Is Wladimir Klitschko Unproven?
June 2nd, 2009
By William Mackay: Much has been made about the opponents that former cruiserweight champion David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) has fought during his career, but little has been said about the many less than stellar opposition that IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (52-3, 46 KOs) has feasted on during his 13 year pro career.
Those are the only losses on Klitschko’s resume, but the defeats kind of define Wladimir for what he is as a fighter. Wladimir’s a good heavyweight, but he’s beatable if his opponent can get in close to land a few well placed shots.
Coincidentally, Purity, Sanders and Brewster, are three fighters that put a little pressure on Wladimir, forcing him to fight hard going backwards. Whereas, with many of Wladimir’s other opponents like Hasim Rahman, Calvin Brock, Sultan Ibragimov, Chris Byrd, Danell Nicholson and Tony Thompson, Wladimir has been the one that has been allowed to come forward and do the attacking in the fight.
In looking at Wladimir’s entire resume, his top opponents during his career boil down to this bunch:
Corrie Sanders
Lamon Brewster
Sultan Ibragimov
Hasim Rahman
Jameel McCline
Ross Purity
Chris Byrd
Ray Mercer
Francois Botha
DaVarryl Williamson
Sam Peter
Tony Thompson
Calvin Brock
Ray Austin
Monte Barrett
Axel Schulz
I don’t know about you, but I’m personally not all that impressed with that list of fighters. And what makes it even worse, is that Wladimir has been knocked out by three of the sixteen fighters on that list. A fourth fighter, Williamson, had Wladimir on the canvas in the 4th round and the fight was stopped in the 5th because of a cut that Wladimir suffered.
Who knows whether Klitschko would have gotten out of the remainder of that fight without getting knocked out by Williamson. I have a lot of respect for Wladimir being able to win the IBF and WBO titles, but his competition leaves a lot to be desired if you ask me.
I think Haye would beat the whole bunch of them without losing to any of them like Wladimir has in the past. I think there hasn’t been enough scrutiny given to the fighters that Wladimir actually holds wins against, because I can’t see any of them even being competitive with Haye.
Purity would have been a problem because of his huge size, great chin and powerful jab and right hand power. However, Haye would have likely boxed him and won by a decision.
Many of Klitschko’s prior wins can be dismissed almost immediately because of the lack of pressure that they put on him. If you give Wladimir the chance to fight on the outside with his jab, he often is able to win just by landing his shots from long range without the risk of getting hit.
Wladimir isn’t the type of fighter to get in close to try and land some body shots, because he realizes that he has a much better chance of winning by staying away and avoiding taking shots to his sometimes brittle chin.
Tags: 15 Responses to “Is Wladimir Klitschko Unproven?”
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Haye is gonna knock him out.
Nice to see an article going in the other direction for a change, wlad will never be proven cause most of his fights go the distance with opponents he should be able to take out and once he gets knocked down he hardly has the heart to get back up and with hayes impressive 81inch reach and speed wlad’s gonna go down, trust me.
Wlad aint in lennox’s league and he wouldn’t be champion in the mid 90′s its blatantly obviouse.
Haye’s best asset is his ability to land the power shots, he can do this better than any of those mentioned in the list above, a great fighter would be able to fight and trade on the inside as well as box on the outside EG: bernard hopkins, evander holyfield, james toney etc-wlad is v-good at long range but is found wanting when he tries to fight under pressure and altough haye cant take a good punch himself hes willing to trade and has always came off best when he has.
The proof is in the pudding gents, Wladimir has certainly had his ups and downs but for the better part of 4 years running he has flattened the top opposition in the heavies without letup. Compare this to the “job” Haye has done in the weak cruiserweight circuit and you see a vast difference in the talent pool available in the lighter division. Haye has been fighting less talented and smaller foes to make his claim to fame while Wladimir Klitschko has taken on the best that the heavies have to offer and beaten them consistently, as a rule by KO. Haye is cruising for a bruising come fight night in Gelsenkirchen this is as sure as the amen in the church.
Good article, it does balance up the arguments regarding this fight.
I have to say though, Adam and Ukansodoff have got it spot on. As I read the title of the article, Wlads list of opposition was running through my head, and he has fought damn near every possible contender to his “number 1″ crown.
