The lack of opposition hurts them. Its not their fault that they're miles ahead of everyone. You ahve 2 guys, wjho were out on their own, and who have basically not had a legitimate challenger in a decade. You've had the likes of Leapai,Pianeta, Charr, Mormeck and Wach getting shots which makes a mockery of the whole thing.
Here's a little piece with video that Nigel Collins just finished on the post subject. http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/11425709/fans-adore-klitschko-were-american
they did tag team - when one got beat up or killed by a rank outsider and was too scared to rematch for fear of another bad loss, the other stepped in to beat up the old retiree or former middleweight, allowing the other to re-emerge and continue their career. if this hadn't been allowed the K bros would have been bit part champions with insignificant durations of reigns.
Their sad opposition is not their fault....but what is their fault is how BORING and SCARY they are beating them. Tyson fought nothing but bums.... but at least he dismissed them in destructive fashion. He wasn't scared to engage them.
They avenged each other's losses......about 11-13 years ago. It's not surprising that their critics have to live so far in the past to find knocks against them. That was 2-3 generations of contenders ago. The only top guy left from the early 2000's is Wlad. Let me guess- Jack Johnson getting sparked out by Joe Choynski (an actual middleweight) in 1901 stained his heavyweight reign from 1908-1915 too, right?
you guess wrong, that was years before Johnson primed and became a champ. also, don't compare a tag teaming K bro to an ATG like Johnson, its insulting. Their tagteaming is what helped them get the long reigns you claim, deal with it, but don't commit to circular reasoning just like you did - the tagteaming yielded the long reigns, NOT the long reigns negate the tagteaming.
Tyson wasn't afraid of the bums he fought...he rudely dismissed them..as opposed to running from and clinching them.
Wlad's title reign has been superior to Jack Johnson's. I'd love to see anyone try to argue differently with a straight face.
oh don't you dare try and escape the fact that Jack Johnson didn't need someone to recover his title for him. you seem to have run away from your failed argument that Johnson got beat when he was green though.
which black American hwchamp got destroyed instantly by a 37 year old retired failure? which one tagteams to avoid losses againt vastly on paper weaker opps? there are none. the simple answer is they wouldn't be black and American. if they were they would be better than they were.
Ottke was a piece of **** of the highest order...there is no way either Klitschko deserves to be compared to that twat!! Both Vitali and Wlad are under appreciated because: 1. They ruled at a time when there are no HOF/ATG's for them to fight (other than each other, which was never going to happen). Indeed, many of the fringe contenders of the previous era would have earned multiple cracks at either Klitschko if they had fought in this era. This generation of "Challengers" have been atrocious!! This not the Klitschko's fault, but it does not enable many to give them due praise. The only ATG either fought was Lewis and Vitali lost on cuts after putting up a tremendous effort. 2. Wlad's style, though extremely effective, is not what many fans want to watch (presumably because these same fans were spoiled by the all action fighters of the previous era such as Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield, Bowe, etc) and Vitali was out of action for several years and was nowhere near the fighter he had been pre-injuries. Also, Wlad's perceived vulnerability does mean that many strongly believe in the "One decent punch and Wlad is on his way out of there" adage, which has not allowed him to develop an aura of assuredness that all great HW champions had. Most importantly, Wlad is still active!! Many greats are not fully appreciated until they have been retired for several years at least (Lennox Lewis is a great example of this). My own personal opinion has been for some time that prime Vitali Klitschko is a top 10 ATG and a H2H top 5 ATG (the disparity is due to the fact that I can only imagine 4 other HW's beating him). Wlad is a top 20 ATG and a top 15 H2H ATG (simply because I believe that there were many more greats who could have got him out of there, as opposed to his iron chinned Brother). I do believe that history will look kindly on the Klitschkos and their reign...unfortunately for them, now is the present.