SI Article: Klitschko simply best fighter of generation

I am starting from the assumption that anyone who thinks Vitali is better than Wladimir is wrong and refusing to move on from there, yes.

They're not wrong because they happen to be disagreeing with me - they're wrong because they're wrong.

Wladimir is 16-2 (14) in world title fights (77.7% KO ratio), and none of his reigns began with winning a vacant belt. Vitali is 10-2 (9) in world title fights (75% KO ratio), and one of his did.

None of that is "my opinion".

 

I'm not talking about rating their legacies, I'm talking about rating them as fighters. There are guys who have greater legacies than Aaron Pryor that I don't think are better fighters. I certainly don't rate Vitali's accomplishments higher than Wlad's at all. I don't think the majority of his fans do either, that I've seen. Are you seeing a lot of that on here?

 

Well, it's pretty much commonly understood that when people talk of "greatness" around here it's a combination of ability & legacy.

The reason for my expounding on the latter specifically was the poster Englund asking for facts to back up my position, and dismissing anything other than resume as subjective. Fair enough, I said - here are the facts.

So even if we're not looking at just legacy, but greatness overall - it's already pretty heavily weighted in Wladimir's favor on strength of his superior legacy. Vitali would have to be a lot better than him in terms of head to head ability to offset that. Maybe you and others legitimately think he is. To me, not only isn't Vitali a lot better - he isn't better at all. Every single punch in the book is executed better by the younger brother. He is the better ring general. He is faster and stronger and more economical (doing more damage throwing less punches).

The points raised by others to support Vitali being better (being more of an adapter, better at infighting, having more heart) are really just things that they like about him in contrast to Wladimir, rather than arguments to support him being the more effective fighter overall, wouldn't you say? When one fighter has a superior jab, a superior right hand, a superior left hook, and a superior (but rarely used) right uppercut AND is the better general and does the more efficient work in terms of results-per-volume - that doesn't leave too much of any worth for the other fighter to be better at.

 

Now, because of his fighting style, Wlad doesn't get a lot of credit from most people. It doesn't help that the heavyweight division is woeful either. Wlad is an excellent fighter who has found a style which effectively neutralises his faults - for that and gis dominance, he deserves credit. The notion that he is the best fighter of his generation though, is laughable.

If the author had just replaced "fighter" with "heavyweight", it would have just been another fairly poorly-written article on boxing. No problem. Instead, he looks like a moron who doesn't know the first thing about the sport.

 

I must be out of the loop. Simply enjoying both of them apply their respective crafts does not generate much angst or controversy.

 

You think saying he's a better infighter or more adaptive is just a matter of liking his style more? Like the style of ...adapting? :blood I don't get that at all. That's quite distinctly talking about specific skills, not a stylistic thing. It's an opinion, but it's not an opinion on style to say someone is BETTER at a skill. You could say Holmes has a better jab than Ali. That doesn't mean "I like his style of jabbing better" It's an opinion on a skill, not a preference on a style. Besides, neither men are inside fighters. To say one is a better inside fighter is to imply that they are more complete, not that you prefer their style more.

If I wanted to turn it back to you, I could just proclaime that you like Wlad's more orthodox style, therefore argue that it is better and unfairly discount your opinion on who is better on that basis. Vitali has an unorthodox style, comparing him to a completely orthodox fighter and saying that fighter is better because they are closer to the textbook execution is, imo, completely misleading and discounting of the talent level of all the great unorthodox stylists. I think Vitali has developed into an odd and extraordinarily difficult to handle combination.

A heavy-handed, volume punching, yet defensive super heavyweight. Defensiveness and volume punching, heavy-handedness and volume punching. These are unusual and terrible pairings for an average heavyweight to go against and I think his total package is superior to Wladimir's despite Wlad being a more fluid-looking athlete. He LOOKS better to some. But, effectiveness = skill here, to me. I see Vitali as a more effective fighter-career for career.

Is Wlad better right now? Yeah, I'd say he is but we're comparing what is in all probability the absolute peak Wladimir VS the very faded and worn Vitali as far as right now is concerned. So, no I don't agree on who is the better fighter at their best. Who has the better legacy, no contest, it's Wlad.

 

I must of logged in at the right time. No posts from Davo or Hendo yet.

 

lol...that's funny.

 

If the two brothers were to fight each other, i would bet on Vitaly, as he is the better fighter. Wlad is the better boxer, but does not have the ability to go to war and that´s something he would need in a fight with Vitaly.

 

That quote is seriously disrespectful to Vitali. Wlad is the best of the past year or two without question but the best of his generation is a stretch.

 

If they fought right now, Wlad would beat vitali up. If they fought ten years ago vitali would beat wlad up. Peak for peak I think Wlad has made the better improvements, He has more power, punches much crisper, has much better fluidity to his style(movement), has a better jab.

The only issue here is whether wlad would get stopped by a prime Vitali, well he might. Vitali is a busy fighter and while not a hard puncher per say he has heavy hands that break you down.

Legacy, tittles, impact on the sport, resume all favor wlad.

 

from the article

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damn do any koreans not block with their face

 

SI is to boxing what "America's got talent" is to Theatre.

All they do is find out what boxers have a lot of casual support, and then get a baseball writer to suck up to them

 

Wlad would be 60-40 in a fight with an average Cruiserweight - Haye.

He's the product of the worst era in boxing history

 

Both Wlad and Vitali only started to dominate once the division took a real nose dive. Both got beat up around 2005.

David Haye's an elite heavyweight. Says it all