Valuev was offered a fight with Wlad Klitschko in 2008. Wilfried Sauerland was on the record saying him and Don King they can't accept a fight between Valuev and Wlad without being guaranteed options on the winner. So much for Wlad "avoiding" Valuev.
they ducked Ruiz when he was a champ I remember Ruiz wrote an open letter to Vitaly which was unanswered http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/1442-vitali-klitschko-an-open-letter-from-john-ruiz
The obvious reason was that Byrd wasn't under DK, Brewster was. He waited for Brewster to leave DK before that rematch could happen. Please Rahman? Vitali retired with verifiable injuries instead of holding up the division. Rahman went on to draw with Toney and get KTFO'd again by Maskaev. You really think he had ANY shot at beating a healthy Vitali?
Not really, though there hasn't been that many elite guys in the division. Sort of like in Fight Night when you kick so much ass in the division that you end up beating the same top guys 10x each.
Tua lost to Lewis and Byrd and failed to secure a title shot against Rahman. His carreer went downhill from that point on. Basides, Wlad and Vitali were promoted by Universum up until 2004.
At the time Ruiz was promoted by Don King and the K brothers have always said they will never give options to King just to get a shot at one of the belt's held by his fighters. See http://www.saddoboxing.com/11091-john-ruiz-don-king.html King has represented Ruiz since 1998. From 1998 through 2007, Ruiz fought 15 consecutive matches under the WBA banner. So yes, I am sure Ruiz would have loved to fight Klitschko but King wanted options on the winner.
Depends what you mean by duck. They've avoided certain fights to give each other opportunities: Vitali avoided a byrd rematch so wlad could take him on (when byrd was ibf champ) Likewise wlad avoided the wbc champ throughout his rein but I believe he knew vitali planned on returning. Both failed to fight valuev which is strange and not really understandable by either party but wlad is now facing two guys who have beaten valuev. I'm not sure if sanders ever felt the point in rematching wlad because the fight was so one sided. I'd say none of them have ducked out of a challenge through fear but they certainly avoided certain guys so the other brother could get back in the big time.
Wlad ducked: Rematch with Sanders Rematch with Ross the Boss the Godly Vitali ducked: Rematch with the Godly Kirk Johnson.,
They are not one fighter. They have two separate records. People are acting like if one kilt beats someone then that's a victory for both of them. This is ridiculous.
This is true. The two best heavyweights refusing to ever fight eachother. I 100% understand the reasoning behind it but that doesn't make it any less of a shot situation for the division to be in.
And Haye ducked the "have your balls dropped yet"? test when he was a child... :deal But thats expected from a gutless coward...
Valuev and Vitali agreed a deal. When Valuev did agree, Vitali lowered the offer to an unreasonable amount. I don't know whether the Klitschko's ducked them, but I don't think they ever wanted to fight: Ruiz, Rahman (When a titleholder), Briggs (When a titleholder), Maskaev, Toney or Valuev. Later on, it's clear they would prefer to fight Sosnowski than Tua which is why they offered him, a complete bum, four times as much.
Jack, please tell me why you keep misrepresenting the story. It's on Google, you know how to use it. You're coming off as you'd be smart enough to do your homework and get your facts straight, yet you choose to spread misinformation again and again. Why is that? Sauerland/Don King were offered $2.5 million US Dollars in January, they declined, asking for $4 million. The deal never was signed. Then 6 months later Vitali reaches out again to Valuev, this time offering $1.5 million Dollars (after the EUR took a dive against the US Dollar, again all the exchange rate information is on Google). Don King replies "No, we want the $2.5 million you offered earlier. Of course the initial offer was made at a EUR exchange rate of $1.50 and not $1.20 when the second offer was made. Once again Valuev doesn't accept the deal, saying "he has to pay so much to his promoters Sauerland and Don King that fighting Vitali doesn't make any sense". So how is this Vitali's fault? IMO they tried all they can to get this done. So Jack, what part did you not understand? Why do you keep recounting the story incorrectly? :think