Wladamir Klitschko is the new heavyweight king (long overdue)

Tell me how someone who is not highly skilled has barely lost a round in 4 years against top opposition? You will now downplay his opposition, but i'll point out that many greats have lost or been in competitive fights with "mediocre" opponents. Ali lost plenty of rounds against Jones, Mildenburger, Cooper, old Folley, Bonavena, etc. Holmes had trouble with Weaver, Witherspoon, Williams and others. You get the point.

I agree that he only uses a few tools, but why should he use more if he can outclass his opponents this way? Joe Frazier barely used the jab because it didn't suit him. His right hand was mediocre. But we can agree that he was one hell of a fighter.


On a sidenote, i think Steward specifically instructs Wlad not to throw the left hook against a southpaw. It's no coincidence that he didn't use it a single time against Thompson, Ibragimov, and now Chagaev. However, he threw and floored Rahman and Austin with left hooks. Landed plenty on Brewster and other orthodox opponents as well. He has a great left hook and can lead with it, hook off the jab, or quintriple it up as we saw against Austin. That is highly skilled. The only thing he lacks is a good uppercut.

Emmanuel is that you?

 

This isn't hate. Haye has a great chance to atleast give Wlad a fight unlike the rest of the division. Haye won't stand in front of Wlad and get pounded. He has the balls to go inside and is smart enough to not stay in Wlad's range.

 

Haye will beat Wlad- i´m sure of it.
The predator

 

I reject the point. And your attempt to both ask and answer the question is a vain attempt to control the debate out of the gate.

Klitschko is difficult to fight. And I'm eternally tired of posters who should know better confusing this fact with skill. He is a giant who's primary objective is not to exhibit skill, to dominate or to hurt, but to control the opponent and thereby win the fight. He is a giant who fights defensively. That style is very difficult to cope with if you don't know what you're doing and don't have the requisite size and strength to do it. That is why he doesn't often lose rounds -he utilizes a basic, stand-up style and when aggression happens he skips backwards or holds and leans.

It's hard enough to fight a giant as it is, but when the giant isn't keen on really fighting you (that is, take risks) it's very difficult.

You can watch film from Janitor's era, then watch Wlad and you'd think that Bowe and Lewis never happened. You'd think that skills truly haven't evolved a smidgeon since 1909.

Klitschko's opposition has been sorry as of late. The fact that it is "top opposition" is misleading when you consider the context. The heavyweight division is sorry thesedays. So the giant is indeed "king of the hill".... an ant hill.

Frazier was one hell of a fighter. I dare you to say that Wlad Klitschko is one hell of a fighter. I double-dare you.

Great fighters are great not because they win every round against poor to mediocre opposition. Great fighters are great because they face down real challenges, adapt when they have to, and overcome adversity. Wlad ain't great. He's a difficult champion to beat but I don't see much in his repertoire and I don't see anything shimmering on his record.

....your standard for what consitutes "highly skilled" is woefully low. You must worship Evander Holyfield who showed a vastly more impressive of offensive and defensive skills.

Wlad lacks a good uppercut. Sure. But that's not all...

1. How about infighting skills? I've said it before and I'll say it again. Before anyone can rightly call a fighter a technician, they must confirm that fighter's skills on the inside. Why? Because it's harder in there and because you know that the fighter with inside skills is indeed well-schooled. Show me a technician who doesn't know his way around inside and I'll show you a mislabelled fighter.

2. How about taking risks? His disposition belong more in a university library than it does in the ring.

3. How about body punching?

4. Defensive skills?

5. Combinations that go beyond a 1-2?

6. Even his stance leaves much to be desired. He's too wide. His right leg is directly behind his left leg which inhibits a full-throttle right and lengthens the distance it has to travel. Perhaps this is understandable since so much of Wlad's strategy is about distance establihsed by a pawing left jab.

I will say this: That left hook he threw on Austin was awfully hard. But it's rarely seen. Most often, when Wlad does throw a shot he's either leaning back as he throws it or he's already stepping back as he throws it.

...Wladimir Klitschko is absolutely, unequivocally, afraid of being hit.

 

Quality performance by Wlad carried his gameplan perfectly. Still want to see him vs Haye.

 

As Patterson said about Ali: "Clay really didn't like to be hit, and I suppose that's not a bad way for a fighter to feel."

Even though watching Wlad's fight hardly sees me swimming in adrenaline, I can't really fault him considering his trouble handling aggression and the fact that he after all has a very good KO ratio. The game is about hit without getting hit after all. Guys like Bowe, who interprets it as hit a bit more than getting hit, may be exciting to watch, but only have a handful good fights in them and sound punchy when not even 30.

Should also add that I really like Wlad's straight punches. He paws a lot with the jab, but adds some very solid jabs in between. Those ones are as fast as they are hard and accurate.

 

The way you talk about him, it's a miracle that he didn't get knocked out by the first tomato can he faced. I'm not going to debate this as we've done it before, you think he's a shitty fighter with little skill, whose opposition is horrific.


p.s. did you know guys like Tyson and Holmes were unskilled bums who flourished only because of weak opposition?

 

Well said. And Pontius can count on my being here to remind him of that two minutes after Wlad gets exposed as something far less than "great".

 

When you read an opposing argument, you should put down the pom-poms and read it carefully. Wlad presents a difficult foe, but he is no technician. Those who think he is, do not understand what a technician is. I'd advise them and you to go watch Buddy McGirt vs. Simon Brown and then come back with your head bowed.

 

Yuh, you're normal. The return of Toad-Boy is it? Coming back to claim his "worst poster ever" mantle?

 

When Wlad commits and shoots hard shots, I get downright nervous for anyone not built like Sam Peter.

Wlad's problem is precisely that --commitment. Boxing is a dangerous sport that requires courage and demands that you take risks. Wlad takes "defensive-minded" "fighting" to new levels. He is not comfortable with what he is doing and so his learning curve has levelled off. I'm not asking fighters to adopt styles that invite brain-damage, but damn, expecting a boxer to commit to shots, throw combinations, and exhibit skill beyond those of Boris Karloff is not asking too much!

Let's be honest here, fight fans, if all boxers fought like Wlad, the sport would be dead in a month.

 

Stonehands you bring up some very good points...and even though I think highly of Wlad I understand that Wlad left himself open last night to an aggresive hooking puncher....David Haye will present wlad with alot of stylistic problems..lets see if wlad can pass the stern test! I think he can

 

Klitschko, both of them, are ultra efficient at defusing other fighters. You hear this non-stop **** about seemingly every fighter who's ever faced either one being unprepared, unmotivated. Some select cases? Sure. Each and every time? No.

To pressure either man you need to walk through heavy artillery. It's so wonderfully easy to throw the idea down onto paper but how many of you have tried to get past a 6'6 mans 81' inch each? How many of you have ever sparred with someone with an amazing jab and good movement? It makes you unbelievably weary to get on the inside, to get past that jab none the less going walls to the walls and rushing in to pressure them.

Have we forgotten Hatton/Pacquiao so soon?

That's a real ****ing gut check right there and it's not always intelligent or possible even to the brave to wade into the shots of two of the hardest hitting heavyweights in years.

 

I wouldnt say both. Afterall, Vitali got stopped by the two best fighters he ever fought. Part of the reason vitali wins so many rounds is he faces mediocre opposition....lets see how he reacts once he steps up in class again.