BoxRec

I've watched Wlad these last 12 years and he always came in shape and ready, like a champion should be.

He had some courageous perfs against prime Mc Cline, prime Peter, and prime Haye, as well as some tough losses.

It would be great for the history books if he could beat prime Joshua too. But at the same time, i have to wonder if he deserves this opportunity.

His last fight against Fury was so negative and awful for a true champion that i'm asking myself why does Wlad still fight?
Why pursue the championship when you literally stopped fighting when the going got tough, and looked petrified by fear against a fighter many would consider a sideshow?

Wlad looked entirely unconcerned by the result that night. Why should the fans care this time if he himself doesn't in time of crisis ?

I think both Klitschko bros have the potential to be possibly appreciated more in the future than what they are now. I think the fury loss hurts Wlads standing personally.

To answer the question, I respect Wlad as a terrific athlete, professional and role model, but on the negative side he's been very dour for the sport due to his personality and fighting style. He has entertained at times, more so in his earlier stage before he was exposed as being fraile under pressure from punchers, and then become so safety conscious it was a real turn off.

A Wlad win isn't a win for boxing sat. Any neutral must surely want the Joshua win. Fury open the door to the heavyweight division but due to his problems, he didn't walk through it. Joshua, a young hungry dangerous knockout machine is the future. Let's have the future now. Us boxing fans deserve something new don't we?

WLAD IS THE WORST HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMPION IN THE . . . . . . wait a gall darn minute I must be channelling caldorothy

I think Wlad was not too concerned about losing to Tyson because of the rematch clause and it's not as if he lost his "0". Imagine how much money he would have made with a Hearn O2 rematch?
And I think he would have won the rematch with some adjustments to the way he fought.

He is decent ambassador for the HW division, despite his sometimes boring style- depending on the opponent- and compared to past HW champions he isn't a criminal/wife beater/ druggie/ big mouth/ serial avoider/foul mouth. You wouldn't be too worried if your kid chose him as a hero, there has been some terrible HW role models.

Comes in fit every time. Rare for a HW.

He is one of the few guys I like more out of the ring than I do in.

KiwiRider wrote:I think Wlad was not too concerned about losing to Tyson because of the rematch clause

You nailed the worst in it.
He intentionally chose not to perform, and relied instead on the judges to keep his title.
How can he call himself a champion then?

Courageous effort against Haye? LOL

Wlad has been boring but he deserves his respect

Always in shape, came back from major adversity, never ducked a challenge, regularly produced big knockouts, more articulate in English than many boxers who speak it as a first language. Was the man of the division for several years, only lost that status when he was almost 40, and even as an inactive 41-year-old is going to fight a young monster without being mandated to.

He was consistently a big draw too, doing 10k+ attendence in numerous countries, up to 15m viewers on German TV, and regularly 1m+ on US TV.

Always been a fan of Klitschko. Even in losing efforts Klitschko was exciting. Like the first Brewster fight. Klitschko later reinvented himself to become a force in the heavyweight division. Don't see him winning against Joshua.

crusader wrote:Always in shape, came back from major adversity, never ducked a challenge, regularly produced big knockouts, more articulate in English than many boxers who speak it as a first language. Was the man of the division for several years, only lost that status when he was almost 40, and even as an inactive 41-year-old is going to fight a young monster without being mandated to.

He was consistently a big draw too, doing 10k+ attendence in numerous countries, up to 15m viewers on German TV, and regularly 1m+ on US TV.

This. A true professional in every sense of the word, and at the very top of his craft for years.

History will be much kinder to Klitschko than the arm chair analysts are right now, exactly like Lewis.

At his best he's one of the ATGs He was left for dead but rebuilt his broken spirit into a ten year juggernaut who absolutely ruled and dominated the sport with class and a simple but devastating style - Jab jab and then when the opening is there unload the destructive right hand or left hook - Very inspiring and interesting champion who at his best could match up with and possibly/probably beat any man who ever wore the HWT crown

Also he beat a lot of very good fighters who were downplayed and discredited by the media as not very good Tony Thompson was a big strong lefty who really could have boxed rings around the stumpy marciano and frazier with his size reach and toughness

montrealsuper wrote:Also he beat a lot of very good fighters who were downplayed and discredited by the media as not very good Tony Thompson was a big strong lefty who really could have boxed rings around the stumpy marciano and frazier with his size reach and toughness

