It's been some time since the Klitschko Fury fight. Now that the dust has settled, can we look back at Klitschkos heavyweight reign? He was champion from 2005 to 2015. Klitschko was champ before the iPhone was invented. Think about that. In fact, even YouTube had not been created then, and Facebook was in only a handful of US colleges. He's been the cause of a lot of controversy in boxing. Many say he reigned during a time of lackluster opposition. People call his style boring. Yet, he's held onto the most coveted championship in sports history for longer than everyone but Joe Louis, and defended less than only Louis and Larry Holmes. Days will pass. And soon so will many years. Some of us will be alive in 2050, looking back at Wladimir Klitschko. What do you think we will say to the next generation, when they ask us about Wladimir? After it was all said and done, what is your opinion on Klitschko, and his championship reign?
Didnt have as many title defenses as Louis. That's what matter. Anyone can duck fighters and hold a belt.
By my count he beat 15 guys who were rated in the top ten at heavy by Ring at the time of their fight. I'm not sure if that's the record, but it might be. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Extremely impressive reign. Dominant. And he accomplished it during the social media age where fighters have been scrutinized like never before. Boring style in the ring and a classy yet bland personality out of the ring probably will never endear him to Western fans. His accomplishments however merit a very high ATG ranking.
I wasn't directing the ducking part at Klitschko. Just talking about title reigns in general. As for Wlad, length of title reign is far less impressive than number of defenses. If you don't understand that then it's obvious who's the moron here.
It appeared more of a crack at Wlad than a intellectual riposte on the merits of consecutive defenses vis a vis time span as champ. For the former, he's #3 in consecutive defenses, #2 in total title defense. Any way you slice it its incredible. For the first point, even time length matters. During a span of time, you have to defend against 1. mandatories, and 2. the obvious, unavoidable "next best thing". In other words, Wlad's time length was arguably more impressive than Holmes number length, because he had to face the Povetkins and Pulevs and Hayes, who any champ is going to eventually have to face, regardless of whether you cram a few lesser defenses in as well. If you don't understand both time and number have merit and bear consideration for different reasons, you have once again proved your intellectual limitations.
It's a shame he lost to someone as bad as Fury at the tail end of his career, history isn't kind to fighters who have losses like that.
Lots of if's but If Wladimir beats Fury in a rematch and then goes on to beat Joshua or Wilder (provided Wilder beats Povetkin) how much does it boost his legacy and reputation? If you didn't rate his reign because you regarded it as a poor era for heavyweight boxing would those two victories change your opinion completely?
Yeah because Ali was ruined losing to Spinks and Berbick. Jack johnson reputation destroyed by Willard loss and all the losses after. Tyson gets rated on loss to Kevin McBride