Wladimir Klitschko Retires - Where Does He Rank ?

Come off it, it can take years waiting around to become the mandatory challenger. Most the great fights in history would never have been made if they only fought mandatorys.

This is actually another red flag on the Klitschko column, that they'd rather face Joe the Window Cleaner who happens to be the mandatory for some inexplicable reason, rather than take the best fight out there.

 

The Haye victory does nothing for Wlads legacy anymore yet he still is one of his best wins.

Its too bad for his fanboys that Tony Bellew out boxed Haye and did it without having the size advantage to repeatably lean and push down on his back.

Bellew's win over Haye is actually far greater than Wlads.

 

I'm kinda pissed that he's retiring rather than taking the rematch because I still think he's got it in him to win it plus the matchup is still 10 times more appealing than Joshua vs Pulev so at this moment I'm ranking Klitschko below Fury and Herbie Hide.

He might go back to around the top 10 as time passes.

 

Why would you rank Wlad below Herbie Hide?

 

His best wins are David Haye, Chris Byrd, Kurat Pulev, Samuel Peter and Sultan Ibragimov. Not a great list, also never rematched Corrie Sanders and the first time he fought someone his size with some talent and ability (Fury) he got schooled.
Dominated arguably the worst era in HW history, not his fault the opposition was bad BUT he didn't help by fighting a boring safety first style against guys who were no threat to him.

Top 15 yes, top 10 not IMO.

 

Yeah I think he's definitely outside the top 10, 12 to 15 is arguable

 

agreed

 

Haye was washed up and badly injured when he lost to Bellew. Earlier in the thread you called out a guy for positively comparing Wlad's win over faded Mercer vs Lewis' victory against Mercer. Now you're doing the same thing you criticized here when it suits your agenda. At least stay consistent.

 

Haye was 36 and in great condition. He's not comparable to 40+ barrel bellied Mercer who had a bum neck.

The injury in that fight accrued in the 6th round. Haye was fine during all those rounds and he was still being out boxed by Bellew.

Wlad was great the way he used footwork to nullify Haye's over hand swing they said. Well , Bellew produced the same performance minus all the illegal holding.
Don't forget that Wlad was docked a point for repeated leaning and pushing down on Haye. Bomber didn't need any illegal tactics to win

 

If anything the Wlad hate/dislike on here confirms his greatness...no I am not a fan of his nor his style! However the last 15 years it is quite easy to recognize and appreciate his accomplishments and achievements if not the fighter/fights themselves.

People don't hate and denigrate mediocrity, only greatness. Disappointed that some have no set criteria by which they are consistently using to evalute all greats? The best argument against so far to me is His and Vitali's refusal to fight one another. Although I appreciate and understand their reasons for that decision. They rob one another of the ability to be measured against the best or next best fighter of their day.

 

Herbie Hyde was never hwt champion.

 

It's comparable. Both fights happened about half a decade apart from each other (Lewis to Wlad & Wlad to Bellew). Both Haye and Mercer were past prime and riddled with injuries. Mercer as you stated came in with a bad neck, Haye came into the ring with a gimp ankle that he was dragging gingerly from the opening bell. Haye was not anywhere close to great condition lol. Haye in great condition weighed a trim 210lbs, not the pudgy, bloated 230lbs he was vs Bellew. His timing and reflexes were very off, missing wildly with flailing shots. Haye could never be described as anything close to a precise combination puncher but it was a clear departure from prime Haye.

 

He weighed 224 actually . Just 2 pound heavier than he was against Ruiz.

People are pretending that Haye had a blown out ankle going into the fight and thats crazy since you can see clearly the moment it blows out in the 6th round..

Before that Haye was Haye. He was never fleet of foot and he always had shoddy footwork to begin with. Its why Wlad was able to keep out of harms way by taking a step back since Haye hadn't the legs to take the steps forward to follow up on his 'haymaker'.

Thats exactly what Tony Bellew done. He's skills aren't attractive to look at but they are there along with a very high ring IQ.
He was meant to get blasted out in 1 or 2 rounds like the previews two guys except he went in there and use good footwork to evade and counter Haye. He looked terrible partly because he was never really that good in the first place and mostly because Bellew made him look terrible.

Its not a comparable situation to Mercer because during the 90's Mercer was a decent HW contender . Haye was never really anything at HW and the state of Mercer in 2002 was way worse than Haye in 2017.

 

I have him at #11 on my all time list.

 

I agree and so do many others. The majority from what i've seen. It creates a massive *.