Wladamir Klitschko is the new heavyweight king (long overdue)

There are a hundred great fighters from every era ended up in far worse condition than Riddick. They gave the sport you love their health and sometimes their lives.

Will you mock them all?

 

So, the mark of a technician is that he can outjab an opponent? Duran rarely did this. He's evidently no technician.

Tyson could and did land jabs in his prime. And again, he did it against larger men with longer reaches.

Tyson fights as if he was trained from adolescence by guys who understood the intricacies of boxing. Wlad fights like another German implant -Frankenstein's monster.

Are you following my line of reasoning even a little?

Wlad need only throw that stiff left lamp post of a jab at the smaller man and he is impenetrable for the current crop of B-level HWs.

...This alone doesn't satisfy the mark of a technician...! Why is Liston considered a good technician? Because he could fight at any range -including inside, because he knew all of the fundamental defensive moves, because he could throw in combination and did so often in his prime, because he could counter, because he used angles. His long and powerful jab is only the tip of the iceberg!

Ali wasn't a technician. Holmes, Bowe, and especially Holyfield were more so, but simply because they could be outboxed or outstrategized doesn't mean that they were not sound as such.

Holyfield's technique was better than Bowe's but Bowe had other advantages.

What you fail to understand is that a fighter like Bowe or Holyfield is going to get hit more because they are in the danger zone. The danger zone is where you can be hit but also be hit. You want to minimize the latter but it takes skill to operate in there. You seem to see swelling and say "see! Wlad is a better mechanic because he emerged unscathed!" And it's bull. Wlad emerges unscathed because he stays outside behind his jab, behind his reach, and because he holds inside and is not altogether active.

Wlad is the Man to beat in the flagship division. He is indeed the most formidable of the HWs. But to say that he has a technically sound jab, right hand and left hook is not the same as calling him a technician. A technician is by definition something more than basic.

 

Someone give me a rope. I've decided that I'm a cowboy.

 

Good post. Although I would define your description of a technician as more of a complete fighter. A technician could be a master of a certain area of boxing, and Wlad is certainly a technician of boxing at a distance.

 

You must be the poster boy for bad taste remarks,last week it was that nasty crack about Marciano's wife ,now you think Pugilistica Dementia is hilarious.Go stick your finger back in that hole in the dyke, on second thoughts ,use all your fingers , they will be better employed than they have been lately

 

Well, going by your standards he isn't. You (rightfully) say Wlad has no inside game, so he's no technician. Duran can't outjab an opponent, so he's no technician, what's the difference in reasoning?

For the record, i DO think Duran is very good technically, but i'm just showing your line of thinking.

And this is respectful to a boxer, you're gonna say? At any rate, my point that Tyson landed jabs just like Wlad slipped punches, but both not that often, still stands.

Liston is the more complete boxer, i would never deny that, but my point is that what Wlad does is technically correct or close to it.

Well, i never referred to Wlad as a "technician" in the first place, but he IS technically very sound and barely loses rounds. That's technical skill right there.

This is exactly my point.

Oh please, where is your sense of humor? You don't REALLY think i'm happy about the state he's in, do you?

And i suppose calling Wlad a German implant Frankenstein-monster [and that wasn't the first time] IS respectful? And unlike Bowe, Wlad is a classy person who did not beat up his wife and kidnap his children, while being a classless punk inside the ring as well.

 

I trained in the same gym as Riddick Bowe last summer, and let me say Bowe was a classy guy. Went out of his way to teach a few things to me.

 

It seems we have different senses of humour,I find it awful to hear a fighter stumbling over words,a lot of these guys weren't particulalrly articulate to start with ,after all no rocket scientist is going to take up boxing for a living ,but it makes me cringe to hear some of the retired ex pugs struggle forming sentences.
Wlad is a classy guy ,as is his brother, but they are rather Ivan Dragoish , in their stance , though Wlad is quite fleet for a man his size.
Great technique? He doesnt have it and never will,but then he probably wont ever need it, he gets the maximum out of his physical strengths, but he is robotic in his punch selection ,its jab ,jab jab cross ,jab etc ,he never hooks off the jab doesnt feint ,work close at all, but,as I say he probably wont ever need to.As to having "excellent glove placement" ? His left hand is too low ,his reach and height enable him to get away with it, he will only be exposed if a quick, hard punching guy, comes at him for a war.He could beat a Chagaev twice a week without breaking sweat.

 

Mcvey, watch some footage of Wlad pre-Steward. He used to hook off the jab all the time. Larry Merchant commented on how he is one of the most athletic and skilled big men he ever saw. He IS very robotic, yes, but still technically correct in what he does.

 

He wins with what he does ,so I suppose "if it aint broke dont fix it " applies.
I rather like the guy,and would like him a lot more if someone forced him to cut loose ,thats why I was looking forward to the Haye fight, it might have been short ,but it would have been a hell of a lot more entertaining than that exhibition Saturday night ,imo.
I'm rather picky about Heavyweights anyway half of Lewis, fights turned me off, he was often too cautious for me.but if it gets the win ?

 

The jab is taught in the first hours of training a novice. You don't touch infighting for weeks. Infighting requires a foundation, it requires knowing how to relax because you are dealing with heads, elbows, knees, and fists in there and yet it is also the place that veterans go to relax. And they ain't just clinching in there, they are maneuvering. It's hard.

Duran did outjab guys when he felt like it but he had short arms and so patterned his style off of slipping jabs, shooting inside at angles, punching up and down in short combinations -all the while evading shots. That's serious skill. Wlad doesn't fight inside for understandable reasons but what does he do instead? He holds or he retreats. Now do you see the difference?

"Nervously skipping backwards" isn't taught as a defensive skill!

Well, I'd qualify that. Wlad has a few basic things that he does technically correct. But these do not warrant him being classified as a technician.

I found your comment about Riddick over the line. And I'd agree that Wlad may be the classiest, most intelligent, and well-bred HW champion we've ever seen. He's a prince among men. And I mean that.

But, see, Wlad fights like Frankenstein. And that isn't "offensive" or "disrespectful" unless you are an old lady from the Victorian era.

Here's a preview of the bout between Klitschko and Haye:

[YT]URKcpHeObbU[/YT]
---see, that's funny.

 

Nah, this is funny, and probably one of your favorites:

[YT]pWIqZKhNY90[/YT]

 

Why you rotten *%&*?!#.... Haha! .......I refuse to watch it.