Two of my favorite heavyweights ever are Lennox Lewis and WALD Both suffered some devastating/embarrassing losses and adapted their style and became nearly unbeatable, using their height/size/strength advantage and a more conservative style to win. Both were considered highly exciting fighters early in their careers and got tabbed as "boring" later on I thought the point of boxing was to win. Both still scored KO's later in their career, although at a more measured and conservative pace. Look, not everyone is blessed with an iron chin. If WALD had VITLAY's chin, he would be one of the best boxers ever. But, he doesn't have that chin. I don't see why these guys who still score KO's are considered boring for not fighting with reckless abandon. Well, I do, because heavies are expected to be more aggressive but guys at lower weightclasses who clinch just as much ala Hopkins are considered master technicians and praised for how smart they fight, while WALD and Lewis get derided for it Is this fair? Or is it just people getting upset that guys who are that big and strong fight smart?
Are you sure you really thought that title through? Are the options you are giving us really: 1. Boring 2. Winner If so, then I doubt you will get a lot of debate in this one.. ;-)
I like smart fights. The moment-to-moment decision-making is what drew me to boxing in the first place; these days I get the most joy watching fighters with more ring smarts than I could ever have had. The argument that those types of styles turn fans away and keep away new fans is spurious. There are plenty of blood-and-guts fighters to promote to the general public; I enjoy some of them as well, but it's because one or both of the fighters involved are absolute class IMO.
i think when people watch heavyweight fights, they expect to see someone go down hard, fairly quick. it seems that people have tyson syndrome, where they have to see somebody come out and devastate the other guy within 4 rds or they lose interest. haye represents that kind of run right at you style, which is why so many people think hes good for the heavyweight division and are excited about him. i love a good ko myself, but i dont have to have it right away, which is why im able to be a klistchko fan.
I think Hw KOs are exciting no matter how they come. Never can get enough of those. What you said about Bhop being hailed as a master, and yet Wlad and Lewis are derided, you were right on target in your analysis. I've thought the same thing. Ali fought in a similar way to Wlad, when you really look at it. He made use of all the advantages that was given to him. Wlad does the same thing today. More KOs for Wlad though. I wish Bhop had at least knocked down Pavlik once, at least. Didn't even knock him down once. I couldn't tell a difference between the Wlad/Ibragimov fight, or the Bhop/Pavlik fight. Same result, but one is hailed the greatest again, and the other too cautious.
The problem with Wlad is that he doesn't just look smart, he looks scared and that is what turns people off. Lewis was different in this respect. These guys aren't the worst offenders though. John Ruiz was winning the fights because of his boring style but in his case it was not just boring it was illegal. Not always fighting "smart" and winning should be applauded.
And boring styles like that can sometimes cost you fights because you lose points due to inactivity. That's exactly what happened to Hops in the Taylor and Calzaghe fights.
Its because there heavyweights. However Lewis would sometimes just go out and destroy a fighter ala golota, grant. Also the reason people like BHop may be called master boxers and Wlad is critisized may be because Wlad is so much bigger than his opponents therefore people would expect with his physical advantages he should be destroying guys imo.
If you wanna make some money then its better to keep winning no matter what. For the large part those who are perceived as the best fighters will the most money
i'm with you. i love the tension of chess matches. i found hopkins-calzaghe and hopkins-wright to be riveting, while all actions fights like mancini's fights put me to sleep. (though i love brawls too).
it doesn't matter what division it is most fight fans wanna see aggression and ko's fighters lie that will generally allways get big fights win or lose. but hey if your winning then **** it. b-hop and winky are allmost allways in snooze fests but nobody cant deny how great they are