The heavyweights really are crap, aren't they?

...All I can say is that the division is pathetic right now. Wlad is there to be taken, but nobody is good enought to beat him.

Tony Thompson should be ashamed of his performance. It sucked. It was gutless. It was wretched. His trainer was begging him to throw the jab, to throw something, but it fell on deaf ears. When a trainer has to beg his fighter to fight back, to me that fighter has no heart.
What's more, he was tailor made for Wlad's right hands since he had no idea how to slip, parry or in any way evade it. All he did was block them with his gloves, but inevtitably Klitschko was going to get through at some point after throwing about 900 of them.
If Tony Thompson is among the better heavyweights out there, then the division sucks even worse than I thought. The likes of Holyfield, Tyson or Lewis would have massacered this bum.

In addition, Wlad is in danger of becoming too one-dimensional. His entire arsenal consists of 3 punches - the jab, right hand and left hook - and he used the hook sparingly. He has no idea what a bodyshot is, and no idea what an uppercut is. He is far from being a complete fighter.
Yet he continues to rule because there's nobody out there...and I fear that the situation will get worse before it gets better.

If this post sounds like I'm peed off, I am. I'm tired of the poor quality of the division.

 

These men are good professional fighters, commonsense tells me that.

But there's is no doubt in my mind that the standard has dropped considerably over recent years.

 

PLEASE stop telling me that they're better then they used to be!!!

 

While there is some truth to what you're saying, I'm going to try and create some balance here and point out that people have been saying this sort of thing just about constantly for about the last, say, 100 years. Open up a RING magazine from what may seem like a talent-rich and exciting division in retrospect, and you're liable to find at least one article lamenting the terrible state of the division.

I realize, of course, that Wlad may not have looked indomitable in this last outing, or even the one before that, but what do you think people were saying after historical fights like Ali-Wepner or Marciano-Cockell or Holmes-Snipes or any number of fights where "dominant" champions looked vulnerable and ordinary dispatching limited opposition? Certainly one could pick apart their stylistic flaws and the weaknesses in their games and talk about how past champions would have annihilated those foes and the champions themselves had they not gone extinct, and sound entirely justified and reasonable. One must remember that, although Wlad did not necessarily look impressive in this match, he has had a number of performances in which he did look impressive and win resoundingly, even just within the last couple years, and even in this fight, he still pitched a virtual shut-out and knocked a ranked opponent out.

None of this is to say I think we have a generation of heavyweights teeming with talent or that Wlad is an all-time great, but it is meant to soften these harsh assessments that often crop up during any given era of heavyweight boxing.

 

Yes! They Stink!

 

That's right...!!! Glass jaw bums!
They fat

FAT! You hear me.

In ye old great days, you never had fights like these, at least we could enjoy ourselves with legendary fights like Ali vs Evangelista, Holmes vs Leroy Jones, Tyson vs Smith, Lewis vs Mavrovic, Marciano vs Cockel, etc.


BUMS i tell ya!

 

They need to unify the titles at heavyweight, that will at least help with the top-end fights. The grassroots is another problem. I think America and other traditional boxing regions need to re-invigor amateur and small-venue pro boxing, somehow. Get the big athletic kids wanting to box again. And develop that talent with healthy competition, not contrived mismatches. These guys need to learn their craft to the highest level, not just score 20 KOs on television.

But the unification of the heavyweight championship is long over-due. People are talking about Wlad here as if he's the champ, fair enough, but why doesn't he go win the WBC and WBA titles ? A return match with Sam Peter might be interesting, and Chagaev/Valuev (or whoever's WBA champ now) too. None of these guys are commanding mega-purses as of now, so it's in all their interests to build up to a win UNDISPUTED showdown, surely.

 

Unfortunately, this is the problem I have with Wlad right now. Statistically, he appears better than he actually is. Unless Thompson gave an unusually bad performance, I struggle to see how he should qualify as a ranked contender.
Firstly, he was slow, really slow. He doesn't seem to have much power. Technically he's nothing special. His punch output was hopeless. I can only assume his record is very much padded.
If Wlad hadn't pitched a virtual shutout he would not be deserving of the title in my opinion.
So it's all fine and well saying he (Wlad) pitched a shutout against a contender and KO'd him, but although statistically impressive in reality it wasn't.

I do agree with much of what you're saying. With a bit of time comes perspective and we tend to view things more rationally and see the big picture only later on.
Marciano was always 'less impressive' than Louis, who was 'less impressive' than Dempsey etc to. contemporary writers. Fair enough.

What bothers me though is that Wlad has been champion for quite a while now, and to me only Brock really fitted the bill as a worthy contender. The others were quite hopeless as far as I'm concerned.
It's very possible he could retire having not really faced an acid test as champion.

Now before I'm labeled a 'hater' (not by the fine regulars here, but others) I actually like Wlad as a person and I can't blame him for the poor standards of the division. He at least is doing the business, if not altogether convincingly sometimes.
But still, it rankles me that people talk of him as a top 20 or top 15 fighter historically when he's faced nobody of note as champion.

 

Ah, the public is seldom happy with their champions. There often comes a point where the #1 guy is not likely to lose anytime soon, and people focus on what he is not.

I disagree 100% on the heart comment. Wlad has a good boxing heart, and is mentally strong. If he did not, he would have come back to being the #1 guy.

I disagree with you mildly on Wlad not being able to throw or land good body shots.

Instead, I prefer to focus on what he can do. Wlad does a lot well. For openers he is a huge 6'6", 80" reach 240-245 pound man with tremendous strength in the clinches, and power in his punches. Wlad stamina and work rate for a heavyweight are very good. His hand speed is very good. He has an excellent jab, one of the best right hands in boxing, and a knockout hook. Defensively, Wlad can block, or clinch very well, and he is hard to nail with more than one shot at a time.

No one is saying Thompson was a great fighter. He was a mandatory, who has not lost in 8 years, and has not been stopped to date. Wlad did his job last Saturday night by winning 10 of 11 rounds and producing a knockout.

The heavyweight division is not that bad. What we need is top-level fights.

 

There is some substance to your argument but for a big man like Wlad the jab and straight right are the punches that work best for him, there is no point in him mixing it up with another fighter he just doesn't appear to have the chin to be able to do this and so has changed to fighting safety first, who can blame him when we see what Sanders and Brewster did to him.

 

Mendoza, I was questioning Thompson's heart, not Wlad's. I think you misunderstood me there. In my book Thompson put in a wimpish performance for a guy getting his big break.
I do think Wlad has heart.

I agree with you on his attributes - and they are formidable - but there were glimpses in the first 3 rounds that Wlad still can't take pressure. He and his corner were showing definite concern.

 

Get back under that bride you revisionist!

 

Is it 9 months yet since you visited Thailand? I just got a call from there and word goes around there's a little mcvey wandering about...

 

Wlad hasnt beat a great fighter and probably never will ,because there arent any in the division ,nor any very good ones apart from him.

 

Then it must have been an "oral conception".It's true the heavyweights are allways knocked ,Ive 50's Ring magazines that derogate Marciano ,calling him a clumsy version of Dempsey ,but I really do feel we are near to reaching the bottom,its getting on a par with the mid 30's .Wlad could be champ for another 3 years without exerting himself ,and he certainly hasn't done so in his last two outings.