The beginning of a new age in Heavyweight Boxing

[Kirkland Laing]

Klitschko is a fraud and will be rightly ignored by the media. A guy who got KO'd in effectively a round by a journeyman and then wouldn't get back in the ring with him is a joke, not somebody we can take seriously. If he becomes lineal champ it just means he's the biggest joke in a joke division. In fact "joke division" may be rating the current heavyweight division too highly.

[Wayne]

As much as I'm looking forward to the two champs fighting Saturday I don't think this is going to bring much recognition to the division. I think it will do marginally better than Calzaghe-Kessler, arguably one of the most important (and best) fights of last year which did zilch in the ratings.

To the casual boxing fan, who is Sultan Ibragimov? He came out of nowhere and beat a placeholder for a belt and he doesn't look like anything. It's sad, but true that perception does matter. You could show me a picture of Ibragimov ten times and I could easily forget his face twelve times. He doesn't look menacing; he looks like some guy you might walk by in a mall.

Klitschko will be the one to carry this fight. With his height and intimidating physique he'll draw some people. But I think Americans, at least, are disinterested in two white, European fighters whose names they can't pronounce.

We liked Mike Tyson because he looked menacing, was menacing. We liked Ali for his big mouth. We liked George Foreman because he was a monster. I really don't know how much of a black/white thing it is but something with those fighters doesn't translate over to Saturday's combatants.

I hope like hell I'm wrong, but I don't think people in this country really care about a foreign, non-black heavyweight. Tyson was putting butts in seats to fight glorified club fighters- had this fight been in Germany I'd bet it would have sold out, but does anyone know how many seats are left at the Garden?

You can't have a comedy with two straight men.

[OumaFan]

I don't think Klitschko (or Sultan I guess) becoming lineal will generate all that much new attention on the heavyweights. Its gonna take an exciting fighter and for whatever reason people don't get all that excited about Wlad.

Even worse if Sultan somehow won it. A supremely non-intimidating looking fighter who sticks and moves for the most part. And Russian. That's bound to generate excitement.

[Mikkel_K]

To the casual boxing fan, who is Sultan Ibragimov? He came out of nowhere and beat a placeholder for a belt and he doesn't look like anything. It's sad, but true that perception does matter. You could show me a picture of Ibragimov ten times and I could easily forget his face twelve times. He doesn't look menacing; he looks like some guy you might walk by in a mall.

and

We liked Mike Tyson because he looked menacing, was menacing. We liked Ali for his big mouth. We liked George Foreman because he was a monster. I really don't know how much of a black/white thing it is but something with those fighters doesn't translate over to Saturday's combatants.

Good points. FWIW I (am in the minority) who actually believes guys like Valuev are great for the sport. Exactly due to these reasons - he may not be a great fighter, but he sure looks menacing, and he is instantly recognisable. Two very important ingredients in becoming 'the baddest man on the planet', which the Heavyweight Champion of the world should always be regarded as.

Now, of course there is the small problem that Valuev will get his head smashed in if he ever meets Wlad, but you probably still get what I'm getting at.

[El Kabong]

Why are you so keen to pretend that a fraudster is a credible heavyweight champion? Just because these guys wear boxing gloves and hit each other doesn't mean they're any good you know.

Wladimir has 49 wins 44 by KO...it takes talent to win 1 professional fight, especially by KO...to win this many it's more than LUCK or just that "the other guy sucked more"

You cannot as a true boxing fan and in all seriousness look at Wladimir Klitschko fight and tell me he doesn't have talent he has one of the best jabs in the HISTORY of the sport, he has every punch in his arsenal ALL with legitimate KO power with either hand! You figure all that with his physical size and strength paired with his hand eye coordination and knowledge of boxing he's a very very solid heavyweight ALL-TIME...he's good, he's not great but his career isn't over yet but he's a very good heavyweight and there is no doubting that.

Just because you get beat a time or two doesn't make you a chump or a fraud....the guy has had 52 fights he was bound to have an off night sometime.

[Kirkland Laing]

Wladimir has 49 wins 44 by KO...it takes talent to win 1 professional fight, especially by KO...to win this many it's more than LUCK or just that "the other guy sucked more"

You cannot as a true boxing fan and in all seriousness look at Wladimir Klitschko fight and tell me he doesn't have talent he has one of the best jabs in the HISTORY of the sport, he has every punch in his arsenal ALL with legitimate KO power with either hand! You figure all that with his physical size and strength paired with his hand eye coordination and knowledge of boxing he's a very very solid heavyweight ALL-TIME...he's good, he's not great but his career isn't over yet but he's a very good heavyweight and there is no doubting that.

Just because you get beat a time or two doesn't make you a chump or a fraud....the guy has had 52 fights he was bound to have an off night sometime.

He fought a bunch of tomato cans in front of home crowds in a country where the opponent needs a knockout to get a draw for a promoter who makes Frank Warren look like a relentless risk-taker.

Watch out or journeyman tomato can Corrie Sanders will come out of retirement and knock him out in a round again.

[El Kabong]

...you know people talked shit about Lennox Lewis losing to McCall and Rahman

People talked about Joe Louis losing to Schmelling



There is no need for Wlad to avenge the loss to Sanders until it is a HUGE money making fight and I believe he will and he'll beat the shit out of Sanders.

Corey swung for the fences because he knew he was either going to catch Wlad or Wlad was going to catch him....if Wlad stayed calm and boxed while Sanders was swinging like a wild man then Sanders would have run out of steam and Wlad would have implimented his strategy.