Joe Frazier cuts Tony Thompson's body to pieces. That's a monumental mismatch. Frazier is a rock

And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

There used to be a steady stream of anti-Klitschko hate on boxrec. Back around 2006 - 2009, people acted like it was only a matter of time before he caught his next KO defeat. But sometime around 2009 / 2010, they stopped putting him down as a probable KO risk and focused their hate on his lack of entertainment value and the flimsiness of his resume compared to other ATG's. But sometime around the time he beat Pulev, people settled down and began to legitimately respect him. That was the first time that a majority of boxing fans rated him as a top 10 all-time heavyweight, according to a poll on here that got a ton of votes. They no longer consider him the top dog to hate, but now treat him more like the old-timer who's done it all, just as they treated Lennox after his retirement.

Ossyrules wrote:

montrealsuper wrote:Also he beat a lot of very good fighters who were downplayed and discredited by the media as not very good Tony Thompson was a big strong lefty who really could have boxed rings around the stumpy marciano and frazier with his size reach and toughness

Joe Frazier cuts Tony Thompson's body to pieces. That's a monumental mismatch. Frazier is a rock

And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

I'm not a huge Wlad fan, but think he deserves to be considered one of the greats, much like Rocky Marciano. Both are victims in a sense because they lacked the big name opponents, or being in an era that was considered top notch. We have to remember they can only fight who is fighting at the time. What he is doing now, fighting Joshua, may be a lot more couragous than he is getting credit for if Joshua ends up being the greatest of all time like so many here think.

One word. Boring

Badhusker wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:

montrealsuper wrote:Also he beat a lot of very good fighters who were downplayed and discredited by the media as not very good Tony Thompson was a big strong lefty who really could have boxed rings around the stumpy marciano and frazier with his size reach and toughness

Joe Frazier cuts Tony Thompson's body to pieces. That's a monumental mismatch. Frazier is a rock

And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

I'm not a huge Wlad fan, but think he deserves to be considered one of the greats, much like Rocky Marciano. Both are victims in a sense because they lacked the big name opponents, or being in an era that was considered top notch. We have to remember they can only fight who is fighting at the time. What he is doing now, fighting Joshua, may be a lot more couragous than he is getting credit for if Joshua ends up being the greatest of all time like so many here think.

Good points, and I'd add that have one dominant champion always reflects poorly on an era. Eras are judged on their competitiveness and having one guy on top dampens that. Wlad (like Rocky) is a victim of his own dominance.

Ossyrules wrote:And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

Tony Tucker, Charles Martin, John Tate, Trevor Berbick, James "Bonecrusher" Smith, Hasim Rahman, Roy Jones Jr., Samuel Peter, Bermane Stiverne etc.

This list of champions with worst title reigns than Wladimir Klitschko goes on-and-on-and-on...

Have you only recently started following the sport of boxing?

Badhusker wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:

montrealsuper wrote:Also he beat a lot of very good fighters who were downplayed and discredited by the media as not very good Tony Thompson was a big strong lefty who really could have boxed rings around the stumpy marciano and frazier with his size reach and toughness

Joe Frazier cuts Tony Thompson's body to pieces. That's a monumental mismatch. Frazier is a rock

And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

I'm not a huge Wlad fan, but think he deserves to be considered one of the greats, much like Rocky Marciano. Both are victims in a sense because they lacked the big name opponents, or being in an era that was considered top notch. We have to remember they can only fight who is fighting at the time. What he is doing now, fighting Joshua, may be a lot more couragous than he is getting credit for if Joshua ends up being the greatest of all time like so many here think.

Rocky didn't lose to 3 of them. I could see someone having wlad rated anywhere from 15-50 at heavyweight. I'd probably have him 25ish.

crusader wrote:Always in shape, came back from major adversity, never ducked a challenge, regularly produced big knockouts, more articulate in English than many boxers who speak it as a first language. Was the man of the division for several years, only lost that status when he was almost 40, and even as an inactive 41-year-old is going to fight a young monster without being mandated to.

He was consistently a big draw too, doing 10k+ attendence in numerous countries, up to 15m viewers on German TV, and regularly 1m+ on US TV.

Excellent post.

The Siamese Klit reign has irritated me because they tended to tag team the weight class, although it was for understandable reasons. Wlad has often been irritating with his style, although (again) it was for pragmatic reasons.

