I enjoy the shit out of watching him fight. He uses his jab very well, his power punches should negate the need of a Large Hadron Collider. 6 foot 7 inches and 275 pounds…jesus christ.
As much as his offense is awesome his defense is, to me in the US, cheap but effective. Evidently Klitschko is made of love and if anyone gets close to him he responds with HUGS FOR EVERYONE! Not the ‘just friends’ light hug, the lean over you like a Klitschko Satchel that you must carry.
However I love watching him fight for ‘The Moment’. That moment when someone hits him on the chin and Klitschko feels it. His whole body reacts like he got an electrical shock. His legs try to move his body backwards, often in two different directions. His body leans WAY away and his arms thrust forward in random directions to push the other boxer away.
My theory is that Klitschko is actually possessed by an evil boxing spirit and when this spirit gets hit there is a loss of control for an instant. It is these instances that the limbs try to flee the demon before control is reasserted.
Who can beat Klitschko? Is there someone tough enough to take his power, work through a clinch and hit hard enough to make Klitschko question himself?
It’s really difficult to tell how good Klitschko is because the competition is so weak. Boxing needs a Super Heavyweight division, everyone above 190 lbs. is now in the unlimited Heavyweight division, and if you’re less than 6’6" tall and weigh under 250 lbs. you have no chance to attain a championship. The result of that is a lack of quality in the division, and thus no competition for the bigger guys like Klitschko. He’s just a very well trained and experienced boxer at that size, and the best available right now. If the heavyweight division were attractive to more boxers there could be competition for him even among smaller fighters, but lacking that he’s unbeatable now for as long as he stays in shape and focused on his fight.
BTW: Pulev showed a little stuff yesterday, if this guy had learned something about defense he could have made it an interesting fight.
He’s always had a weak chin, hence the clinches. But he’s got such a long reach that his jab keeps opponents far enough away that he doesn’t get tagged very often. Probably the only opponent that will beat him is Father Time.
TriPolar (and others, but you brought up the point)
I do agree that there should be a super heavyweight division.
How come giants didn’t dominate the field before? Tyson, Holyfield or Roy Jones weren’t all that tall or heavy when they won and retained their belt. Why would it have become titan time now?
I believe that the champions can pick and choose their opponents. If you could choose between Klitschko or someone smaller, who would you pick? If I were champion I would hope my heart would say challenge the best and I really hope my brain would scream ‘That’s no moon’.
To me, Klitschko is like the Death Star, stupidly overpowered with that single weakpoint.
Were the boxing styles they were using how most European boxers fight? Is there a difference between US/Euro/South American fighters?
There should indeed be a super heavyweight category for the Klitschkos, since it does feel like watching a heavyweight beat a middleweight every time. Not without a certain merit, but not entirely fair either.
Problem is that they would be practically alone in there.
Like I said, jabs weren’t his strong suit, but he was devastating inside. You can hang onto somebody that strong for just so long, but he’s going to land shots to your liver as well as uppercuts, and for Klitschko’s chin, that would be the end of him.
Look, it’s not like heavyweights nowadays are crap. They really aren’t. Klistschko knows how to avoid a direct hit, and he’s managed to avoid it up until now against any sort of fighter, most of whom are easily the equal of any past champion.
I think boxing has too many weight classes as it is.
Beating Wlad isn’t a physical impossibility that has broken the sport.
Like people say, Tyson could have beaten Wlad. Lewis would probably have beaten Wlad. Holmes would have a good shot. Foreman likely would have gotten to Wlad’s chin sooner rather than later. Bowe might have been able to do it, since he was such a great inside fighter for a big man.
Just because the current crop of guys can’t beat Wlad doesn’t mean they get to take their ball and go home to form a new division, pat themselves on the back and have 4 different champions.
I say they just have to live with Wlad as champion or knock him out like Corrie Sanders and Brewster did. For a long time no one could beat Joe Louis or Larry Holmes. Sorry but thems the breaks.
Wilder? Based on what? He hasn’t beaten anyone to justify that claim. Not even close. Tyson isn’t some old timer where you can claim the sport has moved foward and has better training technology and techniques. The man fought within the last decade!
Boxing is full of prospects that looked amazing and quickly folded when they stepped up in competition. Remember Dominic Guinn, Joe Messi, Jeff Lacey, Michael Grant, and most recently David Price?
Wilder might be good, might not. But to say he beats a top ten all time great heavyweight based on his current resume is just silly.
Fair enough. What I’m saying is that there’s this tendency to underrate current boxers now that the sport is less popular, and overrate and romanticize past champions.
I agree with you on that actually. Some of the older guys like Burt Sugar were really bad about that. Their top ten heavyweight list of all time was basically written in chronological order.
Lol it’s always hard to get a read on what Tyson really thinks. In your cite he says steroids don’t make you a better fighter. However, in this one he says steroids are a big problem and are gonna get someone hurt. He seems to think they would be the deciding factor in a potential fight between the two of them.
And yet in this one, he says he would have used steroids back in his prime if they were available:
A fighter isn't automatically better than another simply because he came after. Is Pulev better than Tyson? Is Audley Harrison better than Muhammad Ali? Is Andy Lee a better middleweight than Marvin Hagler? Is Victor Ortiz better than Sugar Ray Leonard?
Eventually you have to draw a line and look at more than the calendar to compare fighters.
The problem with heavyweight boxing, at least in the US, is that the best American athletes now go into (mostly) football and basketball. JJ Watt, had he trained as a boxer, would probably be a perennial heavyweight contender had he trained in boxing as a kid, as would guys like Jimmy Graham and even LeBron James.
One excellent thing that people forget sometimes is Wlad’s amazing longevity. He’s 38 years old. The same age Ali was when he fought Holmes, and a year older than Joe Louis was when he fought Marciano(!). At 37 Lennox was looking pretty poorly against Vitali and chose to retire rather than give a rematch. At 38, Wlad doesn’t even seem to be slowing down, which is pretty amazing really.
Boxer’s training and conditioning is much better than it used to be. Gym rats like Bernard Hopkins are still fighting and dangerous because they take care of themselves and stay in good condition. In the past boxers would go off their training after fights, gaining weight and practicing bad habits between fights. They would also break down their legs doing road work and take too much punishment in fights. The modern boxer can continue into his 40s without much difficulty.