I think im right in saying that a few, if not most of the 16 in the list are still going now, so its not like he has taken on past there prime fighters. I’ve made this argument a thousand times, Wlad can’t be held responsible for the lack of good top notch opposition out there.
With the exception of Haye, Arreola, Valuev, Dimitrenko, Povetkin, Chaguev, Maskeav and of course, Vitali, there are no others that I can think of who are ready for a shot. Of the list, we all know Haye is getting his, but with the exception of Dimitrenko, Valuev, Arreola, I don’t think anybody else is up to the job. Obviously Vitali is ruled out immediately and rightly so.
Of the list who COULD fight him, its likely Valuev will be left to Vitali to even up the belt score.
So all in all its a fair point to bring up but at the same time, Wlad has taken on everybody and remains the champ, he deserves credit for doing so.
100% behind UKANSODOFF,he’s fought the best around alive and not retired,you cant say fairer than that,and as for the cream analogy,spot on!
good article to respond to adam you was talking about brewster being taken apart in the re match and that he beat rahman who knocked lenox out with a lucky shot. in heavy weights anyone can get knocked out but didnt lewis do the exact same thing to rahman in the re match that wlad did to brewster. the article is facing facts wlad has not faced any real quality in the ring because there hasnt been any. its not his fault he has beaten who is there but it still doesnt change the fact he hasnt fought or beat any world class opponents. haye needs to be aggressive but not wreckless and he will win i think wlad will struggle with the amount of pressure he will recieve early on and i think will be ko’d in the 6th round. although if haye is wreckless and cant get through wlads jab he will have a very tought night. either way haye wont win on points just hope hes trained for 12 rounds and doesnt punch himself out. we will see who knows whats gonna happen. i agree about one thing only and that is adams mouth is firmly pressed against the klitschko’s ball sac
best article on this site for a while someone who knows there boxing keep it up dude
A good article with some fine observations that many writers seem to be ignoring.
And to Adam, if anyone’s “mumbling” it’s you, seeing as how your mouth is pressed so firmly to Klitschko’s ball sac.
Vlad can only beat the boxers that are availble to him. The heavyweight division is crap these days anyway
4 ONCE AN ARTICLE THAT DOESNT BASH HAYE..
A Good article which doesnt hate on Haye!!
The fight will end on who ever lands a clean right hand first!
finally a a writer on this site that is not anti Haye.
Good read, I would fancy Haye of any of those.
You should consider the reputation of his opponents at the time of the fights, most were undefeated and very high rated. May be u feel not that impressed afterwards because Klitschko beat them… Anyway I got my ticket for the Haye fight, can’t wait … hope this one last more than the Ray Austin fight where I was too but I don’t think so
Look, what names do you want on Vlads list? Tyson, Lewis, Foreman, Ali, Marciano, Jesus, John Lennon, Neil Armstrong and Ghandi?
Vlads list of opponants is not against greats, but it is against pretty much the full list of the best fighters that have been out there during his career and im not sure theres much he can do to improve that other than just carry on facing whats out there.
We are all making our predictions for this coming fight, we think we know who will win, whose out of their depth, got the weak chin or strong jab. But we dont really.
Theres no need to slate either Klitchko, the cream always rises to the top. If Haye really can do sometihng he will become the cream.
Well here’s another mumbling fool that doesn’t know sht about Wladimir Klitschko.Corrie Sanders was the only Heavyweight to actually beat Wlad by pressure and strength.Ross Purity and Lamon Brewster both beat Wlad after Wlad beat their faces in and was exhausted.No pressure.And don’t forget that Wlad made Lamon Brewster look foolish in the rematch and made the same Heavyweight Champ that KO’d Lennox Lewis in 1 punch(Hasim Rahman) look like an amateur.Wlad has faught anybody and everybody that has been out there and at the same time showing respect to his ooponents and the sport itself.Wladimir Klitschko has more talent,skill and class in his pinky finger than David Haye has in his whole body.Its unfortunate that Lennox Lewis had the opportunity to fight a washed up Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield to put him on the Heavyweight map.Wlad has done it by fighting everybody he can.he’s the real Champ.