Evander Holyfield blames Klitschko brothers for heavyweight debacle

[Ruthless-RKO]

Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield has finally spoken, addressing the major issue of the decline of interest among the boxing faithful in the heavyweight division.

The heavyweight category has failed to be the main attraction in recent years, which has led to viewers and spectators focusing their attention on the lower weight divisions.

But, Holyfield believes despite the lower categories gaining prominence lately, the heavyweight scene can still be regarded as a major draw.

However, the four-time champion points out that the plummet has been caused due to two individuals, Klitschko brothers Vitali and Wladimir.

He asserted that the division has become less engaging for fans as the Ukrainian duo made it unattractive to watch.

The 55-year-old told BS.com: “The heavyweight division changed because of the Klitschkos.

“The judges had to score hugging sessions instead of fights. You go in there to throw punches, but at one point the fights were just hugs.

“When I faced Mike Tyson you knew that you were going to throw punches, but you also knew that you were going receive, and when I threw punches at you, you knew what you had to do - to avoid that punch and respond, you took advantage of those opportunities.”

Holyfield specifically mentioned the Klitshcko brothers to have damaged the style of boxing in the heavyweights over the years, up until both retired.

Yet, the American icon is optimistic of the future as he is of the opinion that the current and upcoming boxers have the talent and potential to raise the level of heavyweight in the global map.

According to Holyfield, fighters like Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, David Haye, Joseph Parker, Luis Ortiz, Dillian Whyte, Joe Joyce, Tony Bellew, and Daniel Dubois are some of the elite names who are the future of the sport.

He concluded by adding: “I do not understand how those fighters who used to tie up their opponents won the fights, they won without throwing punches, because you had to use your skills more often. This division has lost interest because of the lack of action, but good things are coming.”

It remains to be seen if the Klitschko’s care to answer back to the legend in the coming days in regard to his claims.

[Loki]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

I don’t ever recall Vitali in a hug fest? Besides, it wasn’t the Klitschkos fault, techically they were too good and their era was weak.

I personally expect them to very competitive across any era.

[asdfjkl]

With all the respect, even Tony Bellew would beat one of the guys he named.

[gilgamesh]

It's silly to blame the Klitschko's for Heavyweight Boxing going downhill. As if they're too blame that there wasn't a challenger in the world that could beat them for such a long time. Don't really know why guys even bother to conduct these kinds of interviews with older fighters.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think the Klits were simply too good.. There was some decent HW's around that had a crack, but failed.. but these 'decent' HW's also existed in the 90's and some even captured a world title. Guys like Akinwade, Seldon, Bennt, Morrison.. Just some names that held a world title in the 90's..

Would you have rather seen the likes of Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Mariusz Wach, Kevin Johnson, Chris Arreola, Albert Sosnowski as HW world champions..

Don't think so, There is nothing wrong with having a dominant HW division.. We saw more or less every fight we could see during the Klit era.. Just off my head, the only fights we didn't see was Vitali vs. Haye, Vitali vs. Wlad (was never going to happen), Valuev vs. the Klits..

[man]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

I don’t ever recall Vitali in a hug fest? Besides, it wasn’t the Klitschkos fault, techically they were too good and their era was weak.

I personally expect them to very competitive across any era.

wlad got away with a lot of jab-grab.
there is no way to deny this. as for
vitali i agree, i cannot remember a
fight being boring due to hugging.

the thing that got somewhat forgotten
is that at heavy there always used to
be very view great fighters on the very
top. what happened in the early 2000s
was that the two best refused to fight
each other. imagine a trilogy between
them starting in 2008 after vitali's
comeback. lack thereof made everything
else look pale.

[Ossyrules]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

I don’t ever recall Vitali in a hug fest? Besides, it wasn’t the Klitschkos fault, techically they were too good and their era was weak.

I personally expect them to very competitive across any era.

Holyfield dismantles wlad and he mauls vitali

I agree they were the best in there era, but the competition was dreadful. Pity they were brothers as if not there would be a big career defining super fight between the two

[Ossyrules]

With all the respect, even Tony Bellew would beat one of the guys he named.

Who

[Ossyrules]

I think the Klits were simply too good.. There was some decent HW's around that had a crack, but failed.. but these 'decent' HW's also existed in the 90's and some even captured a world title. Guys like Akinwade, Seldon, Bennt, Morrison.. Just some names that held a world title in the 90's..

Would you have rather seen the likes of Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Mariusz Wach, Kevin Johnson, Chris Arreola, Albert Sosnowski as HW world champions..

Don't think so, There is nothing wrong with having a dominant HW division.. We saw more or less every fight we could see during the Klit era.. Just off my head, the only fights we didn't see was Vitali vs. Haye, Vitali vs. Wlad (was never going to happen), Valuev vs. the Klits..

The difference is I think they decent 90s guys like Morrison, Bruno, mercer, ruddock, were absolutely miles better than today's arreola, Thompson etc, the the comparison doesn't really fit for me. In fact them 4 guys I mentioned would probably give the kiltschkos hell. Mercer vs wlad, all wrong for him

[Ossyrules]

I think Holyfield is partly right when it comes to the amount of holding etc. It's not strictly the kiltschkos though, but particular wlad was a master of it.

The lack of competition hurt them though, particularly the lack of coaches and fighters who knew how to fight inside

[Jip]

You all make 0 sense.

Most of you say "the klitschko were too good for the division"

Implying that therefore the fights had to be boring and non competetive since klitschkos were so good.

