This is it, Wladimir fans, you have gone too far. Lennox Lewis took on real challengers and went berzerk at them, think Ruddock, Grant, Golota - he also stood toe to toe vs. Mercer after Steward told him to take the fight to the streets. Ali is the greatest boxer of all times. He out-boxed Sonny Liston. He is the only ever man to stop the great George Foreman, he had tremendous fights vs. Frazier, Norton and many more. How dare you compare these two and their fighting styles to Wlad and his clinching safety-first BS? Steward told Wladimir to let himself go, but he is fully aware of his china-chinned head. Do you think Ali or Lewis would have held against Byrd or Chambers? Do you think they would have had them come into the later rounds as Wladimir did? Wladimir doesn't out-box people, he out-clinches them. All he has is his size and his jab. His jab is over-rated as David Haye proved, so he all he has left is his size ... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0sFZWczB9c[/ame]
Wladimir's clinching is just as fair as Ali's. While I think Ali is a greater fighter, his clinching was still bad.
I was a big Lewis fan, but he was also critized for being overly defensive back in his day and some even claimed he had a weak chin after he got KO'ed by McCall and Rahman - personally, I thought he was a great fighter. It's kinda weird now to see the same criticism being levelled at Wladimir and Lewis being held up as some kinda polar opposite. I like Wlad, but I still think Lewis was better - both could have had better careers given better opposition, but then both could have been KO'ed more too.
Wlad is the ATG clincher. As much as I like him I do feel there are instances when he should definitely have been docked points for excessive holding. I can't see how it's fair for someone to be tied up 3 or 4 times in a row because they got inside his reach.
Wladimir has a lot more than size btw.; he's a great athlete with good fundamentals. He's not the best technician in the game, but then neither was Ali (who had a truly beautiful left jab but was weak fighting inside- kinda like Wlad). Ali DID have a much higher ring-iq and was a lot tougher - and he somehow managed to pull out fantastic victories against guys who should have beaten him. That's why he's considered a greater fighter, imo.
Not to forget Ali had dozens of snoozefest fights that were terrible to watch. Just people quickly forget about those.
I agree. Comparing Wladimir who has only been stopped on His feet while still fighting to a Guy who was knocked out dead in His tracks with one punch from two nobodys or a fighter who was dropped with one punch from a man who had a record of 33-11-2 and couldn't even make Cruiserweight today is stupid.....
Clinching is a part of boxing, nothing wrong with using it. Wladimir cliniches quick and tactical. Not too much.