[Kirkland Laing]

...you know people talked shit about Lennox Lewis losing to McCall and Rahman

People talked about Joe Louis losing to Schmelling



There is no need for Wlad to avenge the loss to Sanders until it is a HUGE money making fight and I believe he will and he'll beat the shit out of Sanders.

Corey swung for the fences because he knew he was either going to catch Wlad or Wlad was going to catch him....if Wlad stayed calm and boxed while Sanders was swinging like a wild man then Sanders would have run out of steam and Wlad would have implimented his strategy.

Lewis and Louis got back in the ring with guys who had beaten them and beat them.

Klitschko got KO'd in a round and humiliated by the tomato can Sanders and refused to get in the ring with him again.

[El Kabong]

Lewis and Louis got back in the ring with guys who had beaten them and beat them.

Klitschko got KO'd in a round and humiliated by the tomato can Sanders and refused to get in the ring with him again.

...and Wladimir hasn't "refused to fight Sanders again" where do you get that from?

Their match up just hasn't made sense because Sanders hasn't done anything since then.


Would you like Wlad to fight Ross Purrity and maybe some people he lost to in the amatuers?

[Wayne]

Lewis and Louis got back in the ring with guys who had beaten them and beat them.

Klitschko got KO'd in a round and humiliated by the tomato can Sanders and refused to get in the ring with him again.

Did you seriously just come onto this thread to write how you don't care about this thread?

Oh, and you're forgetting Lamon Brewster, but I guess that would just erode your argument. If I'm not mistaken, Corey Sanders showed up at a slovenly 235 more than a year later when he fought Vitali (yes, I looked it up) and since then has been a hodgepodge of inactivity against nobodies until getting KO'd earlier this month. Exactly WHEN was Wlad supposed to fight him considering since that particular loss he took 2 tune-ups before challenging Lamon Brewster for the vacant WBO, then two tune-ups before challenging and beating Sam Peter for the IBF and since then collected the IBO belt Sanders wasn't in contention for, then 2 number 1 contenders then avenging his loss to a deserving, albeit tentative, Lamon Brewster and now about to fight another champion? When is that, hm?

That's the one thing I find most annoying about sports critics, boxing ones in particular. They become fixed on an argument to the point of irrational and childish name-calling and no amount of LOGIC will dissuade them from it.

~I drink your milkshake. Oh yeah, that's going in the siggy.

[Kirkland Laing]

Did you seriously just come onto this thread to write how you don't care about this thread?

Oh, and you're forgetting Lamon Brewster, but I guess that would just erode your argument. If I'm not mistaken, Corey Sanders showed up at a slovenly 235 more than a year later when he fought Vitali (yes, I looked it up) and since then has been a hodgepodge of inactivity against nobodies until getting KO'd earlier this month. Exactly WHEN was Wlad supposed to fight him considering since that particular loss he took 2 tune-ups before challenging Lamon Brewster for the vacant WBO, then two tune-ups before challenging and beating Sam Peter for the IBF and since then collected the IBO belt Sanders wasn't in contention for, then 2 number 1 contenders then avenging his loss to a deserving, albeit tentative, Lamon Brewster and now about to fight another champion? When is that, hm?

That's the one thing I find most annoying about sports critics, boxing ones in particular. They become fixed on an argument to the point of irrational and childish name-calling and no amount of LOGIC will dissuade them from it.

~I drink your milkshake. Oh yeah, that's going in the siggy.

I'm posting in this thread because I can't believe there are so many people who take the current hevyweight division seriously.

Klitschko would certainly have had an immediate rematch clause in his contract to fight Sanders the first time. Any boxer worth his salt, never mind one with pretentions to be a world champion would have got in the ring with him as soon as possible. Instead Vlad got his brother to fight him. The current top-rated heavyweight in the world got KO'd in a round by a journeyman and didn't have the balls to get back in the ring with him. That's the heavyweight division in a nutshell.

[Violent Demise]

I think "best" isn't a word that should be used to describe any of the current bunch. Least worst is probably the best way to put it.

So who you think is the least worst?

[Kirkland Laing]

So who you think is the least worst?

I don't know and I don't care. The last heavyweight fight I saw was Chagaev (?) struggling to beat British removal man and part-time boxer Matt Skelton. Chagaev I think beat the huge guy Valuev (?) who recently beat some other ov. So that means it's either Chagaev or the winner of Saturday's fight. But whoever it is is still rubbish. I just can't see the point in taking the current heavyweights seriously.

[bikersk]

I don't know and I don't care. The last heavyweight fight I saw was Chagaev (?) struggling to beat British removal man and part-time boxer Matt Skelton. Chagaev I think beat the huge guy Valuev (?) who recently beat some other ov. So that means it's either Chagaev or the winner of Saturday's fight. But whoever it is is still rubbish. I just can't see the point in taking the current heavyweights seriously.

So if you don't care, don't follow or watch the division why bother posting here? You are not contributing anything that adds to the thread.

Ibragimov seems to always be written off before fights and keeps winning. Obviously he's not fought someone like Klitschko before, but i think he's a more difficult opponent than he gets credit for.

[El Kabong]

While I do admit I sell Sultan a tad short but it's only because he's been such a bipolar fighter, he's either on his game or he's not...and his power punches either affect someone or they don't.

It's very hard to judge him based on past fights...I don't know what to think of him.



I do know how Wladimir fights and I do know what he can do and yeah I think he's going to win this fight by KO because he has had 52 fights and won 49 of them 44 by KO....so the odds are in his favor in my opinion