Part 1 To follow up on my heavyweight articles. Let’s look at the top two heavyweights right now currently the most dominant pair of brothers ever to lace up their gloves and step into a boxing ring Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. Having started their careers together on the same night in 1996, both brothers put together some very impressive records for themselves, Wladimir scoring 24 victories 22 of them by TKO before succumbing to Ross Puritty in December of 1998 and Vitali 27 wins all of them by stoppage, before having to retire because of a shoulder injury to Chris Byrd in April 2000. By the time they both suffered their first loss both brother’s had established themselves and had tasted success both in the KO department and in silverware as well. With the heavyweight circuit at their feet and people like Holyfield, Lewis and Tyson nearing the twilight of their career’s by the 2001 came around the door was wide open for the Klitschko’s to take the division by the scruff and claim it for themselves. Long has the Heavyweight’s been a money earner and a crowd pleaser, the money being made with Holyfield v Tyson, Lewis v Tyson or Holyfield v Lewis was in the tens of millions. Now with two young gun Ukrainian brothers who were just waiting for the big-time to welcome them in, you should imagine that the future of the sport would be big PPV’s with Vitali and Wladimir being contenders for the titles. In 2003 such a vision was being realised when Lennox Lewis fought Vitali Klitschko (who had amassed an impressive 32 KO’s from 33 fights and former WBO Champion) for the WBC Heavyweight title, Wladimir was making headway leading up to that as well, by capturing the WBO Heavyweight title from Chris Byrd which was formally held by Vitali only to lose the belt to Corrie Sanders three months earlier. With the crowds of Los Angeles and millions watching around the world the stage was set for what many considered the toughest test of Lennox Lewis’s career. The fight was all Vitali’s as by the end of the fourth round Lennox was looking hurt, Vitali with his unusual but effective style was catching Lewis more than he expected, Lewis landing the occasional big shot was cutting Vitali badly on the face but the real crowd pleaser was seeing Lewis who had dominated for so long struggling against the Ironfist Dr. Depite wanthing to continue the cut was to be the his downfall as by the 6th round the fight was stopped by the ring doctor due to A CUT. Many were disappointed by the decision as on the scorecards Vitali was ahead on points and Vitali himself said he could’ve have continued as he was still physically able to see. It was only the 2nd loss of his career but not due to a KO or point’s loss, despite losing the fight Vitali had caught a lot of people’s attention and while many called for a rematch, Lennox Lewis retired shortly after and Vitali and Wladimir had the Heavyweight Division all to themselves. So where are we now? January 2011, nearly eight years on and the Klitschko’s are KINGS OF THE HILL. The Heavyweight division given it’s long tradition should be reeling in glory of huge crowd’s, great fight nights and money spinning PPV’s but we are not and why is that. Soruce
Part 2 Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are too methodical in their approach, boring fans and in return have been driving away audiences. In the last 5 years the level of opposition has been anything but below par, and in the last couple of fight’s both brother’s have failed to give a performance worthy of paying a PPV subscription, laboring to points decision’s against very low opposition. Take Wladimir for example holding both the WBO and IBF titles, now since 2008 defeating Sultan Ibragimov he’s fought a further five times in one sided contest’s failing to excite crowds and arrange a fight against anyone who had the ability to cause him trouble, Eddie Chambers, Hasim Rahman and Samuel Peters are culprits in this crime. This is evident in his next title defence against relatively unknown Derek Chisora, having only 14 professional fights under his belt and never fought at European level, Wladimir has decided he’s worthy of a chance at two of the four major titles in the world . This fight was called off at first because Wladimir had injured his wrist meaning he couldn’t compete. David Haye waiting in the wings and calling him out on Youtube, the way should’ve been clear for what fans really want; a real heavyweight contest that involves a unification fight. But he opted out of the chance for a real contest and decided to go after Chisora again instead. It gets even better with Vitali , after having made such an impact against Lennow Lewis he was to be the man to carry it forward. But since capturing the WBC belt from Corries Sanders in 2004 in what was a slow one sided victory for Vitali, this trend has long continued with him. Danny Williams after beating Mike Tyson was outclassed being knocked down in four of the eight rounds he lasted, Samuel Peter (who is way overrated) was a standing punchbag; Vitali was just jabbing at his fat face and Samuel doing nothing to stop it in the entire eight rounds it went on for, Juan Carlos Gomez and Chris Arreola were just as bad. As Vitali has aged he has began to slow down and it seems so do the level of his challengers, the unheard of Kevin Johnson and the grossly over ranked Albert Sosnowski were given the chance to fight for the title and to top it all off, the walking sack of meat that is Shannon Briggs got the nod over people Boystov, Povetkin and Haye. All of Vitali’s and Wladimir’s fights have had one thing in common the last few times they‘ve fought, all of them were just standing still and the judges’ scorecards giving them most or nearly every round. It’s this that has made the Heavyweight scene the way it is today, it’s stupid to blame the majority of boxer’s today because they’re either overweight, under skilled, under ambitious or overrated that the division is to blame. The sanctioning bodies should be held accountable by the sporting industries or governmental bodies for letting the Klitschko’s choose and pick their opponents, rather than by someone actually earning it, as it was in the olden days. The Brother’s though have taken this problem and escalated to line their own pockets, pad their records with easy wins and take a division once renowned for its greatness of top quality contests. It seems until the Klitschko’s retire, someone beats them or the sanctioning bodies start wising up then Heavyweight boxing will long stay a stagnant area. Source
