Wladamir Klitschko is the new heavyweight king (long overdue)

I seem to remember a heavyweight, smaller though faster, who clinched at twice the rate Wlad does, who had no real infighting skill or body punching ability. This guy fought in that mythological time called the 1960's and 1970's.


I believe they called him Ali.

 

Yes, I remember that guy ,do you recall those three devastating ko's he had against him?:yep

 

I admit I don't particuarly care for Ali's clinching myself.

McVey, touché.

 

wlad and his brother are the best of very bad ,wlad has no chin ,cooney ,witherspoon,page ,dokes and a clean pinklon thomas all beat wlad thats how weak the heavys are today

 

Wlad has shown how good he is and I can't see anyone beating him for a while, Haye is all hype and is not ready for him I would like to see Valuev fight Wlad though I can't see him winning but a fight between men of this size would be interesting and Wlad would have to use different tactics.

 

Just watched this fight,I use the term loosely as spar match would be more appropriate imo.

What did this fight tell us that we didnt allready know?
Well ,nothing about Wlad he was clearly the best heavyweight in the world before the fight if we take his brother out of the equation.
About Chagaev?
A bit, he was not competitive at any time,after tasting a couple of long right crosses, he settled for the Tua v Lewis option ,damage limitation, he didnt quit ,neither did he fight to win,imo.
If he even slightly inconvenienced Wlad ,it must have been with that low punch in the 5th round.
Chagaev knew he could not win by standing off , so he stolidly advanced behind a high guard,he threw a couple of hopeful lefts but for the great majority of the fight contented himself with avoiding as many of those pecking jabs as he could.
His offensive arsenal was a joke, he looked like a highly paid sparring partner in there.
Being charitable Chagaev might have been given a share of the 6th, when Wlad perhaps took his foot off the pedal a bit.
I felt that when the crowd called for more action from the overwhelmingly dominant Wlad the Giant Ukrainian, might have begun to close the show ,but he fought a smart fight ,he won from here to breakfast time with just his jab and long right cross,he initially tried the same tactic he used against Ibragimov ,slapping the southpaw lead down to create openings , but when Chagaev resolutely kept his face covered Wlad reverted to the old Larry Holmes trick of measuring his man with the left and detonating a right over it,Eddie Cotton the referee warned him a couple of times but let it go for the main part.

Long before the 8th Chagaev was a man with no future he was exposed in every department.Wlad began to pick it up a bit here and landed a few nice rights,to the Russian's credit he took his lumps.
The 9th was rather painful to watch like seeing a boy pull the wings off of a fly.The Russian was totally bemused and demoralized and the stoppage by the referee was timely.
Wlad would have stopped him if he had come out for the 10th imo.
So, the verdict, a dominant , if not inspiring performance from Wlad, he didnt need to dip very far into his tool box ,his jab and potent right kept Chagaev honest,Wlad must be commended for showing up in great shape ,taking on a [on paper top contender],and dispatching him clinically ,if not excitingly.
Wlad like his big Brother carries his leading hand low ,and because of their height and reach they have not been punished for it much,but watching his left come back to around waist height after jabbing, I couldn't help thinking Lennox or Larry would have taken massive advantage of that .

To the poster who thinks Chagaev would have been top 5 in other era's?
Well, in the old days of the British Empire ,when an officer made an overwhelming error in judgement ,he would be met by brother officers ,shown to a quiet room and given a loaded revolver,the officers would then retire outside, wait a suitable time for the erring man to do the "decent thing ", on hearing the desired report of the pistol shot ,they would smile with quiet satisfaction and retire from the scene.
Anyone have Mendoza's address?
"If you got the gun, I got the bullets":good
PS to those like me who did not think this fight would be.
1 Competitve
2 Exciting
And wisely decided to keep their money in their pocket ,the fight can be viewed on You Tube, in 2 round segments,generously put up by Paul Villareal:good

 

Take the Brothers Grimm out of the equation and the division stinks,I've been saying it for ages.

