If Wlad/Ibragimov wasn't a stinker...

[Freedom]

The reason everyone brings it up is that Wlad hurt him badly in 9th, could have finished it and didn't. Even Steward was having a go at Wlad in the corner for not stopping him.

No one else ever stopped Sultan either, he had a good chin and an evasive style.

He wasn't hurt that badly in the 9th, although he was at the end of the 11th, but the bell came too soon for Wlad to finish him off.

Steward had similar "go"s at many other fighters, like Lennox Lewis during his fight with Zeljko Mavrovic and Jermain Taylor during his fight with Cory Spinks.

Wlad has stopped a lot of people who were never stopped by anyone else. Chambers has only ever been down once, when Wlad knocked him out cold. Same was true for Tony Thompson. Ruslan Chagaev was never down as an amateur or as a pro until he fought Wladimir.

When Wlad has fought heavyweights who were less durable like Jefferson and Austin, he stopped them early and easily.

People are overly harsh and critical of Wlad. Lennox Lewis couldn't stop Zeljko Mavrovic. Mike Tyson couldn't stop Tony Tucker and James Smith. Jack Johnson was bigger than most of his opponents, yet his KO ratio is just 36.56%. But for some reason, Johnson, Tyson and Lewis never receive the kind of unjust criticism and negativity directed toward Wladimir.

[TitoFan]

The reason everyone brings it up is that Wlad hurt him badly in 9th, could have finished it and didn't. Even Steward was having a go at Wlad in the corner for not stopping him.

No one else ever stopped Sultan either, he had a good chin and an evasive style.

He wasn't hurt that badly in the 9th, although he was at the end of the 11th, but the bell came too soon for Wlad to finish him off.

Steward had similar "go"s at many other fighters, like Lennox Lewis during his fight with Zeljko Mavrovic and Jermain Taylor during his fight with Cory Spinks.

Wlad has stopped a lot of people who were never stopped by anyone else. Chambers has only ever been down once, when Wlad knocked him out cold. Same was true for Tony Thompson. Ruslan Chagaev was never down as an amateur or as a pro until he fought Wladimir.

When Wlad has fought heavyweights who were less durable like Jefferson and Austin, he stopped them early and easily.

People are overly harsh and critical of Wlad. Lennox Lewis couldn't stop Zeljko Mavrovic. Mike Tyson couldn't stop Tony Tucker and James Smith. Jack Johnson was bigger than most of his opponents, yet his KO ratio is just 36.56%. But for some reason, Johnson, Tyson and Lewis never receive the kind of unjust criticism and negativity directed toward Wladimir.

You can continue to bring up the fighters that Tyson and Lewis didn't stop... or the fighters that Wlad did. But the main point here is attitude. Tyson never walked into the ring thinking only of surviving and please don't let me get caught on the chin. Lewis had his ups and downs... but mostly he went in trying to get the guy out. His Tua fight was the only notable exception, as far as I'm concerned. Lewis got lackadaisical at times, which got him KO'ed twice. But how did he react to those KO's? He came back and avenged them. Perfect case in point was the Rahman sequel. Lewis was a man on a mission, and soon KTFO'ed Rahman. Attitude. It's what Wlad doesn't have.

[El Kabong]

When Wlad has fought heavyweights who were less durable like Jefferson and Austin, he stopped them early and easily.

He was the first guy ever to put Ray Mercer down with a shot to the head. The first ever to stop Ray Mercer. He's taken the 0's away from plenty of fighters, he's fought and beat more southpaws than any other heavyweight champion in recent memory.

People always go on about the negative of Wladimir...it's a shame fans aren't allowed to appreciate what a great champion the guy is. And I say "allowed" because any time you bring up how well he's done in the ring we get "Lennox Lewis this and Mike Tyson that and boy this division sucks no wonder people watch MMA" and that kind of bullshit irks me. Wlad is fighting in front of 50,000-60,000+ people and yet everyone is bitching about him.

One of the problems with boxing fans I feel is that they have very little appreciation for current champions, they always ALWAYS look to the past and I think it hurts the sport and you can't fully appreciate what boxing is at the moment if you're doing that.

[Beanflicker]

I think the Klitschkos will be far more appreciated in hindsight. They both are remarkable HW fighters who could possibly have been champs in ANY era IMO.

