Why Do The Klitschkos Get Away With Not Fighting Each Other?

Neither man has cleaned out the division. Wlad has come closer to doing so than Vitali. But cleaning out the division is hardly a prerequisite to being an ATG.

Wlad is certainly an ATG, and at the moment, probably ranks between 10 and 15 on most credible alltime HW lists.

When evaluating the greatness of boxers, more emphasis is generally placed on what they DID do than what they DID'NT do.

Lennox never faced Riddick (not his fault, but nevertheless, the bout never happened.) He never fought Byrd nor Ruiz.

Larry Holmes did not clean out his division. Pinklon Thomas. Greg Page. (Mostly his fault).

Smokin' Joe never faced his buddy Ken.


Yet all three of the aforementioned are ATGs.

No. It's pretty ****in' patent that their case is different from any other hypothetical 'tag team.'

Aside from the cases being quite different, Tyson faced Holy twice, and lost twice. He's still an ATG. I don't see how this buttresses your point.


It is reasonable for anyone making judgments on their merits to point out that they both avoided the other greatest fighter of the day. It is also reasonable for those judging to determine how much weight to give that fact, in light of the peculiar circumstances, and how much weight to place on who they DID beat.


A final inescapable mathematical point:

Most (all?) agree that they have been the two top dogs for the past five years.
Even if they didn't fight, the only debate remaining regarding each man is whether he was the BEST or the SECOND BEST of this era.




Regarding your points about stripping their titles for not meeting:

When has any champion in any division been stripped by any of the WBA,WBC,WBO or IBF for failing to unify ?

That's right. Never.

A few have actually been stripped when they did unify.