 

I think (and this is speculation of course) he chooses not to throw left hooks at southpaws. For instance, against Thompson, Ibragimov and Chagaev he threw none, literally, none. Against Rahman, Austin, Brock and others, he threw and landed a lot of left hooks. I don't think this is a coincidence; Steward always comes with a water tight game plan and apparently he sticks religiously to it.

I thought he could've mixed up the hook against Chagaev, but hey, why change a winning team?

 

Overal fair assessement, but i disagree that Wlad carries his left low. Now you're mixing the brothers "Grim" up. Vitali keeps his left very low, almost constantly, but Wlad usually keeps a high guard.

 

Sure, against today's HW crop. That's not saying too much, though.

 

I think one of the sportscasters said he knows his weakness and fights around it. I am not so sure Vlad has a bad chin. He tired in his fight with Purity, He underestimated Sanders and he went for the KO and almost got it against Brewster and was spent. Vitali seems like the stronger chin wise but Vitali also took a better punch than a lot of fighters ( Lewis) His fight against Chagaev was perfect (not for excitment) I enjoy his boxing ability and how he makes some heavyweights seem unschooled and slow. I really am not sold on Haye ( he has only had 2 fights at Heavy and no top 25 opponents) but for speculation see Haye with speed and power and an unorthodox way of punching which accounts for something. Haye bowed out of that fight but it may come off yet but can Haye take it like he dishes it. Another pretty untest fighter Areola is a rythym breaker ( like a wild bull Modern Firpo) but I think the left Jab of Vlads may totally school him. All in all Vlad is one fighter who wants to unify, is not afraid to fight anyone and has dominated a good batch of Heavyweights. I was around in the 70's and Ken Norton was an untested fighter with a KO loss to Garcia, no one expected him to beat Ali..Same with Holmes when he fought club fighter Weaver 19-8 . Thompson, Brock,Austin,Chagaev,Sultan,Peter,Sanders,Brewster would have been able to compete in any of those era's and some may have beaten Shavers,Lyle,Quarry,Bonevena,Chuvalo,Witherspoon,Michael Spinks,Douglas, and would have beaten Lubbers, Mildenburger, Ocasio, Leon Spinks, Blue Lewis,Scott Frank, Bonecrusher smith,Tony Tubbs, Carl Williams , BEY,etc. So IMO the division is not as bad as people say. They said it in the 70's the 80's the 90's and now but I think there are good fighters around right now. Vlad needs his big fight Vitali may be it but I would not fight my brother so cant blame them

 

Well he didnt in this fight ,but then he wasnt in any danger of being inconvenienced.Chagaev was woeful ,imo.
Look you are 6 2in -3in whatever, it isnt rocket science ,you have to close the range and try to get your punches off inside.Chagaev tasted a couple of right crosses,and said no thank you very much ,this isnt for me.
Shades of Tua against Lewis.
The fight went about how I thought it would ,except I thought Wlad might close the show a couple of rounds earlier.
I cant criticise Wlad ,he won every moment , it was an amateur against a pro, totally predictable and totally one sided.
What does that say about the guy who has been busy trumpeting Chagaev's ability all week?

 

The Ibragimov fight looked like Frankenstein's Monster against Barney Rubble. This one looked like Frankenstein's Monster vs. Lou Costello.

Chaguev's nickname is the "White Tyson".... digest that for a moment and have your Rolaids nearby. He was impotent in there yesterday. He had either zero strategy, or was given one to help him lose the fight. Over the last two rounds, he's either moving to his left (into the range of Wlad's right hand) or he's standing at precisely the wrong range moving his head from side to side predictably.

Wlad? This man is not "highly skilled". He typically throws jabs upwards of 90% -most of which are pawing. Last night he threw a meaningful right a handful of times before the last few rounds. No left hook to speak of. Sure, Steward is behind the strategy. Steward is a skills man, but he is also practical. And he's practical enough to know that Wlad is a basic fighter who must use his size, power and reach because he ain't got much else in the tool box.

 

It's about time the heavweights were wiped from the face of the earth.