In some ways he reminds me of Mike Tyson, in that he absolutely destroyed B-Level competition. Boxing fans will ask and you what top shelf fighters each beat, fixating on it, instead of giving each fighter credit for casually destroying almost every B-Level fighter out there like few, if any other fighters did. Bit of a strawman argument. At 10-0 Sanders nearly killed Johnny Duplooy in 1 round. No other fighter ever duplicated that, and Duplooy faced a lot of fighters who could bang. Mike William's was highly touted at one time, supposedly hanging in there with Tyson of all people in sparring. He was beaten by the likes of Buster Douglas but always soaked up a lot of punishment before going down. Sander's sparked him in 1. Sander's fought a 30 something year old (But light and in shape) Carlos De Leon. Not aN elite fighter, but again, a one round knockout. Alfred Cole had a great chin, and was only stopped 4 times in 14 losses, all after serious amounts of punishment... Except against Sander's who blew him out in 1. Sprott to this day is a very tough journeyman who scores the occasional upset, and only goes down after prolonged beatings. To beat a dead horse, Sander's knocked him out in 1. He may not of shined as bright as he could nor, nor did he take his career seriously, nor did he get big fights often. But what the man accomplished while half assing it gives you a good idea of what he could have done if he took his carer more seriously. Thoughts on the super southpaw freak of nature?
I think Corrie could have been GREAT!!! N0t dedicated.He couldhit. WOW!!! He just didnt get into the game. Heard hes a good enuff golfer for PGA!!! Thanks for good post my friend.:happy
He was a world class athlete period, as his friend Lennox Lewis used to love to comment on. Anyway, he did something to Wlad that no one else ever has... Truly just beat the **** out of him. He gassed against Brewster and Puritty. Just completely different kinds of wins. Sander's just steam rolled him. Also, you can argue he knocked the iron chinned Vitali down too. Only fighter to ever do so.
For many years, Sanders was really one of the world's ten best heavyweights based on raw ability alone. We didn't Sandersin the ratings for most of that period, though, because he was so inactive. Essentially, Sanders was a sleeper...an underrated fighter. Vlad's management was quite stupid for making the Sanders fight in 2003. At the time, Sanders was not rated in the top ten, so there was no real value or prestige for Vlad in beating him. At the same time, Sanders was very dangerous, so there was maximum risk for Vlad in accepting the bout. This amounted to a poor risk/reward ratio for Klitschko, and it backfired. Sanders had excellent natural talent, height, reach, blinding hand speed and huge power. However he was lazy and unmotivated. Sanders never obtained the polish and boxing skill that years of hard work in the gym could have given him. Instead, Sanders relied solely on natural talent and luck. This is why Sanders was an underachiever for most of this career.
Chris Pontius and I have talked about that one quite a bit over the years, and we both agree with the referee's call.. That was no knockdown.. But, Sanders definately gave a great effort at charging Klitschko early. Anyway, Sanders in my eyes was another " coulda been " who never was. He had all the right stuff. Fast hands, big punch, southpaw style, decent height/reach, etc... His managment was crap however and he also seemed to have problems commiting to the sport when it counted the most. Immediatly following the W.Klit victory, he had an opportunity to fight Roy Jones for a decent payday along with a chance to unify the WBO and WBA titles. I don't know the whole story, but I guess Sanders was just as responsible as Jones was for the fight never happening, and ended up forfeiting the title only to sit around and play golf for 13 months before getting in with Vitali. Naturally, he got his ass handed to him, and proceded to spend the next 3 or 4 years squandering whatever talent he had left in the tank until he was finally finished. A well trained, healthy and motivated Sanders would have my vote to do fairly well in a lot of fantasy head to head matchups. The problem is, that of the three qualities I mentioned, you'd be lucky if Corrie showed up with maybe two out of the three come fight night.
There was a reason why they made the match, as posted below.. Taken from boxrec...... In early 2003, Sanders received a call to fight This content is protected on short notice. Over ten heavyweights had rejected offers to fight Klitschko and Sanders immediately jumped at the chance. Sanders was seen as a huge underdog before the fight, due to his lack of experience at the world level and the fact that Klitschko at this time was 40-1 and seen as the heir-apparent to then-champion This content is protected .
Okay, but even in spite of what boxrec.com says, Vlad should have taken much more time to prepare for a dangerous southpaw like Sanders. Sanders's perceived "lack of experience" and low rating did not compensate for the reality that Sanders had the southpaw stance, power, speed and potential to get lucky against Vlad. Universum should have picked a different underdog. As Bob Arum himself said after the fight, if Vlad was supposed to be taking a tune-up, "why pick a southpaw who kicks like a mule?" Even for tune-up bouts, managers need to be very careful.
Its easy to make sense of things in hindsite, but at the time, Sanders was looking quite ordinary. He was 37 years of age, was only fighting maybe once per year against mostly journeyman opposition, was not known for being a slave to training, and some very bad losses to Rahman and Nate Tubbs. Meanwhile you had a 28 year old sculpted adonis with a 40-1 record and all the other things that accompanied the status. As I said, ten fighters had ducked the challenge and now there was no one to show up and give the paying public a match. While hindsite again tells me that fighting Sanders was a bad move on the part of team Klitschko, the realist side of me says that Wlad did what he had to do as a champion and took the fight........ P.S. Holyfield fought a pretty dangerous fighter in Bert Cooper on only about 3 weeks notice, and had a hell of time with him, was even floored. Had he lost, would you be sitting here telling me that he should have taken more time before fighting a last minute replacement?
Solid post. A few points to add if I may. Sanders had a 2nd rate promoter in Cedric Cushner, and an obscure trainer in Valbret ( Spelling ). A lack of a big time promoter defenately held Sanders back in the ratings, and his trainer really did not teach Sanders the finer points of the game. On ability, Sanders was the goods. Sanders was often mentioned as an opponent for Tyson or Lewis by the press, but it was just lip service to generate interest in a non-mandatory fight. Team Lewis and Team Tyson steered away from a high risk / low reward type of match with Sanders.
Calling them B Level is very very generous, Rahman was B Level and ko'd him. Did Sanders even beat anyone top30 prior to Wlad?
Um, that was the best version of Rahman who went on the KO Lennox Lewis. Not exactly a B level fighter.
Klitmania hyperbole, yes Sanders was the great fighter of the 90s ducked by all the top HWs. Lewis and Tyson needed to drop Sanders name to sell their fights Except for the fact Sanders was a nobody in the 90s who hadn't beat a top20 opponent prior to retiring and then starching Wladdy in 2. Sanders had the chance to fight for the HW crown if he beat Rahman but took a beating after his usual fast start and got taken out in the 7th
A Level = elite top3 in a division, potential greats Most on here refer to Rahman as a journeymen, I wouldn't call him a journeyman but he isn't above B Class either
Nice of you to come up with your own definitions. Ok then, by your standards Rhaman who KO'd Lewis was definitely viewed as an A level fighter. As I said, the Rhaman who beat Sanders was Rhaman at his best.