Corrie Sanders in the 70s

True but the Nelson Sanders fought was not world class even at cruiserweight. Nelson had lost his 2 previous fights to journeymen prior to Sanders and would go onto losing fights to nobodies like Wanyama and Rodrigues, Nelson didn't peak until several years after facing Sanders.

Also Nelson went the distance with Sanders when in his previous fight he had been KO'ed by Norbert Ekassi who couldn't even win a Euro title when he was KO'ed in 1 by Gurov. That just goes to show how bad Nelson was at that point.

 

He tried to exchange with Sanders, landed his best punch and got slung around the ring for his efforts. In his own words, in his biography, Nelson's strategy after that was "Run, Forrest, run!" That's why he lasted the distance.

 

You should watch Nelson vs De Leon. Apparently it was a real barnstormer

 

I meant outside of a green Klitscko, did that really need explaining?

 

I agree that I don't think it mattered what shape Sanders showed up in, he was never going to beat Wlad. As hard as he hit, Vitali's chin is too good to be stopped by anything more than a prolonged, sustained beat down, which Sanders even in his prime years never had the stamina to do.

Sander's only ever had 2 KO's after the 4th round, he never had the power beyond the early rounds to really do much damage. He was apparently a good amateur, won 4 national titles and beat Botha a number of times easily, which is probably why they never fought in the pro ranks, but Sanders never adapted to the pro game, he was always a 3-4 round fighter.

 

I've heard horror stories about that fight.

I think I even tried watching it at one point many years ago, can't recall if it's as bad a fight as they say. But suffice to say I'll probably only try to watch it again if I'm suffering from insomnia.

 

Disagree with him having a poor stamina - he had no problems when he was younger. Against Rouse, Lane, Puritty and Dixon he was quite active and firing away in the later rounds. The difference is that he seemed to hit harder the older he got, whereas his younger version, while being much faster, with better stamina, did not have as good a punch and seemed to be more chinny. At least, that is the impression I get. I think the younger Sanders may have had a fair chance of outpointing Vitali.

 

Damn. Well, sooner or later somebody will bite and watch it. Then they can tell me what happened cause I'm surely not going to

 

Actually, he was in preparation to fight then undefeated Russian HW Champ, the 29-0 Nicolai Valuev.

Hardly semi retired, though he did enjoy golfing moreso than boxing. And he enjoyed farming, which was his primary source of income more than sport itself.

Also, he was just in the ring 3 months prior to the Klitschko fight in which he iced Otis Tisdale in a pair of rds.

Wladimir simply underestimated his handspeed and countering ability.

He got up in close, missed a combination and was greeted with a CL hand that woulda dropped a Redwood.

As for journeyman????

He was a world titlist, 2 time world title challenger, and was paid step aside money by Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, and several others.

He held the lightly regarded WBU HW title for several yrs and made solid defenses of it vs Al Ice Cole, Bobby Czyz, and Hasim Rahman, who in victory over Sanders, was catapulted into the mandatory postition vs Lennox Lewis.

Journeyman?????

42-4, a pretty solid record, especially considering his LOC and the fighters who ducked him during his peak.:huh:huh:huh

 

chitownfightfan, I think most of the naysayers are people who hate Wlad and want to make his loss to Sanders look worse than it was.

 

I don't hate Wlad, I just don't rate Sanders and I have stated numerous times in this thread that Wlad was nowhere near what he would go on to become at the time of the Sanders fight

 

Even if you do hate Wlad, how you not be a fan of Sanders.

Unless of course you hate him simply for handing Vitali his only KD of his pro boxing career, and handing Wladimir his only true KO loss. :huh

 

I'm not a fan of Sanders because he had ability and ****ed it away due to lack of dedication.

 

Early in his career Sanders looked incredible. He was in excellent physical condition and could go the distance easily. Along with his always quick hands he had great movement.

I'm not sure when or where he quit complete dedication to the sport but he seemed to put more effort into his golf game than boxing.

The latter stages of his career was a complete reliance on his hand speed and power while showing up for fights in awful condition.

That said he may have been the best left handed heavyweight ever.

 

Michael Moorer and Chris Byrd disagree.