Who's Legacy was Greater - Calzaghe or Wlad Klitschko?

Wladimir has the better resume and it’s pretty hard to argue otherwise. But Super Joe was awesome. Whooping Hopkins and putting him in his place was definitely one of his main highlights.

 

This is a very good thread that requires a lot of thought.

We have to look at their skills, their opponents, their dominance, their achievements, their ambition and their overall legacy.

It’s also very difficult to try and compare fighters from different weights, as their circumstances would obviously have been vastly different.

I think if you analyse their skills as a fighter, it’s close, but you can give the edge to Joe. But I think that people forget that when Wlad was young, he had a good repertoire of shots and he was exciting. He too was a skilful fighter even though he was vulnerable. It was only after he was scarred by his knockout losses that he became a cautious fighter, which meant that in most of his later fights he only did the bare minimum in order to win. And many people, myself included, saw him as a boring fighter at that point, sometimes only using 2 main shots, as well as clinching.

Regarding their opponents, I think it’s close, but I think that Wlad took on the bigger challenges. I think that he fought guys who were more dangerous than Joe’s opponents. Joe’s main objective was to retire undefeated.

Regarding their dominance, I think it’s pretty even. They both ruled for a long time.

Regarding their achievements, I think that’s also pretty even. Both of them obtained all of the belts.

Regarding their ambition, that has to go to Wlad. As great as Joe was, he was happy to remain at SMW for 90% of his career, where he had to starve himself in order to do so, despite their being better opponents to target at LHW.

Regarding their legacy, I think that is also pretty even. They both have impressive statistics and they’ll both be remembered for what they did in their divisions.

Finally, I’d just like to respond to the 3 points that you have made:

I believe that Joe should be classed as the best SMW of all time, unless you’re ranking on a H2H basis. Yes, it’s hard to make an argument for Wlad being considered the greatest HW of all time. But you then have to take into account that the SMW division is only 30 years old, and no other greats of the past stayed at the weight for as long as what Joe did. There were many fighters who just passed through the division. There was only Joe who spent 14 years there and had 44 fights.

Yes, Joe is obviously undefeated. That goes in his favour, but again, I don’t think that Joe would have fought the same calibre of opposition who Wlad fought. He would never have fought a guy like Anthony Joshua, especially in his advanced years. And as great he was, I don’t think he’d have retired undefeated had he have fought better opponents. That’s my honest opinion.

Yes, he has got big names on his resume, but beating a guy like Roy after dismissing him as being shot, would have been akin to Wlad having beaten someone like a washed up version of Evander Holyfield.

I’ll be interested to read more opinions on this.

 

Good post Loudon.

 

He never whooped Bernard.

 

Thanks.

You liked it before I edited it though.

There was some horrific grammar there.

 

This is a good thread.

Would you like to elaborate on why you’ve chosen Wlad?

I think it’s very close.