The beginning of a new age in Heavyweight Boxing

[Spicoli]

Ya know,Just my Opine but Sanders was not just a soft body with at times a chinny chin..............On the right night and in top shape he had the handspeed and one punch power to hurt ALOT of Heavy's.

[El Kabong]

I see that more recently but when Sultan first popped on the scene everyone thought he was a combination throwing power puncher.

If he tries to outbox Wladimir I think he might want to consult Chris Byrd on defensive strategies to use vs Wlad. If Byrd can't do it (in 2 fights) then I highly doubt Sultan can do it.


There are 2 ways that you beat Wladimir
#1 You throw often, hard, and hit the target....1 guy did that Corey Sanders

#2 You take plenty of punishment and Wlad gets tired....2 guys did that Purrity and Brewster

Other than that no one has had much success vs Wladimir

[bikersk]

I see that more recently but when Sultan first popped on the scene everyone thought he was a combination throwing power puncher.

If he tries to outbox Wladimir I think he might want to consult Chris Byrd on defensive strategies to use vs Wlad. If Byrd can't do it (in 2 fights) then I highly doubt Sultan can do it.


There are 2 ways that you beat Wladimir
#1 You throw often, hard, and hit the target....1 guy did that Corey Sanders

#2 You take plenty of punishment and Wlad gets tired....2 guys did that Purrity and Brewster

Other than that no one has had much success vs Wladimir

Well my impression has been that for Sultan to win he would be needing to use the second option you described. It would be a big ask to take punishment from Wlad because his accuracy and power will be hard to withstand I bet. Almost a "Rumble in the jungle" style of fight. Not that i'm comparing the fighters (settle down everyone) just the style/strategy needed when fighting the bigger guy. He could try the rope a dope or whatever it was called. Catch a tired Wlad with some powerful combo's late in the fight and who knows.................

Would be good odds anyway.

[boozeboxer]

So you are comparing the best era in HW boxing ever in an effort to say that Wlad is rubbish. That isn't logical Kirkland.

You will have to admit that Wlad is no slouch. In almost any but the very best eras in hw boxing he would be a contender. Because he is in a very weak division today is not an overwhelming argument for how poor he is.

He has an awesome jab and great power and uses his height very well. I don't know how you can flaw the man as being a joke to be honest. Granted he may not be the best ever, but he is a very solid worthy HW any way you cut it.

[Spicoli]

I don't know who Terry Nutkins is.

I'm a boxing fan and am expressing my legitimate and widely-held opinion that the heavyweight division is rubbish right now, exemplified by the fact that the guy considered the best heavyweight is a joke who wouldn't be more than a sparring partner for any of the top heavyweights in the seventies and others since.

This isn't the beginning of a new age for heavyweights, just the continuation of a shit one.

Im not big on overrating Size but His Pure size factor in company with a wicked power jab alone would make Wlad a danger In any Era. Many A top heavy have been tagged up on the chin throughout the years.

So Its a shit era.......Hey to a limited point I agree, but at least there sorting this s!!! out by fighting one another. No points off for effort right ?

[SweetPea]

Wlad has a longggggggggg way to go to prove that he is a great heavyweight. However, I don't think there's any doubt that he is the best heavyweight out there right now, and he is deserving, in my opinion, of being recognized as the heavyweight champ.

[El Kabong]

Well my impression has been that for Sultan to win he would be needing to use the second option you described. It would be a big ask to take punishment from Wlad because his accuracy and power will be hard to withstand I bet. Almost a "Rumble in the jungle" style of fight. Not that i'm comparing the fighters (settle down everyone) just the style/strategy needed when fighting the bigger guy. He could try the rope a dope or whatever it was called. Catch a tired Wlad with some powerful combo's late in the fight and who knows.................
Would be good odds anyway.

As Joe Louis said "You can run but you can't hide"

There is only so far Sultan get get away from Wladimir...and I just can't see him staying away and being effective OR tiring out Wlad.

