Wlad Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov in the works

I hope the fight happens but it seems every time things look up in the HW division they totalyl fall apart somewehre on the way I mean look at these for example:
Vitali vs. McCline
Peter vs. Maskaev
Ibragimov vs. Chagaev

I think there was supposed to be ruiz liakovich as well but that fell apart.

I have little faith left in the heavies theses days and I used to keep hoping for better. I hope Briggs drops some pounds and gets back in the mix too.

 

I'm not saying Don is entirely responsible but concider his fighter Austin getting an undeserved shot, or Golota getting many shots. There are countless other examples but I don't have the time to list them. For some strange reason his fighters climb up in the rankings without meaningful wins to justify this.

 

In the end it doesn't matter if it's a DKP mandatory or not. Every champion still has to make that mandatory defense once a year. You'd have to be crazy to not want a fight to make money. Nobody goes through their professional career training, paying managers and promoters, to back out of fights because they don't like someone's character. It's just dumb.

It's just like this McCline-Peter fight. That fight happened because nobody on the DKP side was willing to give up the date. And they took a guy like McCline on short notice to make it happen. Meanwhile you got guys backing out of title unification because of stomach viruses and back pains.

 

And its a good opinion. One I fully agree with.

As you said, this is a great fight for improving the entire heavyweight division.

I certainly hope this fight happens, as it would be the start of bringing much needed life support to the ailing heavyweight division. :good

But that said, I am not going to get too excited, just yet, til we see if Sultan is going to play ball, or not. I hope I am wrong, but I don't see Sultan taking this fight. He's not an idiot, and knows he can avoid this Wlad fight, keep his title, and contiue to fight bums like Thompson to build himself a big bank account over the next few years.

Let's hope I am wrong, though.

But at least they are going to negotiate.

One thing that is a HUGE plus with the potentail for this matchup being made, is that Don King is not involved wtih either man. Keep the crooked, self serving, unfair option demanding, Don King out of the title picture, and good things will start to happen.

No King = increased chances of unification.

 

I for one could care less if Wlad fights Iggy, hes the only title holder Wlad could beat easily. I heard Peter calling him out, he should take on him it would prove more to me and other supposed Wlad haters out there.

 

I think Briggs needs to step in and clean up this mess! :bbb

 

first of all Peter and Maskaev are fighting already and Peter was calling out Vitali not Wlad. And him fighting Sultan does mean something because it's part of the puzzle he's trying to complete with another belt.... anything else you want to know?

 

thats 2wice sultan has been prepared 2 unify

 

I heard he called out a Klitschko I assumed it was Wlad since his brother Vitali hasnt made it past a training camp in 3 years, and rather run for office than for another title shot.

Wlad is the man right now and everyone that hasnt had there head up there ass in the last couple years should know that, I mean seriously whats another title going to do suddenly make Wlad marketable again. I for one want to see a competitive fight instead of a one sidded ass whooping, we all know Peter brought the heat against Wlad the first time they fought, I mean who wouldnt want to see them fight again?

 

We are all entitled to our own opinions, but for the life of me, I can't undertand your reasoning on this.

The heavyweight division is in its sad state, mostly, becuase there have been four seperate titles who all avoid each other, for so long,now. Unification is not an instant cure for the division being in its lull, but it would certainly be the start to clarify who is the man to beat, and it would also get more and better contenders in the mandatory spots, cause there would be fewer, orgs avoiding each other, thereby causing the better contenders to get deserved shots, instead of rehashes and undeservings getting them so often.

Your wanting to forego a long awaited, and much needed, unifying fight, at long last, that would benefit the entire division.........just for the sake of seeing what you perceive to be a competitive rematch between Wlad and Peter...........that boggles my mind how you equate one with the other.............But, to each his own. :good

 

I see and understand your arguement, but Iggy is a boring fighter especially after he was dropped by Austin, all it will do is show what we already know. Why not fight a guy that will probably be competitive that I and other haters will give him credit for, whats wrong with him fighting Chagaev the number 2 guy? I dont know about you, but I much rather see Chagaev fight Wlad.

 

I would also rather see Chag and Wlad in the ring, but I would also take ANY unification fight over any nonuniification fight.

Even if Sultan is going to get KOed in one round. So what? I can certainly deal with a fast KO, (which I love, anyway) if it'll benefit the entire divsiion.


So we are debating if we can deal with Wlad taking another titleholder out real fast and the fight being over with in two rounds............ that's a VERY small price to pay for the longterm benefit that having unified titles would bring to the entire divsion. Don't you agree?

As bad as the divsion needs unification (ANY uniification fight is good, at this point), you gotta look at the big picture: the long term benefit of it, not how compettive this one fight will be. Competitive, or not, it needs to be done to help the entire division, which would, in turn, hellp ALL heavyweight fights in the future.

 

i'd rather see wladimir fight chagaev instead of iggy too. but you gotta take what you can get. remember chagaev pulled out of his unification bout, not iggy. then he's back to training weeks later and it turns out he didn't have a bad illness at all. that is fishy and to me it sounds like they want to milk the title before risking it.

but remember, this is a start. once wlad has two belts, the other belt holders will look like idiots claiming they are the best, when wlad hold two belts. no point complaining. peter will get his rematch, and probably in late 2008 if all goes well. but first thing first is to start the ball rolling. really there is nothing to hate about this situation.

 

:good


I like the sound of that, and I fully agree with that.

Now that we have four seperate titleholders, EACH one claims to be THE one..............but once ONE fighters has his second title, then both of the others will no longer be able to claim to be THE one, anymore, and the second unifiying fight will be staring them in the face like the 800 pound gorilla in the room, and so on.

I love how you described it. Once the first fight is past us, then it'll (it should) set off a chain reaction, causing the others to want in on it, as their sole, lone title no longer seems as impressive. :good

Unification may finally be on the cusp, and I think Sultan agreeing or not, is the biggest hurdle to overcome.

 

Alright I agree, but if Wlad blows away Iggy that just shows how weak some of the other title holders truly are. I have nothing against unification, by all means do it, but how much credit should Wlad really get for beating a mediocre titlist?

You can call me hater, but Wlad isnt and hasnt been fighting the best out there, he needs to fight guys like Peter, Chageav, and Valuev to really get peoples attention. What fight or fights do you think Wlad needs to fight for people to pay attention?