Alright, let's take a look at Wlad's comp over his last 5 fights, compared to the other Champs in the heavyweight division, over their last five fights. Wladimir has fought... Sam Peter (20-0 -Undefeated top contender currently ranked #2 by ring mag. Wlad beat Peter senseless for 10 of their 12 rounds) Chris Byrd (39-2-1 -#1 ranked by Ring Mag, IBF Champion. Wlad wins by brutal knockout) Calvin Brock (29-0 Undefeated, top contender. Wlad wins by brutal knockout) Ray Austin (24-3-4 mandatory defense, IBF #1 contender had just fought to a draw with Ibragimov. Wlad wins by brutal knockout) Lamon Brewster (33-3 Former Champ, last person to beat Wlad, and highest available contender to fight. On his way to win by brutal knockout Brewster quits) Oleg Maskaev has fought... Quinn Navarre (30-12-1 uhhh....) Livin Castillo (12-2....yea...) Sanin Samil Sam (24-2... SSS is a decent gatekeeper in the division.) Hasim Rahman (41-5-2 - WBC Champion. Very good win) Peter Okhello (18-4 - first title defense... wow....) Ruslan Chagaev has fought.... Rob Calloway (56-5-1 ...obviously nothing special) Vladimir Virchis (20-0 - pretty decent prospect. Extremely close fight, good win) Michael Sprott (28-9 -Journeyman, nothing special) John Ruiz (41-6-1 - We all know Johnny as limited as he is, but never the less a very good split decision win over a former champ. WBA title eliminator. Nikolay Valuev (46-0 -WBA Champ/monster.. huge win for him) Sultan Ibragimov has fought... Friday Abunanya (23-3-2 -nothing special) Lance Whitaker (31-3-1 -Pretty good win, Lance is a dangerous opponent) Ray Austin (24-3-3 - Fought to a draw) Javier Mora (21-3-1 -fight was a joke, but a tune up I guess) Shannon Briggs (48-4-1 - Very good win over the WBO Champion) Now considering Wladimir's MUCH great competition, coupled with the fact that his wins were much more impressive... I would love to know why people are getting on his case as if he isn't fighting anyone. We should be thanking Wladimir for giving us these fights. Now, let's hope one of the other Champions will fight him.
I think only a morron would claim that Vladimir has not been fighting the best opposition in HW as compared to anybody else. And I am not even talking about the manner he beats his opposition.
It all goes back to the Lennox Lewis days does the hate for the Klitschko brothers that is the only explanation i can find for someone hating an exciting increasingly dominant guy who takes on anyone in front of him
WTF do you mean "they are beatbable"? Of course they are beatable, that is why he dominated all of them. Also... who on earth isn't beatable? Jirov?:rofl I skipped over your opinions of the fighters after reading through the first one. Obviously, by that point I realized that it was ******ed and not worth the read. You can play devil's advocate and tear down every fighter if you are biased enough... the point is that you could never elevate any other current Heavyweight Champions comp above Wlad's. End of story, Wlad is leaps and bounds above the comp.
Virchis is actually a much better win than you presented him, in my opinion. Current EBU champion with Peter-like knockout power. Great chin, too. It's the narrowness of most of Chagaev's wins, rather than the quality, that places him below Wlad.
Of course he deserves MUCH MORE credit than others. Widdow gave a very good analysis by giving credit to all belt holders for meaningful fights. Your analysis were crap. Lets put it this way. Imagine Wlad fighting the competition of other belt holders, if he was fighting Peter Pthello or Wladimir Virchis people would be all over him for this, yet those are good opponents for Chagaev and Maskaev. The expectations for Wladimir are set so high its ridiculous.
I didn't say anything bad about that win. I said it was a good win over a decent prospect. I don't think the win is anything mind blowing or anything. A good win over a good undefeated prospect. I have always been a bit suspicious of Virchis since he was being soundly beaten by Bidenko (despite knocking him down in the 2nd) before finally catching him again in the very last round.
I know you didn't say anything bad about it--I was not implying that you did. I simply consider him a better fighter than you do, although I acknowledge that Chagaev did not defeat him decisively. He's a slight rung below Samuel Peter at the moment, but he's the same sort of fighter...and I could see him beating Peter in a trading-match.
Well, I disagree that Virchis and Peter are identical. I really don't see the reasoning for that. Sam Peter's wins over James Toney are far better than anything that Virchis has done. Sam Peter is also fighting Maskaev next, so we will have our answers then. Also, Peter is ranked #2 by Ring Mag right now... so I definitely would consider a win over Sam Peter quite a bit higher than a win over Virchis.
Virchis in my opinion is a pretty slow power puncher with pretty decent timing on his shots. His timing is better than Peter's, but he is less explosive than Peter is. Peter has a proven granite chin, and has outboxed a master boxer the likes of James Toney. On the other hand Virchis was being soundly outboxed by Bidenko for 11 rounds, and even Novi pointed out that he was given a gift against Sprott. I definitely don't see either of those guys hanging in there like that against Sam Peter. On the other hand I don't overrated Peter either. Let's see him vs Maskaev, and how that works out. I was impressed with Sam Peter in his knockouts, and not so impressed with him in a few other fights. However, the reality is that the only person to outbox him, or to beat him is Wladimir Klitschko... so that says a lot about the man. Peter's comp may not be the best, but he normally dispatched with his opponents the way that he should have done.
You know, if Wlad's no good, than no-one in the entire heavyweight division is any good. We have to be careful to not become too cynical or jaded -- any fighter dreams of being the best in their division. I feel like Wlad's criticasters are saying 'well, you're the best, but that's still not saying very much'. I believe Wlad will unify. He'll always have a 'Hearns'-like chin, that comes with his build, but he has the offensive tools to do it. But he can't do it all tomorrow -- give him some time. The fights will be made when they'll be made. I hope in time a big talent will rise up to provide Klitschko with a super-match in the future. Sadly, I think Povetkin's too short, though he could make him uncomfortable up close. We'll see after Povetkin further proves himself.
I say we scrap every single heavyweight out there today and start over. It dont matter really who fights who cuz they all suck:smoke
