New heavyweight hope?

[Autobarn]

OK the heavyweights are a mess.

What a scene, Haye signing away as many as his next 3 fights, getting injured, maybe never to get a shot at Wlad now, and his paymasters Setanta on the flop. Long inactivity and maybe he will have to do what everyone else does, and fight contenders.

Vitali Klitschko, the only potentially great heavyweight at the moment, maybe he'll fight Oleg Maskaev. Thanks, Vitali, for contributing so much to the heavyweight scene!

Wlad isn't as good as Vitali, nowhere near, everyone knows this. He's allowed to get away with murder in fights, clinching excessively and even turning his back on opponents with no consequences.

Povetkin is Wlad's mandatory, has skills, strength, amateur and pro experience - but he keeps stepping on twigs (according to Bunce) whenever he's supposed to challenge Wlad.

Lot of politricks, lot of bollocks, lot of "shrewd business moves" - very little fighting.

Could this guy be the answer? Denis Boytsov, 23 years old, compact, powerfully built and relatively skilled heavyweight prospect. Just battered Taras Bidenko last night in a decent step up performance. Good jab when he uses it, patient - if a little steady-looking - and some mean looking uppercuts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZBXGOIyfu4

A new heavyweight hope? Fvck knows, boxing needs one.

[yiddo14]

Wlad is better than Vitali in almost every aspect aside from the chin department.

Boytsov scored a great win over Bidenko but I can't see him being the "saviour". He is too small.

[Old bones Ian]

Good performance last night, looks as if he's starting to take his career seriously.

I was also impressed with Kevin Johnson last time he fought, looks to be getting more meat into his shots, if he's got a decent chin i think he's the best of the american heavies.

[charlieb]

Didnt see yesterday's performance, but all of the fights of his I'd seen before left me relatively underwhelmed.

[Autobarn]

Wlad is better than Vitali in almost every aspect aside from the chin department.

Boytsov scored a great win over Bidenko but I can't see him being the "saviour". He is too small.

no he's not. wlad is slicker, and has bigger muscles, and throws prettier shots. but basically he can't fight, he has to hold on for dear life. vitali can take shots, he can slug (lewis), and he can do the lon range stuff without falling over 6 times. just compare the 2 men's performances v sam peter (and even sanders). different leagues.

i like the look of boytsov - this time. before he looked like an overmuscled buffoon. lst nigth he looked pretty solid. although he's small-ish, he has some power and appears to be pretty strong. who knows, if he gets built up right, he might be able to break some of these bigger guys in half with body shots.

[Autobarn]

Didnt see yesterday's performance, but all of the fights of his I'd seen before left me relatively underwhelmed.

yes, before last ngith he just looked like a slow muscle man. while bidenko was probably served at the right time, boystov did some good things against him. he's still a baby - 23 - and there could be some good improvement

i won't be too enthusiastic though, let's say he wins a belt, he'll probably bury in his backyard and get put into Universum protective custody. or get sick and fail to pass medicals. or break his bakc in training. or something.

[yiddo14]

Wlad is better than Vitali in almost every aspect aside from the chin department.

Boytsov scored a great win over Bidenko but I can't see him being the "saviour". He is too small.

no he's not. wlad is slicker, and has bigger muscles, and throws prettier shots. but basically he can't fight, he has to hold on for dear life. vitali can take shots, he can slug (lewis), and he can do the lon range stuff without falling over 6 times. just compare the 2 men's performances v sam peter (and even sanders). different leagues.

i like the look of boytsov - this time. before he looked like an overmuscled buffoon. lst nigth he looked pretty solid. although he's small-ish, he has some power and appears to be pretty strong. who knows, if he gets built up right, he might be able to break some of these bigger guys in half with body shots.

Wlad has much better footwork, has better technique and throws better combinations(Vitali doesn't extend past 1-2)
Vitali is tougher and perhaps a little stronger. He also has a better chin, which explains why he seems tougher mentally too.
If they met, Vitali would probably beat him due to little bro's chin but Wlad is the better boxer and has more talent. He has also achieved more as of right now.

[Autobarn]

I don't know about that. Wlad is basically the guy with the designer body and the pretty looking combos. Whereas Vitali can actually fight at a pace without falling to pieces, can take a flush shot on the chin, can let rip with punches without gassing. If Wlad wasn't allowed to hold, if he got penalised for holding and turning his back on the opponent, if the ref didn't keep helping him, I don't know if he'd even still have any belts.

I see Vitali as vastly superior. Wlad may be more precise, slicker, but he can't hold it together.

Wlad has unified 2 heavyweight belts but i'm not sure anyone has been more boring, or more shaky, accomplishing such a prize.

[Dioufy]

If Wlad had a chin, he would be up for in the top 10 of heavyweight greats. It's a shame he hyperventilates once under pressure. For that alone, I believe Vitali would smash Wlad if they ever fought competitively. Wlad would be perfect fodder for his brother.

[Shirow]

My 2p is that Wlad is the better athlete but Vitali is the fighter in the family.

First time i've seen Boysov i think and i don't see anything to get excited about . I thought i saw the look of a good amateur who is picking up the lazy pro style very well. I wiki'd him and he does have a long amateur career, also according to Wikipedia (so could well be wrong) he was a light middleweight at 15 and a super heavyweight at 18 which makes you wonder.

[alexpaterson]

There are a few good HW's coming through i think Povetkin has plenty skills but is flabby and looks as if he could be outboxed also Denis Boytsov also looks quite good