Langford v Wlad?

The betting agrees with you.
What I mean is, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Fury win. Many would be outright shocked, I'm sure.

 

-Well, yeah, I would like to see them fight without holding anything back as a curiousity.

-I believe a father and son have boxed before as well. I'm not going to hold that expecation of all fathers and sons. The point is that is is acceptable for two brothers to agree not to fight each other, rather some have met in the ring before or not.

-Its a realistic expectation. Vitali will not fight his baby brother in the ring and there's nothing we can do about that. The question is that after his two year layoff has Vitali really done anthing to challenge Wlad's claim? I don't think beating up a worse version of Peter, Arreola, Adamek, and a bunch of garbage mandatories makes the cut.

Does Wlad need Vitali to cement himself as the Man? Nah, but I think Vitali would need to fight Wlad to challenge his claim..or at least match his quality accomplishments (which he hasn't), and he's already lapsed into inactivity long enough he can be rightfully stripped from any ranking.

 

that makes zero sense.

 

-See, when you word it that way it again sounds as if you are pretending they are not brothers. That description could be easily applied to Dokes/Holmes.

-That just depends on what "dominating an era" or "clear out a division" means to you. For Suzie it means fighting every relevant heavyweight bar his own brother. And I think that's realistic and reasonable.

- As far as the other extradorindary heavyweight of Wlad's generation, I don't think there's been one. We've had Vitali, Haye, and Povetkin as the longest mainstays beind Wlad. Ideally, these three would have mixed it up at some point but that has not been the case. They just stayed in their bubble and did their thing.

 

I don't think that previous fights to re-establish lineage have been without their faults, or have necisarily pitterd the world #1 against the world #2.

I don't personaly have a problem with Wlad being regarded as lineal from the time he beat Chagaev, and I think that history will ultimately accept that interpretation.

 

-Outside of Povetkin which is finally happening, I would question the relevance of all those names in regards to the fighters Wlad actually fought during these timeframes.

-We have to use our better judgement on that one, which is a shame as nothing conclusive ever developed. In recent years, Vitali and Haye have both dominated fringe fighters or been largely inactive. They shared one opponent..whom Haye was far more convincing against. The accpeted opinion that Vitali was clear #2 has been disputable for sometime now.

 

If Vitali should be stripped of his ranking for inactivity, then I can't see any reason for Haye being ranked either.

I believe 12 months should be the cut off.

 

They rarely follow that rule strictly, sadly.

I think Haye was given leeway because the Fury fight was scheduled.

Vitali has made it clear he won't be fighting anyone until next year at the earliest. Had Vitali had an opponent named for Dec. even, I suspect they would have kept him in the ratings.

I think the biggest joke was they kept Valuev in the top 5 for like two years when he was clearly not ever fighting again.

 

-I hope it wouldn't be necessary to take each name apart.

-Pulev just made his first serious power play with the Thompson win, Wlad is currently fighting the higher ranked Ring #1 Povetkin.

-Oleg suffered multiple injuries after the big Rahman win, and was inactive for two years save a single tune up. He finally returned and lost to Peter in a WBC ordered match. I'm not going to list all Wlad did from 2006-2008, but it was far more relevant than an MIA Oleg.

-After upseting Sergei, Briggs would lose his ranking and WBO belt in his first mandatory defense to Sultan Ibragimov who managed to hang on to the belt and his ranking long enough to make a fight with Wlad. A few months in the top 5 before falling back into the abyss isn't a major player.

-Wlad beat Chageav in 2008. Chageav defeated Valuev and was ranked higher than him during his entire top 5 duration from 2007-2009. Future Wlad victim's Haye and Chambers would also overtake Valuev in the rankings during this time. Valuev for whatever reason was kept in the rankings for at least two inactive years with a career ending injury..maybe King was paying somebody to keep him listed in hopes of milking one more match out of him?

-Byrd and Peter were better fights in 2006 than Toney and Ruiz. Ruiz and Toney would be gone from the top 5 by the end of the year anyway,they were on their way out as Wlad's era began. Wlad at least had claim to their conquerors.

Solis? Nah, never top 5 or relevant. I think the only guy Wlad missed was Adamek, but not a huge deal.

-Yeah, Vitali's claim as the clear #2 at differing points is disputable. Absolutely.