Would Wladimir Klitschko have been as successful without his illegal holding tactics?

If referees had enforced the rules, would Wladimir Klitschko had his long title reign, or would he have had some KO losses during that time?

(I'll make another thread later about Andre Ward and his illegal tactics).

 

ftfy and yes he would have got ktfo more and no he wouldn't have lasted

 

He would have definitely taken more punishment but which fights were DQ worthy aside from Povetkin? I suspect he probably wouldn't have lost because he didn't fight many aggressive punchers during his 2nd reign. Peter 1 was the most dangerous by some margin but he got away with a lot of illegal tactics himself.

 

He'd get caught pulling out or sitting in the pocket not clinching.

because he's a big STIFF idiot. Straight lines. No body movement. No real head movement.

 

As successful? Clearly not, otherwise he wouldn't have been doing it.

 

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Nope. The reason why he stayed at the top for so long was because he could bully smaller, physically weaker fighters with dirty tactics.

So really, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that the second he fought two taller, stronger opponents that he couldn’t bully, he lost. (Although of course there is more to those defeats than just a size/strength difference.)

 

OP has a micro penus.

 

Wladimir would always have been successful but clinching definitely helped him against smaller punchers. I think he would always have beaten Povetkin but do agree that with all the clinching the result was a foregone conclusion. That said, MANY great fighters have used the clinch as part of their game, and it's up to the referees to police it. If clinching is allowed, people will use it.

 

Are you going to take Ali’s wins away from him because of his clinching? It was every bit as frequent as Wlad.

People always bring up the Povetkin fight but whenever they exchanged Pov was wobbled or on the canvas. He got knocked down like 4 or 5 times and didn’t want to be in there anymore so he kept diving into Wlad’s torso.

 

He probably would have lost a few more times but also knocked out some of the guys he got boring decisions over. Less successful but more entertaining

 

Without the jab and grab, he would probably have a few more losses on the record.

It's a bit of a loaded question though. If we just take away his clinching, we are assuming he does nothing to compensate for that? I know he was never great at adapting mid-fight, but without the clinch, he'd need something in his arsenal for when an opponent got close. Do we assume he just uses his footwork and retreats in a straight line, which he did quite often, and it worked often too due to his size and good balance... but that's not going to work all the time. He was never good at attacking on angles. Anyhow, you get the idea. He'd need something more if he's not using the jab and grab.

 

Why choose today, for this?