Where do you rank Wladimir Klitschko currently amonst list of Heavyweight greats?

Plenty of threads on this already, but yeah hes probably comfortably top 10 if you really look at Wlad's legacy with an unbiased point of view. He's been extremely consistent, and dominant, so he's got to be ranked highly on that. He's got some bad losses, and of course his era wasn't that great.

but the thing with Wlad is that you have to factor in how strong and effective he is in his style. He doesnt take much punishment using this style. He would probably beat more ATG heavies than we would all like to admit. I rank him higher than Vitali, even if Vitali may be better H2H, although wlad has to be seen as a stylistic nightmare for most HWs.

Also a point i want to make. Marciano is ranked highly based on his undefeated record, wins versus walcott moore lastarza louis charles etc. Wlad to me has a much better resume than that, it's deeper anyway. I know it lacks any wins over any ATGs, and i know wlad has losses when he was developing, but hes still got more wins against prime opponents than Rocky does. And i think Wlad would obliderate Rocky H2H and would perform better against great heavies.

 

Does someone want to argue that Jeffries, Willard, Dempsey, Marciano, Patterson or Liston fought in better eras head to head?

Does someone really want to really insist that Holmes' title defenses were so much better than Wlad's?

 

I think the era is weak, more so relative to the potential athletic talent out there, especially for HWs. And tough not his fault, the brothers never fough the other best guy, each other.

If it was NOT for this, mainly era, he would clearly be top 5 all time, maybe top 3. Depends how much you penalize him for the losses when not remotely shot.

Given the era & Brother factor, I still cannot see how he is out of the top 10.
Likely top 7 or 8 when all is said & done.

 

As a menace II society and bane to fans on both sides of the Atlantic, it's hard to quantify just how many lives he's ruined.

Our dossier on him goes back a ways. I don't know how long a heavyweight era is, but this SOB's been the last man standing for a long, long time. The reign of terror that defines his current title run is as long as Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Rocky Marciano, and most of Floyd Patterson's first reign...combined.

You think any of them traumatized fans enough to force them to run out and vent their pain on cardboard signs stuck to telephone poles or school bulletin boards? Of course not. But sure enough, we see the modern version of this every day here thanks to the sadistic Mr. Klitschko.

It's only a matter of time before one of the victims opines on his losses, to which I say: Be grateful they happened! Many have a hard enough time coping with the three losses; him being unbeaten would be catastrophic to the psyche of millions.

I haven't seen or heard records of a case like this since Ali before everyone loved him, and the undisputed king of wrecking invested fans, Jack Johnson.

 

I think he might get to 7th or 8th but as far as I'm concerned he's not there yet. I'd say he's top 10-15 right now, and closer to 10 than 15. So maybe 10-12th in that range. Going back to the previous era, I can't rank him ahead of Lewis or Holyfield.

Tyson? that's a hard call. One was a shoot star who's peak was easily top 3-4 and the other has had a long career at the top, with less notable and less spectacular wins.

 

The length of his reign, flaws or not, probably puts him somewhere in the 6- 10 range.

 

He is the Second longest reigning Champ In History, just behind Joe Louis.


I think he is at 22 defenses ( Louis had 25)


That alone, makes him top 10 in my book. This man is STILL dominating.

 

Not having a pop or anything, but if he were to lose his next 3/4 fights and retire, would your placing of him change?

 

There are two ways to rank fighters:

#1 Who could beat whom

#2 Historical Significance

#1 Wlad is one of the 3 greatest heavyweights of all time, along with his brother and Lennox Lewis. He's just too big and "modern" for Ali, Marciano or Joe Louis.

#2 Louis, Ali, Holmes, Tyson, Johnson, Marciano, and Lewis all have him beat. They're fights were more significant, more exciting, did more to advance boxing, and more people will be watching them on youtube (or whatever) 50 years from now.

It's really as simple as that.

 

Top 10 I'd say longevity, dominant, power and physical attributes, brains. but I don't watch old timers much I couldn't put up a top 10 list.