Is Wladimir Klitschko a top ten ATG heavyweight?

[Gandalf]

Superior...pesky phone....

[El Kabong]

People complaining about HOW Wlad won are completely ignoring the fact THAT Wlad won.....he's been in and had more title fights than any other heavyweight....ANY OTHER HEAVYWEIGHT he ran the division for 10-11 years, he over came defeats, he adapted his style as he went along.

In terms of accomplishments in the ring he's EASILY top 10...in terms of fighting other greats prime vs prime, who the fuck knows who would beat who that's all speculation, the FACTS, what he accomplished in the ring, that's solid, that's something you can count, something tangible and he's an easy top 10 heavyweight of all time.

[X]

It utterly depends on HOW you define 'great'.

If, like many people, you simply think it is about how competent and good a fighter he was ..... then I do believe he would be in the top ten. He would be competitive with all the names mentioned above. Some would probably be favoured to defeat him more often than not, but I doubt he would be totally outclassed many times.

It's likely that he would simply be too big, too athletic for some great names such as Dempsey, Marciano and maybe even Joe Frazier.

I like to define sporting 'greatness' using additional criteria though ..... how did they dominate their era, how many great opponents did they beat, did they cross into the mainstream and what did they do to elevate their sport, how was their longevity, will they be remembered in 50 years etc.

Wlad was always a classy operator, always respected his sport and was a good ambassador. He was also the best heavyweight on the planet for a good decade. However, I would question the Quality of his opponents generally (not his fault, but it is what it is), I don't think he really crossed over into the mainstream or elevated the sport if boxing. He was so superior to many of his opponents that many of his bouts were boring processions.

All in all, then, I wouldn't place him in my own top ten ATGs ..... but that's no insult to a very very good heavyweight and a decent human being.

[Nameless]

Yes, he does, and he would have had a significant chance to win against most of the all time great. He had it all, even if his chin was ok and not better. The same goes for his brother which, in my opinion, was even better due to his tremendous chin.

[Master]

Yes, he does, and he would have had a significant chance to win against most of the all time great. He had it all, even if his chin was ok and not better. The same goes for his brother which, in my opinion, was even better due to his tremendous chin.

Vitali would have been better if he had a higher number of defences and was not so injury prone. He didn't and wasn't so he should be lower.

[X]

I always though Vitali was a better fighter than his brother. Bigger, tougher, harder puncher, chin like concrete.

He would have been competitive against any heavyweight who ever lived

[Nameless]

Yes, he does, and he would have had a significant chance to win against most of the all time great. He had it all, even if his chin was ok and not better. The same goes for his brother which, in my opinion, was even better due to his tremendous chin.

Vitali would have been better if he had a higher number of defences and was not so injury prone. He didn't and wasn't so he should be lower.

I wouldn'T say he was that much injury prone; he had one very significant injury to his knee, the rest didn't hold him back that much. When a guy has a KO ratio of 87% against the best of his era, that speaks volume, to me.

[El Kabong]

Yes, he does, and he would have had a significant chance to win against most of the all time great. He had it all, even if his chin was ok and not better. The same goes for his brother which, in my opinion, was even better due to his tremendous chin.

Vitali would have been better if he had a higher number of defences and was not so injury prone. He didn't and wasn't so he should be lower.

I wouldn'T say he was that much injury prone; he had one very significant injury to his knee, the rest didn't hold him back that much. When a guy has a KO ratio of 87% against the best of his era, that speaks volume, to me.

He had back and shoulder issues as well.....Vitali was just wore out from so many rounds in the ring be it amateur boxing, kickboxing, whatever.


I think it's always been the case that Vitali is the natural FIGHTER and Wladimir is the better BOXER who would win in a real bout between them is a hard ask as they are brothers and sure people on here say "Well brothers fight all the time growing up and everything" but when it's a prize fight it's like asking them to duel to the death because that's ALWAYS a possibility in the ring and who out there is going to legit hurt their own flesh and blood and when they're hurt land those final blows to knock your BROTHER unconscious? Which one of the posters here at Saddo's would do that? None of you! Or I'd HOPE none of you would do that...you'd have to be a sociopath.

I'm not saying boxers who are opponents can't be friends or whatever, surely it's happened before and even then we see some stinkers because the guys don't want to hurt each other for example Byrd vs Williamson "Both Byrd and Williamson (22-4) fought like good friends in the opening round, barely throwing a punch between them as the crowd quickly started booing." - Thomas Gerabasi .....and yet people are all 'Why didn't they ever fight? I hold that against them!'.....well you people out there thinking that are retarded



Of course not accusing X, Nameless, or Master of being the people who always called for them to fight just saying

[X]

I did Taekwondo for many years, and so did my younger brother (he was better than me) and we would often spar.

I had lots of good level amateur boxing matches too, but would never spar with my brother, and wouldn't have ever fought him properly.

Proper boxing is a serious business, and the point is to hurt you opponent as quickly as possible. That's different from many other combat sports where the idea is to score points etc

I completely understand why two brothers would not want to have a professional boxing match between each other.

and I also agree with Lyle in that Vitali was a born FIGHTER whereas Wlad is the more talented BOXER, it's also something both Klitshkos have said in the past