His accomplisments are undeniable, although he should have been prosecuted (along with the ref) for his rape of PEDvetkin.

I have been waiting for the changing of the guard for an eternity, and when it finally happens the one to do it becomes a blowhard and fails to finish the job in a rematch, leaving the heavy work for AJ. I give Wlad his respect but I hope the big kid nails the coffin shut on the Siamese Klit era.

Not my cup of tea, but respect to anyone who can successfully execute their game plan for as long as he has. I admire his focus and dedication as a human being and athlete. I just deplore his style.

Ossyrules wrote:

montrealsuper wrote:Also he beat a lot of very good fighters who were downplayed and discredited by the media as not very good Tony Thompson was a big strong lefty who really could have boxed rings around the stumpy marciano and frazier with his size reach and toughness

Joe Frazier cuts Tony Thompson's body to pieces. That's a monumental mismatch. Frazier is a rock

And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

You need to calm down about Little Smokin' Boy Frazier.. NOT a rock.. He was a 2-round job for a big, strong, tall, hard puncher (6'3" X 217).. He looked more like a punching bag with ears than any Heavyweight Champ I've ever seen.. That was the only puncher of any size Frazier ever faced.. He took out fat boy Mathis, who sometimes fought at 220 when he took 70% of the fat off...still big but not strong.. Frazier never beat anybody the size and strength of Klitschko.

Klitschko had some great wins... He took out huge Ray Austin with a series of left hooks never even throwing the right... Focused on the left hook to blast out the huge and undefeated Kubrat Pulev... Knocked out Tony Thompson twice when nobody else could come close to stopping him... Crushed Fast Eddie Chambers and is still the only man to get Chambers outta here.. That was over 7 years ago... His wins over elite, prime Heavyweights Povetkin and Haye weren't exactly edifying.. They weren't any fun to watch.. Those guys are not going to let you get a shot on them, so the fights can the boring with nothing landing -- but he dominated them on the scorecards..

Then you have Wlad's KO losses which were fun fights.. Not fun for Wladimir, but fun for everybody else.. Those were what you call learning experiences.. If you can learn the easy way and that's good.. If it takes learning the hard way that's even better.. Those lessons tend to stick and stay with you better because you're pissed off as Hell for one thing.. You looked like a sh!tbag in front of the world.. But people who never take a risk never learn anything -- and they don't accomplish anything.. The reason Wlad is taking this fight is partially for the money.. It's 10's of millions of dollars.. If he gets knocked out in the 1st round that's pretty big pay per minute.

verlichte wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

Tony Tucker, Charles Martin, John Tate, Trevor Berbick, James "Bonecrusher" Smith, Hasim Rahman, Roy Jones Jr., Samuel Peter, Bermane Stiverne etc.

This list of champions with worst title reigns than Wladimir Klitschko goes on-and-on-and-on...

Have you only recently started following the sport of boxing?

So old autistic EO is back. Which means every little point that 99% can piece together, needs spelling out to him.

Reign, period of rule... not any alphabet champion. The dominant champion of the era. Wlads is one of the weakest ever.

Now f*ck off and change your name again

Ossyrules wrote:

verlichte wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:And we need to calm down a shade on Wlad. He's earned his respect but his reign is one of the weakest ever

Tony Tucker, Charles Martin, John Tate, Trevor Berbick, James "Bonecrusher" Smith, Hasim Rahman, Roy Jones Jr., Samuel Peter, Bermane Stiverne etc.

This list of champions with worst title reigns than Wladimir Klitschko goes on-and-on-and-on...

Have you only recently started following the sport of boxing?

So old autistic EO is back. Which means every little point that 99% can piece together, needs spelling out to him.

Reign, period of rule... not any alphabet champion. The dominant champion of the era. Wlads is one of the weakest ever.

Now f*ck off and change your name again

After all that abuse, you could at least admit that I'm 100% correct, since Wladimir has easily enjoyed a better title reign than the guys I've listed?

You really shouldn't persistently keep moving the goalposts of your original claims whenever someone more knowledgeable than you exposes them to be wholly inaccurate.

You like to embellish the points you make for dramatic effect, knowing full-well that your claims are untrue, so don't be surprised if those same points get ridiculed, since dishonesty such as yours should not be worn like a badge of honour.