Only Foreman and Witherspoon have a shot really, maybe Frazier but Wlad would have to have a bad day. Some people will romance about fairies beating real men but in the real world it isn't happening.
So do Ali, Lennox, Johnson, Mayweather get punished similarly. Because all would have losing records. What about Marciano, Tyson and Dempsey? Do they get DQ'ed for the 4th foul they throw per fight? You're getting a bit silly lad. Clinches are part of boxing.
Are cinches a part of boxing you want to see, lad? Or would you rather men exchanged when in range? You might think the premise if the thread is silly and that's fine, you don't have to comment. I ignore plenty of threads whem browsing the forum. If you are going to contribute talk about what happens when Wlad is punished for clinching.
Foreman KO 2, Frazier TKO 11, Witherspoon KO 1, Golota KO 7, Young UD. Wlad starches or out boxes the rest.
None of them ever got out of trouble by doing this. http://www.boxnews.com.ua/photos/1185/Wladimir-Klitschko-Brewster95.jpg The clinching is just not comparable. Wlad uses it as offensive. They rest use it strictly as defence. Clinching didn't help Floyd when Maidana was trying to beat him to death on the ropes. He had to use actual defence/parry , block or take the shot. And Weeks didn't protect him from inside exchanges like he did for Wlad.
Marciano vs Wlad Nostalgia or Nationalistic loyalty's aside, I can assure you that if Lamont Brewster, Cory Sanders and Ross Pruitty would KO Wlad, there is no scenario within the realm of reason where Wlad could go the distance with Marciano. As small as Rock was, and with a 68 inch reach weighing 180 lbs against Wlad's 81 inch reach (with the jab Emanual taught him) and weighing 230 there is no doubt in my mind that Marciano would have Knocked out Wlad. Wlad's chin is his Achilles heel, and Rock was one of history's great KO punchers, if you can say with a straight face that Brewster, Sanders, Pruitty, or Fury, were better than Marciano, I won't be able to take you seriously. "Greatness" transcends mere title's or even "championships', it is an element of personality that allows Joe Frazier to get up 6 times against Foreman or Liston fight 6 rounds with a broken jaw. Marciano showed it by answering the next bell with one of the worse cuts in boxing history against Charles and KOing Charles with his nose split down the middle. Wlad got up against Samuel Peters, so he showed heart, but lets face it, his chin was the reason he was down in the first place. Marciano by KO in 6
Wlad vs Frazier Klitschko dosnt have the handspeed to be greatly accurate in landing his power right hands on a Frazier with constant head movement Remember Frazier was making Ali (one of the fastest heavyweights of all time) miss with his head movement. Therefore It would be alot easier to make Klitschko miss. Specially since most of Klitschko's attack comes down the pipe through the middle in the form of a jab or right hand. Frazier also had the heart and chin to survive any shots that do find their mark. The same can't be said for Wlad. And its unknown how Klitschko would react to Frazier's shots finding their mark. My guess is he wouldn't handle it as well as Frazier would his. But regardless, Klitschko has a big reach advantage that would see Frazier eating alot of jabs while trying to get in. Frazier was never fazed by having to eat a couple of shots to land some of his own though, so its not really something that would make Smokin Joe panic too much. Smokin Joe is also an excellent body puncher, and would take it to the big mans body if he couldn't find the head (Klitschko is pretty elusive with his lean back head defence, but his body is right there to be hit) A good body attack is whats needed to beat a slow big man like Klitschko whos head is elusive, but whos footwork is not as fast to get the body out of the way fast enough All in all, I see Smokin Joe Frazier beating Wlad Klitschko by 7th round KO, after a sustained body attack has seen Wlad drop his hands a little bit trying to clinch Frazier as he comes in with a big left hook to the head this time through the flailing arms of Klitschko, to send him down and out for the count.
Johnson technically was not holding his opposition. Holding was an illegal tactic in Johnsons day. Flynn during his bout with Johnson became incredibly frustrated because he just could not hit the champion. He complained that Johnson was holding but the ref never warned Johnson. Why? The ref stated after the bout Johnson was NOT holding and that Flynns hands were free to punch. Indeed Johnson strategy when these brawling punchers got inside was to "control" them by placing his open gloves on the back of their arms. Flynn as an example was free to punch to Johnsons body and he did. Johnsons placement of his gloves however prevented Flynn from gaining leverage on his body blows. You will also see Flynn throw punches to Johnsons head but these were most all picked off by Johnsons great blocking techniques. I remember back in the 70s watching Johnson-Flynn on a small 8 mm film "splicer" so I could watch specific moves and punches frame by frame. You could see Flynn throwing hard hooks destined for Johnsons jaw but at the last split second there would be Johnsons glove to block the punch just as it was about to land.
No clinching with a prime Wlad, we would just see him fight as he did against Brock from round 5 on, busy jab and elusive foot work, punch parrying as defense, and short hooks and right hands. Only men that can still beat him on this list is Dempsey, Liston, and Foreman, but that is no guarantee.
My issue is this, we've seen Wlad exchange inside on two ocassions, Purrity and Brewster. Everyone else has been kept at range or grabbed.
Foreman VS Wlad I really like Wlad and think he doesn't get the respect he deserves because of how weak and unbalanced the HW division is in all of boxing but he has nothing to rely on to soundly beat a prime Foreman. He does not have the chin to do a rope-a-dope. He does not have the speed to break away from an aggressive Foreman and his solid defense is offset by Foreman's juggernaut power shots that will undoubtedly rattle Wlad's will and confidence before rattling his brain with one of the most vicious KOs in history. George Foreman. I just don't see how in any way shape or form Wlad would pull out any kind of victory outside of a blatant DQ. There are no secrets to boxing from the 1970's to the 2010 that would give Vlad the advantage, except advance cardio techniques and exercises. As far as skill, power, durability, heart -- George is right near the top of the list of the all-time great boxers. His chin can handle a barrage of power punches from the best of them, Wlad cannot does not have the speed or footwork to outmaneuver George for 5 rounds straight let alone 12 rounds.
Nope, but skill at the top level was incomparably inferior. 190lbs guy (light heavyweight by today's standards) from 100 years ago against a modern elite super heavyweight? It's laughable.
I would say that your first point is definitely incorrect. While the size of heavyweight contenders has generally increased, the number of technicians in the division has generally decreased. Somebody like Tommy Gibbons or Billy Conn is far more skilled than most of the heavyweights in the top ten today.