Wait a second. You failed to quote the last line of my post there. HOWEVER. I really don't know what is going on behind the scenes. It may very well could be the Klits that are stopping the fight from happening. I doubt it personally, but I really don't know.
We may have disagreed on minor things in the past but this is a Solid post. There is a part of me that wants Vitaly to retire, but then there is also a party of me that wants him to lose to David Haye. If he loses to Haye; Wlad vs. Haye would be a super fight, even bigger than it is now. Personally I think Wlad beats him, but either way it would finally give us what we've wanted for a very long time; A Unified Heavyweight Champion who sits on the throne alone wearing the title of the most coveted prize in sports; The Heavyweight title. If that man happens to be Wlad Klistchko expect him to go up in the rankings objective posters, pundits and boxing scholars. And yes Manny exposure resulted from fighting mexican fighters but it does show that it is possible to be the nice guy, non-American or Black and still be bankable. It's all about how you market the fighter and how the fighter fights. I gotta tell you how frustrating it is not being able to watch Klitschko fight in a packed bar full of fight fans or having to resort to the internet and yes (I know the rest of the world has done this) having to watch the fight during "odd hours." If I were a network exec I would: 1. Headline them with a stacked undercard in a super fight. 2. 24/7 or Behind the scene's promotion to build up the fight. 3. Host it in America. They have already established themselves as mega stars in Europe, its time to conquer a new market. 4. Talk shows, Guest Roles in Sitcoms. They have such an intriguing story that I refuse to believe that they can't marketed. I think it's not so much a matter of respect; it's a matter of exposure. Someone else mentioned Calzaghe so I want to address this: I personally think Joe Calzaghe waited to long to make his American debut so some people underrate him. Whoever was in charge of his PR cost him millions. Judging by his personality, his perfect record and his overall I-could-be-a-sitcom-star swagger he could have been a pretty big celebrity. He fought too long on the wrong side of the Atlantic and never really expanded his base. He needed to come to America because quite frankly, like it or not, it's the center of boxing. My 2 cents.
The hispanic thing has absolutely **** all to do with it :rofl The fact is that Pac fought great fighters, and fought them in an entertaining way and more often than not prevailed. He did not quit, he did not get KO'd in the early rounds by bums and he didn't act like a ***** on live TV when he lost. Now enter the Klitschkos....game over. Comparisons can't be made, and it's shameful that you're trying to make them. Pac has owned a few divisions now and neither WALDO or VITLAY has owned the one division that both of them fight in, truth be told they've been embarrassed several times in that division.....sometimes by nobodies. Comparisons to Pac are absolutely ****ing ridiculous.
Both Klitschkos have owned the division. Embarrassed several times? For Wladimir, reaching for 7, 8 years & 12 ago? 7 years ago was the most recent time. Undefeated since then. You guys keep on going back to years & years ago. Who has he not beat since then? Povetkin runs away from him & Haye has backed away. Everybody who has the nerve to fight him gets dominated. When was Vitali embarassed? He didn't embarrass himself against Lewis, who he forced into retirement. He got the torn rotator cuff against Byrd but he dominated him til the fight ended. Should he have tried to finish, & fight one armed to eke out the win, even if he would have lost the last few rounds? Yea, but he was winning & not embarrassed. But that is 10 freakin years ago.
Do some ****ing research before posting about fights you have never seen. You also forgot the part where Vitali was manhandling Lennox into retirement in his "loss".
The thing is though, you hate the brothers an you don't know anything about marketing in the US....MSG sells out, that is all they care about an they did. Everybody been on conan, i mean tv cameo, get some euro company that will sponser them, set up PPV, if he put a good undercard on there he would make some cash, all you need is 75,000 buys for it to brake even, an i am talking at $30 not $50, he using internet PPV an espn3, that sucks, if you don't have a good conection. you get PPV on cable, local bars by it, you get in you home, he puts some good euros on there people we read about, an it should sell, just imagine 6 fights a year, with good undercards, i would by it. They sold out staple center 3 times an MSG 2, they just need to hit city with population, they will sell out no problem, chicago, dallas, these are big city, they will sell... Mosley is an exciting fighter, but he never really sold out except late in his career an when he fought dlh, WHY? No mass marketing.....I bought latin fury a ppv special for about 30 dollars i remember, it was boxing with of course latin boxer....This what wlad should market, just no **** boxer in there, find some good undercards...it can be the "euro invasion" You don't like the brothers, but they have following, here most fans are american, i know many people that watched them on HBO, an yes the did get GOOD RATING on hbo
Vitali Vs. Johnson sold out at Madison Square Garden, New York, New York USA during a huge snow storm!!!!!!! Vitali/Arreola was HBO's biggest rated fight during that entire year! Ad infintum! They knock opponents out almost 100% of the time. Void beats up women.
I can agree with all of that except that you want to see Haye beat Vitali. First, it isn't going to happen, second Haye deserves to get his ass beat.