IMO Sultan's best option is to go for broke and hope he can jump on him early and connect. Sultan is a southpaw and maybe Wlad just doesn't handle southpaws well...Sanders was a southpaw but he had 1 punch power and a really solid chin...I don't know if Sultan has those but because he is able to land wild bombs (like he did on Austin) then it's something to think about.

Wladimir isn't great now....but he can still be great.

[The Rookie Fan]

Well I'm glad I started a good debate even though it had been more...what's the word I'm looking for...colorful?, than I had in mind.

Anyways I think some of you might be missing my point. It is not that Wladamir Klitchko is the future and he is the greatest. Wlad is the present and at present the heavyweight division sucks. And there is no getting around that fact. Wlad might be a good fighter but the division still sucks.

However, I think a large part of what is wrong with the division, more than not having an american champion, is the fact that there has not been a true Heavyweight Champion since Lennox Lewis. After this fight there will be. And it will be a new beginning.

I don't know who the future of the division is, but I do know we are one step closer to finding out.

[Jody Lane]

The first Unification fight in a division where the lineal title has been vacated is automatically a lineal title fight.

Actually the term is linear championship. Basically one can trace the title either back to the days before the alphabet bandits fucked everything up by keeping the best from fighting the best or all the major champs fight each other and the guy who comes out on top is considered the "real" champ.

Wlad fighting the least credible of the other champs will not make him a linear champion, just a semi-unified champ. He'll still need to fight the WBC and WBA champs to get to the point of being the true champion. As far as him Peter again, neither were title holders when they fought the first time so I am game to see who has improved (Peter did knock down Wlad a few times) since then.

[El Kabong]

RookieFan, the division is not shit it's just the good fighters and title holders aren't fighting each other and no one is taking any risks! The last risk any big time heavyweight took was the Klitschko-Peter fight.

There are outside elements keeping these titles from being unified and EVERYONE knows it.


Lucifer, Wlad is not fighting the "least credible champ" that would be Oleg Maskaev!

Sultan beat Briggs to win the title and defended against Holyfield and that beats what Maskaev did (Oleg beat Rahman to win the vacant title and defended against Peter Okhello). Sultan is also UNDEFEATED sure he has had his issues in the past but being undefeated is no easy task.


Why must you guys seek out the bad in the division? Why can't you look for the good? There are more evenly matched fights in this division and there are more guys who can contend for the titles in this division when compared to any other but yet it's "a crap division" in your opinion.

Even if Wlad unified all the titles people would still hate on him and this division, it happens all the time to all boxers who are successful

[Kirkland Laing]

So you are comparing the best era in HW boxing ever in an effort to say that Wlad is rubbish. That isn't logical Kirkland.

You will have to admit that Wlad is no slouch. In almost any but the very best eras in hw boxing he would be a contender. Because he is in a very weak division today is not an overwhelming argument for how poor he is.

He has an awesome jab and great power and uses his height very well. I don't know how you can flaw the man as being a joke to be honest. Granted he may not be the best ever, but he is a very solid worthy HW any way you cut it.

He got knocked out in a round by a tomato can and wouldn't get back in the ring with him. The argument over this guy begins and ends there.

[El Kabong]

He got knocked out in a round by a tomato can and wouldn't get back in the ring with him. The argument over this guy begins and ends there.

And YOUR favorite fighter's only big win was a SPLIT DECISION and he lost 12 fights....8 by stoppage


So get off Wladimir's case...he's a good ALL-TIME heavyweight and he has the years left in him to become great...maybe not top 10 but he could break in a solid top 15

[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]

And YOUR favorite fighter's only big win was a SPLIT DECISION and he lost 12 fights....8 by stoppage


So get off Wladimir's case...he's a good ALL-TIME heavyweight and he has the years left in him to become great...maybe not top 10 but he could break in a solid top 15

I'm not claiming that Kirkland laing was an all-time top 15 fighter, ot the dawn of a new age in the welterweight division.

Klitschko is never ever going to be ranked in the top heavyweights.

[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.