With the decreasing popularity of HW boxing and the increasing popularity of MMA, it's going to be harder and harder for boxing to rope in these world class athletes like the Klitschkos.

[El Kabong]

I think the Klitschkos will be far more appreciated in hindsight. They both are remarkable HW fighters who could possibly have been champs in ANY era IMO.

With the decreasing popularity of HW boxing and the increasing popularity of MMA, it's going to be harder and harder for boxing to rope in these world class athletes like the Klitschkos.

With boxing fans and announcers being increasingly negative and UFC announcers unable to really criticize. There's no pleasing boxing fans these days. They are hypercritical, they look at a fighter like Wlad and when he KO's Ray Austin in 2 he gets nothing, but if he gets an opponent that doesn't want to engage Wlad gets blamed. Hell Wlad beating Sam Peterthe first time was a disappointment to basically everyone but me and now in hindsight everyone is of the idea that Sam Peter was just a shit fighter. Not like a Ron Lyle, not like a Ken Norton, not like an Earnie Shavers, not like a Donovan Ruddock, but just a shit fighter.

[Master]

Wlad does have a good personality and is very articulate, he made David Haye look like a complete prat before their fight. However I do not think he could break into the US even if he was more destructive, Lennox Lewis could not do it so Wlad would not be able so either.

[TitoFan]

Wlad does have a good personality and is very articulate, he made David Haye look like a complete prat before their fight. However I do not think he could break into the US even if he was more destructive, Lennox Lewis could not do it so Wlad would not be able so either.

Lennox's case I find puzzling. He gave us some exciting fights. Maybe it was his very soft-spoken personality I don't know. I do think it was a bit unfair of the American public not to warm up to Lennox. Maybe it was that he followed the Tyson era. One could argue that it would've been a downer for any boxer to have followed Mike Tyson.

[Master]

Wlad does have a good personality and is very articulate, he made David Haye look like a complete prat before their fight. However I do not think he could break into the US even if he was more destructive, Lennox Lewis could not do it so Wlad would not be able so either.

Lennox's case I find puzzling. He gave us some exciting fights. Maybe it was his very soft-spoken personality I don't know. I do think it was a bit unfair of the American public not to warm up to Lennox. Maybe it was that he followed the Tyson era. One could argue that it would've been a downer for any boxer to have followed Mike Tyson.

Lennox was not American, he did fight negative at times and he always talked about himself as a third person probably annoyed the yanks.

[imp]

Wlad does have a good personality and is very articulate, he made David Haye look like a complete prat before their fight. However I do not think he could break into the US even if he was more destructive, Lennox Lewis could not do it so Wlad would not be able so either.

Hayes entrance into the ring against Wlad was the worst ive ever seen. He was fighting to get into the ring.!

[armin]

I honestly don't think it would have done jack shit for the division, majority of people may have started following wlad but that would be about it. They wouldn't start following the rest of the heavies, just as is the case with pbf and pac, they'll watch their fights but try mentioning anyone else around the weight and they look at you like a deer in headlights. I do like wlad but he was a bit to precautious in that fight, he had softened ibragimov up plenty and in round 9 or ten should have thrown everything at him, sort of like he did in the second sam peter fight, in the final round of that fight after many gave him an earful wlad just went out and threw everything at peter and got him outa there, but really don't think it would have attracted anymore fans to the sport.

[TysonBomb]

I think the Klitschkos will be far more appreciated in hindsight. They both are remarkable HW fighters who could possibly have been champs in ANY era IMO.

With the decreasing popularity of HW boxing and the increasing popularity of MMA, it's going to be harder and harder for boxing to rope in these world class athletes like the Klitschkos.

With boxing fans and announcers being increasingly negative and UFC announcers unable to really criticize. There's no pleasing boxing fans these days. They are hypercritical, they look at a fighter like Wlad and when he KO's Ray Austin in 2 he gets nothing, but if he gets an opponent that doesn't want to engage Wlad gets blamed. Hell Wlad beating Sam Peterthe first time was a disappointment to basically everyone but me and now in hindsight everyone is of the idea that Sam Peter was just a shit fighter. Not like a Ron Lyle, not like a Ken Norton, not like an Earnie Shavers, not like a Donovan Ruddock, but just a shit fighter.

Sam Peter was a beast and was one of Wlad's better wins.

Who necks!!