Cleveland Williams vs Wladimir Klitschko

And Floyd Patteron was a blown up super middleweight. Any half way decent mordern heavyweight would blow him and his glass chin away in a round or so.

 

Chris Byrd was a blown up light welterweight.

 

Ernie Terrell.

As for Satterfield:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG8kmOgjSPY[/ame]

I think is power is very evident.

 

Don't argue with him, the guy's a racist lunatic

 

Williams in a sense reminds me of Razor Ruddock; a guy who had a huge punch and was best avoided, yet a guy that lost every big fight he was ever in.

Wlad would be cautious early due to Williams' vaunted hook, but he'd seize control midway through round two with his jab and break Williams down for a stoppage/KO between the 6th and 8th rounds.

 

There is nothing to suggest Vlad would have a problem with Williams....Williams folded with punchers and could be hit...Vlads jab would snap back the head of Williams and the right hand would follow....With Patterson I think Vlad would go after him early, Always cautious but with the knowledge that Floyd has not the best resistance to power I think Vlad would let loose carefully....Barring a severe mishap...Vlad should stop both men before 5 and more than likely sooner

 

The fact that the only quality puncher with both power and speed absolutely murdered Wlad is certainly enough to suggest that Wlad would have a problem with Williams.

Williams had good skills, he was able to mostly neutralize 6'6 Ernie Terrel's jab which was his biggest and best weapon. I don't think Wlad can win by simply relying on his jab, Williams is going to make him fight and won't be a sitting duck just standing there taking shots, waiting for the ref to stop it.

 

Then again there was nothing to suggest that Corrie Sanders could blow out Wladimir in 2 rounds either. Except that he had speed and power.

 

Yeah, we need a classic section admin. Officially, i think Achilles has the rights, but he's rarely on anymore.

When Wlad faced Sanders, hewasn't fully developed as a fighter, though (Williams was absolutely murdered as well, earlier in his career). Offensively he [Wlad] was at his peak perhaps, but that never came into play because he didn't know what to do when hurt. Williams could knock out the pre-2003 Wlad, although i suspect it would be more like the Liston fights. The Steward Wlad would probably win most rounds behind his jab and right hand, enroute to a 6th round stoppage.

 

Chris, where do you feel specifically Wlad has improved since the Sanders fight? Honest question.

 

A lot of things. Summarized, i'd say "ring generalship". But category by category, in random order:

1. Conditioning. When Sdunek was his trainer, he did a LOT of weights and strength training, but very little sparring. Always 4 fast paced rounds, but no more than that. Under Stewards guidance, he's been sparring a lot more and basically training the American way. Since then, he's had more of a boxer's physique, and never ran out of gas.

2. Footwork. He's always had an amazing sense of timing and distance, but since Steward, he uses it so well that he goes rounds against world class fighters with barely being hit. He has learned very well to stay off the ropes and is extremely quick in taking a few side steps. Against Peter (back when Peter was in shape, motivated and dangerous), he wasn't trapped on the ropes for the full 12 rounds on a single occasion. His most recent outing against Chagaev, again, was as good as flawless.

3. Remain composure when hurt. Sure, he's never going to be Ali, but he knows well how to act when hurt now. Everyone thought the Peter fight was over at the moment he hit the canvas, but he kept his head cool, stuck to his gameplan and went on to stagger Peter later.

4. Sticking to a gameplan. He executes his gameplan to KGB-like calculated perfection. While this doesn't always makes for the most excition fight, it makes him very hard to beat. The first time against Brewster, he went all-out looking for the KO against an iron chinned puncher. If he had paced himself, he would've won a shutout decision or by TKO as he did in an extremely disciplined rematch, during which he gave Lamon no chance he didn't have.

5. Fluidity of offense. Before 2003, his hands were faster, but since Steward got a hold of him, the straight right hand flows so fluidly off his shoulder. Watch the Byrd knockdown (rematch), or the Chagaev one. Everyone knows it's coming, no one can stop it from landing.


Maybe there are a few more, but these are the first to spring to mind. Experience is a big factor, and because modern boxers have fewer fights, they hit their peak in their 30's more often.

 

Since this thread was posted Wlad has continued to build on his winning streak and has now beaten all the other beltholders at that time eg Peter, Ibragimov and Chagaev.

He is clearly the top heavyweight of a definable era since Lewis retired and the question of his all time ranking cannot be put off indefinetley.

I would still consider Williams a live underdog based on his style but Wlad does not seem to be getting caugfht these days.

 

Wladimir was 27 years old when he fought Corrie Sanders with 41 professional fights and hundreds of amateur fights behind him.

He has improved, mostly due to him acknowledging his liabilities now, a new-found cautiousness you could say.

This was the fight he had before taking on Sanders, a 10th round TKO of Jameel McCline:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXfyrWn0UdQ[/ame]

Doesn't seem too different from his average effort today to be honest.

Cleveland Williams came out fast and he could counter with that quick left hook of his. He surely had a better chance than someone like David Haye I'd say.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWbpM99wD2M[/ame]

 

Cleveland Williams at his peak presents a more dangerous challenge than Chagaev, Rahman, Thompson, Ibragimov etc.

Williams was quick, athletic, powerful. If David Haye presents any sort of interesting challenge then so does Williams.