Who is Wlads best win?

Yeah, he was the Kevin Spacey of Boxing.

 

Good names, but mostly awful fights to watch. You wouldn't put many of those on in their entirety to try to win over new fans.

The Povetkin fight could've been a DQ, there was so much holding and laying on the guy.

Haye ... neither pulled the trigger.

Ibragimov fight was so dull HBO decided not to resign Wlad and just chose to to bid on his fights from then on if there was any interest. (And they were one of his biggest champions.)

The first Peter fight was an exciting win.

The Pulev fight or the second Byrd fight were probably his best performances. But Byrd arguably lost to Oquendo, Golota and McCline and was coming off one of the worst title fights in history against Williamson leading up to that.

So maybe Pulev and Peter I. I'd definitely put Pulev in there. Wlad was older then. But it was a truly great performance ... not 12 rounds of jabs and holding.

 

Everybody who was actually at the fight thought Valuev defeated Holyfield. However, Al Bernstein, calling the fight from a screen in the USA, sold many on the lie that Holyfield won.

 

1. Povetkin
2. Haye
3. Pulev
4. Byrd
5. Chagaev

 

I thought his destruction of Pulev was decent considering Pulev was much fresher back then, also his win over Bryant Jennings wasn't bad considering he was probably just a bit over the hill by then.

Look how hard Jennings pushed Joyce years later.

 

Not imo. Holyfield was robbed.

 

I think if you put those two fights on and played them in their entirety to show a new boxing fan the "great" Wlad Klitschko, they'd go back to MMA.

The thing with Wlad was the biggest names he beat often produced outright dull if not incredibly frustrating fights to watch.

He wasn't considered "great" because he was involved in exciting fights ... most of us couldn't wait for him to lose. He kind of just wore us all down because he kept winning.

There were too many nights to count when he bored the pants off everyone. Even when a guy was outmatched, he often wouldn't step it up. I remember Emanuel Steward cursing him out in the corner before the final round of the Eddie Chambers fight. Chambers offered NOTHING. But Wlad wouldn't open up. And Steward said "You are not going to have another bull**** decision" or something to that extent. And Wlad just opened up and KOed him. But it was almost an hour after the first bell. Like pulling teeth.

Steward is at the 14 minute mark or so.

This content is protected

Which is why I agreed with the post where Sasto said it's probably because people are watching highlights. The highlight KOs are good. The Chambers KO was sweet. But you had to sit through 11 and a half rounds of jabbing before you saw it.

Far too many of his fights were often excrutiatingly dull for how talented he was and how overmatched many of his opponents were. If they are overmatched, blow them out and move on.

 

Byrd 1st fight
Ibragimov
Povetkin

 

The best and most dangerous opponents he beat were Povetkin (tainted badly by the nonstop holding) Haye and Peter 1. Sultan, Thompson, Chagaev, Byrd, Chambers, Pulev and Jennings were a tier below. His most impressive win was probably Pulev.

 

His best win is between Byrd, Haye and Povetkin.

His best performances were Chagaev and Pulev.

But his most memorable performance will probably be AJ, a fight which in hindsight he really should have won.

 

Tony Thompson 1 gets criminally underrated. Thompson was a big tricky southpaw withsneaky power and very akward fighting style. He is a top win imo.

People forget that wlad has a lot of very good wins:
Byrd 1 and 2, chagaev, povetkin, pulev, Haye, Thompson 1 and 2, chambers, Ibragimov, McCline, Brock, Peter 1.

That's a lot of quality

 

Easily Chris Byrd, for the first time around.

 

1st Peter fight. This was also the fight that really changed the trajectory of his career.

 

Byrd I.