Thank you Vitali Klitschko, you've been a wonderful champion

Heavyweights are bigger and stronger today than they have ever been that is a fact. Whenever a truly dominant heavyweight comes along (in this case two dominant) the era is often decried as weak or substandard. Look at the title runs of Joe Louis and Larry Holmes. You can also include the late 80's Tyson. However when multiple title holders crop up, that engage in a round robin of fights with mixed results and only a marginally better heavyweight emerges from the crop the era is often hailed as a golden age. The 70's and 90s. The Klitschkos have been great and as dominant champions as their ever has been. I don't think their style will ever win over everybody but the results are there.

 

Good point and we could be about to see one of those round robin with mixed result's era's coming up. Which will be good for the sport and makes star's out of the participants. We will probably see some great fights at heavyweight. However the dude who emerges as champion in reality would not be as great as Vitali.

 

Great Champ. H2H nightmare for anybody

 

I like him better in politics than in the ring. Hope he succeeds there.

 

I was ringside for the Kirk Johnson fight at MSG well about 4 rows back, the first fight after Lewis. He really came into his own, you could see the confidence him, he knew he belonged. Yes he was definately in some exciting scraps-especially the Lewis and Sanders wars. I certaintly appreciated both of them, I just think in general the European style of stand up and probe/paw measure with the jab turned off some of the fight fans that wanted to see another Tyson, or someone gracefull like Ali. They just look more appealing to the eye than the robotic giants that easily dispatch good fighters with what looks like arm punches alot of the time. I fully enjoyed his fights but neither one of them really captured the American public's imagination. Which I believe turned out to be a good thing. By fighting in Germany so frequently the sport has really become a boom in many European countries which only deepens the well of good fighters. People want to emulate and try a new sport. You see more Eastern European fighters than ever before and that is a direct result of the K2 brothes. That may be their strongest legacy.

 

Respect. :good

 

I have never been a fan of him but I respect his achievements and longevity. I dont think I will ever rate him amungst the greatest ever, I think he could have done with a few stronger names on his resume - he really should have fought Haye, he definitely should have fought Rahman and Maskaev, Valuev would have been a good name and Stiverne would have been a good fight to go out on, not that all the blame can be placed on him for all the fights not happening - and the last 16 odd months of holding the title hostage has damaged his image as a great sportsman, and his legacy is also damaged by so-called fans who insist on trying to rewrite history to invalidate his loss to Lewis - saying he was up on the cards and unlucky to be stopped in the way he was is perfectly acceptable, saying Lewis thumbed him to cause the cuts without any evidence whatsoever to prove it and that the referee and doctor were paid off to stop it is conspiracy theory bull****.

The greatest achievement he has was to come off a four year layoff to beat a reigning WBC Champion in dominating fashion, and Peter is probably his best win. I think he will go down as a fighter that was better than his resume.

 

I find all Tyson fights watchable-to me he is the most exciting HW of all time. Yes post prison he was never the same, his heart, mind were never into it anymore and he did just look for the bomb. After the suspension against Holyfield he looks even worse-the Botha fight he was so rusty he looked terrible.
Ali is not my cup of tea-I find his fights very boring. But he was a master strategist both in mind games and in the ring. No one had ever seen anything like him before an athlete that had personality that took stands on moral and social change. It actually elevated what he did in the ring.
I loved Chris Byrd very underrated-has some great wins on his resume.

 

Haye Showed NOTHING against Wladimir he was trying to talk his way into a match with Vitali. I for one am glad Vitali didn't fall into that trap-he did nothing to merit a match with Vitali. Rahmen was on downside as was Maskaev. Valuev was never really good old man Holyfield was robbed against him. Vitali was an active champion until the very end-he had politics on his mind plenty of champs have sat on the title far longer. Arreola, Chisora, Peter, all quality wins during his comeback. And yes to fight Peter with no tune up after 4yrs is an amazing feet even if Peters wasn't as good as originally advertised.

 

This is the worst bull**** I have ever read. And why the **** treat Wlad and Vitali like a monolith? They fight nothing alike. Wlad is easily the most boring HW champion in history, fucking Ruiz was more exciting. Vitali was a tad more exciting for sure.

 

Haye, for all his flaws, was, at one point, the third best heavyweight in the world. He had a lot of history with Vitali that was never resolved. Both of them failed to make the fight - Haye pulling out to fight Valuev then choosing to fight Wlad instead of Vitali, while Vitali promising to fight Haye if Haye beat Chisora only to go back on it and say he wouldn't fight Haye because Haye fought Chisora. It was one of the most potentially interesting Heavyweight fights of recent times and it really should have happened at some point.

Rahman was rated number #1 or #2 by three different organizations back in 2005, he was Vitali's manadatory for half a year and WBC Interim Champion for the other half. Vitali pulled out of a fight with him numerous times - at least once questionably because as soon as Rahman was committed to the Interim Title fight Vitali tried to get the WBC to let him fight someone else. In the end Vitali had surgery on an injury and retired for four or so years, so you can argue circumstance might have conspired against this fight happening, but it's definitely a fight that should have happened.

Maskeav was more about bad blood between Vitali and him going back to their amatuer days. Maskeav called Vitali out several times in the 2000's, claiming Vitali was ducking him because he'd been stopped in a round by him in the amatuers. Would have been good to see Vitali step up and bury old demons, put Maskeav down and shut him up for good, didn't happen.

Valuev may not have been that good of a fighter but he was a reigning and legitimate title holder. He wouldn't have been a great name but he would have been a good one.

Arreola is decent but limited, Chisora is a gatekeeper, neither will go on to rule the division once both Klitschko's are gone. Stiverne probably wont either, but he earnt his shot and Vitali messed him around for at least 5 months this year, needlessly. Vitali had ample opportunity to fight his mandatory this year prior to claiming to be injured but did not do so, and instead has been effectively retired for the last 16 or so months. He did not give Stiverne the opportunity he had against Lewis - to fight the reigning champion and try to tear the title from his grip - and he robbed Stiverne of the title that would have been his after the Arreola fight had Vitali retired last year and not spent all that time neglecting his obligation as WBC Champion and holding up the division.

 

I actually misread that. Apologies then.

 

I dont think Haye has ever lived up to the potential he had. He was a great self-promoter and a good businessman who made a lot of money out of boxing, but he's never really been dedicated to the sport, and Wlad exposed that. Wlad, better prepared with a better game plan and far more experiance dominated, and Haye simply failed to live up to his hype - he could be forgiven for that but people dont forgive him to the toe excuse.

So yeah, he I can see how he could be regarded as a charlatan and fraud and a clown and everything else, I am not going to defend him in this regards.

As for how good he is now, well, we dont know. He's been out of action longer than Vitali was. In my opinion, no fighter who hasn't had a fight in well over a year and doesn't look likely to have a fight anytime soon can be considered the 2nd best in the division.

 

I agree that Haye was the third best HW but he showed 0 against Wlad and based on that performance he needed to do more to earn his shot at Vitali. Guys that don't compete in their biggest fight can't just talk their way into the next one.

I don't think Rahman or Maskaev add much to Vitali's legacy but I will concede that a fight with Rahman back in 05 perhaps should of occurred.

I will also agree that Chisora is a gatekeeper. But while Arreola is limited he came to fight against Vitali and the book on him is still being written-the Mitchell win makes him look a little better and if he fights Stiverne again or Wilder and wins the vacant title that victory against him will look even more impressive.

 

And stiverne did get jerked around but I think in the annals of history that won't be remembered so much as long as he gets his fair shot at title after the Don King mess is sorted out.