You are comparing a 250 pounders technique to a 122 pounder, the smaller the fighter is the more technically sound he will be. the way I have come up with these ratings are comparing him to other heavyweights. You state his style limits him, I agree but that doesn't change his technical ability, if you read further on, you would see versatility category, this is where would be penalised.