When you much better than your opponent, than ko him early. Dont hug clinch him for 8 rds if you are so much superior. If you so much better than your opponent, make it exciting since your opponent doesnt has much to bother you.

Wlad killed the hw division. Now the division sucks so bad like never before. Hw division now consists of handicaped, chubby out of shape, drug user and idiots with the intelligence level of a 12 year old. No wounder nobody is interested.

Only aj knows how to excite and be proffesional outside the ring, the rest doesnt interest me at all. Ortiz couldve become the best, instead he focused on fighting d level opponents and smoking weed. Wilder is just an a class moron and i hopes he retires now and povetkin is one of the most overrated boxer ever.

I have 0 interest in the hw division.

[asdfjkl]

With all the respect, even Tony Bellew would beat one of the guys he named.

Who

He'll probably show you soon again

[jamamb]

vitali didnt hold much he just had pillows in his gloves and giant masses of lard in his opponents

[lazboy]

I remember a lot of hugging in the Holyfield Tyson fight.

[Blodhemn]

Just the fact that there were brothers sharing the title devalues it to a degree for accomplishment purposes and I mean not even Holyfield has the insight to separate the two as Vitali never relied on hugging for offense nor defense. Let's be real though, it's hard for old timers like Holyfield to recognize anybody other the typical mold of a HW that existed prior. Just look at the names he lists as being "elite". Nuff said.

[Jip]

I remember a lot of hugging in the Holyfield Tyson fight.

[jamamb]

wait david haye and luis ortiz are the future of boxing. i hadnt caught that. erm, okay vander

[gregor]

Holy is generally right.

All but few fights of Wlad were awful to watch. Come on, you have a dominating champion in top shape against an opponent who is old, fat, has no skills or should be in cruiser (or any combination of the above)... and yet instead of quick job you can see boring "jab and hug" session.

I did not like Vitali style for similar reasons, though technically I cannot recall him hugging excesively in any fight. I guess what he really meant was not just hugging itself (as said already, there was some hugging in Holy-Tyson as well), but mainly lack of any excitement.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

It’s obviously a ridiculous statement, but to be fair to wlad, after watching him finally prove what he could do vs Joshua he was definitely capable of giving holy something to think about.

[Ilya Muromets]

Holyfield sounds like some of the less intelligent posters on here. He's complaining that the Klitschkos clinched too much? Did he ever see an M. Ali fight? Ali practically invented the clinch. The only fight i recall Wlad - i dont even remember Vitali clinching - grossly overdoing clinching was when he fought Povetkin. Boring? Just look at their KO record. Thats boring? Weak era? Actually it was the strongest era ever in boxing. Through the 1990’s heavyweight boxing was basically a private usa-uk club and many of the heavyweights then would only be cruiserweights today. Andrew Golota was the first eastern European or Russian to hit the big time heavyweight scene with his amazing two destructions of R. Bowe, which the nutbag managed to convert into losses.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

I don’t ever recall Vitali in a hug fest? Besides, it wasn’t the Klitschkos fault, techically they were too good and their era was weak.

I personally expect them to very competitive across any era.

Holyfield dismantles wlad and he mauls vitali

I agree they were the best in there era, but the competition was dreadful. Pity they were brothers as if not there would be a big career defining super fight between the two

I'd favour him over wlad, but not vital.

[Loki]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

It’s obviously a ridiculous statement, but to be fair to wlad, after watching him finally prove what he could do vs Joshua he was definitely capable of giving holy something to think about.

No, it’s not. Evander at Cruiser, yes, probably the best to lace them up but he was and is too small for the super HWs.

Look what happened when he faced Bowe and Lewis. Was Bowe better than Wlad or Vitali. Is it a ridiculous statement?

I agree, different eras and difficult to gage, but size matters. A good big guy should beat a good small guy.

In hindsight, perhaps batters is a strong word, I just don’t see Evander beating the Klitschkos.

[Loki]

I think the Klits were simply too good.. There was some decent HW's around that had a crack, but failed.. but these 'decent' HW's also existed in the 90's and some even captured a world title. Guys like Akinwade, Seldon, Bennt, Morrison.. Just some names that held a world title in the 90's..

Would you have rather seen the likes of Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Mariusz Wach, Kevin Johnson, Chris Arreola, Albert Sosnowski as HW world champions..

Don't think so, There is nothing wrong with having a dominant HW division.. We saw more or less every fight we could see during the Klit era.. Just off my head, the only fights we didn't see was Vitali vs. Haye, Vitali vs. Wlad (was never going to happen), Valuev vs. the Klits..

The difference is I think they decent 90s guys like Morrison, Bruno, mercer, ruddock, were absolutely miles better than today's arreola, Thompson etc, the the comparison doesn't really fit for me. In fact them 4 guys I mentioned would probably give the kiltschkos hell. Mercer vs wlad, all wrong for him

Didn’t Wlad KO Mercer. And how are Bruno, Morrison, Ruddock miles better than Haye, Chagaev or Povetkin prime for prime? I’d probably give the more recent the edge TBH.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Respect to Evander although he certainly lacks intelligence; but prime for prime, the Klitschkos batter him.

It’s obviously a ridiculous statement, but to be fair to wlad, after watching him finally prove what he could do vs Joshua he was definitely capable of giving holy something to think about.

I don't see evander having trouble with either of them. Joshua isn't holyfield, he'd smash him too.