How skilled is Wladimir Klitschko really?

[J_Undisputed]

"In the Land of the blind, the man with one eye is king.... "

I wouldn't call klitchsko a terriblly skilled heavyweight. He boxes and does get the most of his natural advantages (size, reach etc.) but it would be an oversight to ignore than he is benefitting from a weak division, poorly conditioned competition and media/marketing influence. Klitchsko is a fighter in line with many fighters of recent years. He's rather mechanical (in my opinion) but shows up in shape, and with enough dedication that allows him to run the table at this point. He can't be faulted for the lack of work ethic from his potential opponents.
At the same time, I don't put too much faith in stats and percentages. Not being hit by Sam Peter is not an unheralded feat in my opinion. Its akin to accomplishing a high connect percentage on Jeff Lacey. I also struggle with the opinion that there would be a huge void to fill had klitchsko suddenly vanished or retired. There would be some other or a handful of other "good enough" guys to fill that space... as what really defined Klitschko and set him apart (in my opinion)at this point is more the slacking of his opponents than his true boxing skills,a heart?, courage?,a granite chin?, intimidation factor.
I feal the person who started this thread was probably looking for more negative opinions like this own than actual validation of Klitschko and that's cool i guess. I wasn't looking to tear down klitschko, but I can't really buy into the picture thats being painted of him by hbo, sportswriters, fans or anyone else thats highly praising him. Hes not even very active by my standards to even market him as ruler of the heavies. If the guys your fighting aren't even really viewed as threats, You should be running through 3 or 4 of them a year if you want to be king instead of quibbling with cruisers with a media version of family feud and then dragging out a fight over bum of the (6) month()s club. Just my opinion of course.

#1 When Wladimir fought Sam Peter Wlad was coming off of 2 losses, still trying to get used to Manny Steward being his trainer, and Sam was the undefeated power puncher extrordinaire. Let's not pretend he was the same slow unmotivated fighter who just got beat by Eddie Chambers.

#2 What guys are "good enough" to beat the quality of opponents he has fought in as good a fashion as Wladimir did? Haye? Arreola?? Chambers? Povetkin? I doubt it.

#3 Wladimir fights a ton, he's 33 and has had 56 fights and you're telling me he's not active enough?!?!?! Are you out of your damn mind?!?! Wlad has been a pro since 1996, so for basically 13 years and 56 fights over that period of time averages out to a little over 4 fights a year.

#4 As for the "quibbling" with cruiserweight CHUMPion of the World David Haye...HBO wanted that fight and David talked himself into it, from what I could see as a fan Haye was the first person to really piss off Wladimir so it did add some drama to the scene but that faded when Haye wilted when he was faced with the reality of feasting on an all he could eat buffet of knuckle sandwiches. Wlad didn't call for that fight, but he wanted to give the fans something they wanted to see and that was it or so HBO thought. He tried to get a number of interesting opponents after Haye pussed out: Valuev (to unify I guess, I still don't know who the WBA title holder is), Arreola, and then he finally settled on Chagaev, really not bad at all considering what Haye did.

- Response to #1 -Sam peter never ranked high on my list of heavyweights either. So Wlad had 2 losses. That doesnt suddenly give Peter more accuracy or skill. Power Punch extraordinaire because he Ko'd Jeremy Williams? Not saying it took no skill took no effort to not get hit by Sam Peter but any tall heavyweight that works the Jab can give Peter fits. You could vitali in there, eddie chambers or whoever and probably got the same result. Hell Peter almost got ko'd early by Lazy Jameel McCline.
- Response to #2- Whos good enough to beat the guys Wlad beat in as good as Fashion. None, thats my point. You can take anyone of these Half @$$ers and put him against another one. Beat him in a knockdown drag out... Only to have him beat by some other Ham and egger next fight. In my opinion, it would probably be more exciting to watch a roundabout and see who finally emerges as the best of the worst in competitive fights, than to watch Vlad spar for money and only push himself as far as he needs to wear the other guy down. I didn't say Wlad wasn't skilled just that his skill level shouldnt be inflated because of how high he stands over his competition.To really test him, he needs better comp in better shape or maybe if they stuffed him with cheesburgers till he fights down to the level of his competition and can still pull out a wins. I said befor ethe guy shouldnt be penalized because hes in better shape, bit phsycial conditioning doesnt equal skill.
- Response #3- Lots of fighters have lots of fights cumatively over their career. The fact is he only fights about once every 5 months now. For a guy who barely gets touched and is so skilled above his competition, he should be wiping out a new guy every 3 months and calling out the next one instead of sitting around waiting to see which bum he can make the most money on. Joe Louis had the bum of the month club, Foreman fought 5 guys in one night. Wlad seems to be milking it, content that theres no threats or challenges because the only one who might give him problems at this point, is the guy who used to sit on his head and fart when they were kids. (I really dont fault the guy for not fighting family because it complicates things, but either find a nemesis or starting taking guys out as early and viciously as possible)
- Response#4 - Agreed Haye is a $h*t talking chihuahua barking up from cruiserweight that will never shut his mouth and spends all day making T-shirts instead of fights. Why spend so much energy on this guy? He pulls out, Dismiss him. He lost his shot and he can go back to cruiserweights or fighting the monte Barrets and work his way up till he cant be avoided. Till then does it really matter which guy was next. Sasquatch can be outworked easily (what good is a 7ft heavyweight with a 100lb weight advantage that cant catch or stop anyone?). Arreola can be walked away from till he gets tired and takes a knee just to catch his breath--easy 2 point round. Changaev could get injured or get malaria just walking to the ring. Did any of them really pose that much of a threat? Its not Wlads fault for having more discipline and boxing ability than those guys, but until someone steps up and really tests him (besides overweight south african golf pro's and winging Lamon Brewster) lets not carve his name into the throne till he:

A-starts ko'ing all these guys in one round like he should and calling for the next one.

or

B- or really faces some legitimate threats. (to not just his title but his health)