Wladimir Klitschko now holds the record for the longest reign in HW boxing history

vitali, if you base on what he's done in the ring against the opponents he's fought is actually levels behind wlad.

Maybe in some make believe world he's harder to beat but the reality is his best years were spent injured whilst wlads best years where spent as the best hw in the world.

 

Also, in terms of this 1v2 you seek. When wlad beat iggy the top 3 where clearly wlad, iggy and Peter. Wlad had already beaten Peter and he then defeated iggy. That was all before vitali came back as well.

I just don't see how anyone can refute his championship claims. The one man you list as his main contender doesn't contend his status.

I like your system but I just can't see how wlad is anything other than champion.

 

Of course Wlad uses his size to win fights, the way Ali used his speed, Foreman his power and so on. It's a natural attribute, and it would be silly not to use it to the best of your ability. But he's always used it. What Steward did wasn't a revamping, so much as a focusing, on a few key moves, a curbing of Wlad's more impulsive tendencies.

Before Steward, Wlad was an incredible offensive machine. He had that same great jab and pinpoint knockout power, but allied it to fluid and devastating combination punching as well. Clinched a lot less too, and relied on a Foreman style push off to maintain his distance. In many ways, and certainly from a skills POV, he was a far more complete fighter than the current iteration. More entertaining too. But there was always that danger of him punching himself out, as he did against Purrity and Brewster, who were resilient enough not to crumble when he put the heat on them.

Steward forced Wlad to limit his offensive output, focus more on maintaining his distance via his jab, and approach each fight with a more long term view. Instead of bombing guys out, he made Wlad work on breaking them down instead with low risk moves that would limit his opponents' counter punching opportunities. That's partly where Wlad's height and reach became a more pronounced attribute, though like I've said he's always used it in one form or the other.

One criticism I'll mention is that I think they went a bit too far with the whole process. Who was "to blame" and what their reasons were for doing so I don't know, but I don't think there was quite that need to fight so cautiously.* Of course, following the Brewster loss, and the subsequent Peter fight, there was a massive concern over Wlad's chin and mental state. For many fights afterwards there was huge concern that it would all unravel again.

Only now has Wlad begun to recover some of that swagger, and begin to open up a lot more. Nonetheless, lack of use has atrophied that element of his game, and the combinations he used to put away Peter and nearly put away Wach were noticeably lacking in sharpness and fluidity of the same man who destroyed Mercer and Shufford. But my point is that the skills are still there. Wlad's a limited fighter by design, not by lack of ability.

*Ok, I concede, perhaps that was a revamping!

Having skills and being a technician are different things.

Bowe possessed the type of skills you don't normally see in a big man, notably very good infighting abilities, but he never had the brain to put all those skills to use in their best possible way for any prolonged length of time. He always struck me as a brawler in a boxer's body. His love of getting on the inside of his opponents, his crouching, bobbing and weaving, throwing looping shots like overhand rights on the outside, these are the sorts of things you normally see in shorter fighters, which is why he's so atypical of a big man.

Against a fighter in Golota, who knew how to fight like a big man, his deficiencies were exposed. He was unable to match jabs with Golota and found it difficult to close distance when he realised this. Golota's own deficiencies allowed Bowe to get into the fight both times, but it was no display of sublime technical skill on display that night, from Bowe at least.

Even against Evander I, his consensus best performance, he was taking major punishment; he should never have allowed Evander to get that into the fight in the first place, had he used his height in the way a big man ideally should.

Carnera, I agree, was a bit better than people make him out to be. But he was still, ultimately, an acromegalic giant like Valuev, a man whom pituitary gigantism made large, and not the natural process of his genes. Such men are always physically flawed in some way, and can never achieve the sort of athleticism that a regular fighter can.

 

Well, somebodies mad.

If you think I'm articulate, boyo, you hang with some stupid folks. Stick around. You might learn something.

TKO6 indeed.

 

Hmmm. Who benefits the forum more? A troll named Felix or a man who's mixed with the best heavyweights of the past two decades and is gracious enough to share insight?

No contest whatsoever, mcg ban this fool.

 

To be honest with you, I hadn't seen a single fight of his but the first Bowe tussle, and what I saw in the gym. I wasn't catching everything televised back then, and was between friends with massive film libraries. In the Bowe fight, and in the gym, he looked like a monster; As a pro, I can tell you, while gym work ain't everything, it's a pretty good indication. Rarely is a guy a straight badass in private and nothing at all in the ring. At least in my experience, admittedly singular in perspective.

Looking at YouTube and all the footage, I can see your assessment, completely. And you are, generally, right on; Fouls in bunches either mean mind games, or they mean a guy who can't control himself in the ring. Talking to Andrew back then for five seconds clued you in that he wasn't that crafty.

Still, wouldn't have wanted to fight him. That last combination speedbagging Riddick's balls, ouch. Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, sure as hell wouldn't sign on for it.

 

Felix is right.
Magnanassaki IS surprisingly articulate, considering that I've thus far narrowed down his real identity to be either Lionel Butler or Tommy Morrison.

 

Has he broken the rules? Let him gab.

He's a young pup. He'll either wash out, or back up his talk. His future in the sport is his business. Til he does something against the forum rules, he's got as much right to be here as us.

 

Oh you're the guy who predicted wlad would be sparked by wach. You hyped wach up so much I am convinced you were a closet wlad fan.

 

True. Can't ban someone for being annoying.

Just put him on your ignore list, if you don't wish to read his posts.

That's what I've done.

EDIT: Can ban him for being abusive, however, which is what he's being.

 

He usually doesn't act this way.

Just an -extremely- passionate Lennox Lewis fanatic.

 

Why not fight him now ?
He's already old. He fought Lennox Lewis. Everyone who fought Lewis is old now.

 

Magnanasakki, great insight.

Are you Larry Donald?