Where does Klitschko vs. Joshua rate among great heavyweight fights?

You mean like this recent Youtube video suggests?

This content is protected

 

Anybody who claims that Joshua-Wlad was a classic does not know the history of the sport.

 

walcott was 39, not 41, and was obliged to enter a rematch from the close fight he had when he was 38.

He wasnt going to win it though, he got koed in 1. your case is even worse than for wlad-joshua.

But the original match was a classic if thats what you mean - however that doesnt fit the criteria here so that would be your FLOP if you meant that.

 

There were many better hwt fights. Any novice can see that

Foreman Lyle
Lyle Shavers
Ali Frazier 1
Ali Frazier 3
Satterfield Charles
Marciano Walcott
Dempsey Firpo
Jeffries Sharkey
Holyfield Bowe
Holyfield Tyson
Ike Tua
Louis Conn
Jeanette McVey
Dempsey Sharkey
Satterfield Layne

If the question was top 15 hwt championship bouts then maybe. When you consider all the hwt fights in boxing history there are just too many great fights for Joshua-Wlad to rate. Then again Joshua-Wlad was not for the worlds hwt championship. But that's another story.

 

An aura of invincibility? Because he beat up a bunch of old men and drew the color line a decade before? Or because a bunch dyed in the wool racists for clamoring for his return?

The fight itself was a fait accompli. Did Jeffries even have an argument for winning a single round? Yet, this is a better fight than the give and take between two highly trained, highly skilled physical freaks like Joshua and Wlad, in a classic veteran v newcomer plot with great momentum shifts and the turn on a dime variations that giant punchers bring to the ring.

OK, sure.

 

I did not expect this... but big props for your honesty!

 

had all the drama in it to make it a classic

 

Based on what the OP said, and continued to say, in which his listed various outside influences besides just the fight. The outside influences, and in the general overall feel and anticipation of the fight, literally poops all over Wlad vs. Joshua. So you can't count these factors on one hand, and dismiss them in another. Further, to the point, Jeffries was by the vast majority of fans and press considered the greatest HW who ever lived. It doesn't matter if you think the competition before was weak, or it was unjustified, during the time (which is what we are talking about) that is exactly what he was considered. He retired undefeated, and was the favorite going into the fight. Those are the facts. It wasn't a fait accompli to the vast majority of the public, which again is the pertinent facts in evidence. As I said, imagine the anticipation for this fight in 1910, and then imagine the anticipation for Joshua vs. Wlad... have you giggled yet?

 

As I said in my thread about this:
1.Ali vs Frazier 3
2.Ali vs Frazier 1
3.Holyfield vs Bowe 2
4.Bowe vs Golata 2
5.Holyfield vs Bowe 1
6.Bowe vs Golata 1
7.Bowe vs Holyfield 3
8.Holmes vs Norton
9.Tua vs Ibeabuchi
10.Foreman vs Lyle
11.Marciano vs Walcott 1
12.Marciano vs Moore
13.Marciano vs Charles 2
14.Moorer vs Cooper
15.Walcott vs Charles 3
16.Marciano vs LaStarza 2
17.Patterson vs Chuvalo
18.Frazier vs Quarry 1
19.Holyfield vs Dokes
20.Dempsey vs Firpo
21.Baer vs Carnera
22.Joshua vs Klitschko
23.Klitschko vs Lewis
24.Brewster vs Liakhovich
25.Holyfield vs Cooper

Honorable Mention: Jefferson vs Harris, Chisora vs Whyte, Mercer vs Cooper
Need to rewatch: Louis vs Schmeling I, Louis vs Conn, Ali vs Liston I, Patterson vs Johannson III, Weaver vs Dokes II
Haven't seen: Maskaev vs Rahman

 

Again if you understood fully your own question you would realize out of thousands of hwt fights over the years many were greater battles than Amateur muscle bound Joshua vs the walking statue Wlad.

Hagler Hearns was only two rounds as was Dempsey Firpo. Both of which are considered all time great fights.

 

Nothing happened for the first 4 rounds. It was a great match for a couple rounds when both guys went down and momentum jumped, and it was highly relevant to the current division and the careers of both men, but entertainment value alone I wouldn't even call it a "good fight," let alone great, let alone among the best. Povetkin vs. Takam was a much better watch, honestly.

 

There's something to be said that the historical weight of the fight being a passing of the torch makes it a greater fight than otherwise. Bowe-Golota, Bowe-Golota2, Tua-Ibeabuchi, Moorer-Cooper,Marciano-LaStarza 2, and Holyfield-Dokes were not nearly as historically important as Joshua-Klitshcko

 

I hope you mean current Usain and current Allen.

Prime Woody was pretty fleet of foot and would have made for an exciting foot race with anybody.

He just got old.

No shame in that.




Re the thread question:

When you consider the importance of the event, the level of the fighters, the skill level displayed, the back-and-forth unfolding of the action, the KDs, and the final stoppage, where we had a changing of the guard, a hand-off of sorts, it was one of the best HW fights of recent memory.

Certainly a top ten HW scrap of my time following the sport (1965 -now).

 

I couldn't remember if I'd watched this fight. I thought I had, but I couldn't remember anything; which means if I saw it and didn't remember it it probably wasn't that great; so I looked up an article about the fight on badlefthook:

lol. Ah, this site censored the obscene spelling error. Well, you can probably figure it out.