Boxing – Redefining the Klitschkos

By Glen Anglin: After a decade of competing and achieving near dominance in the heavyweight division, I think it is time to review the place that the fighting Klitschkos have earned in the heavyweight pantheon. From time to time, both of the brothers have been accused of cowardice, weakness and lack of true fighting ability. Both have been derided in the western press as rulers of a division of anemic challengers. I am not so sure anymore. As the victories continue to accumulate for the Klitschko brothers, I have concluded that their place in heavyweight history is in the upper echelon.

Let’s start with the younger brother. Other than a young Mike Tyson and Joe Louis, I cannot name another heavyweight that I have ever seen with offensive skills to match Wladimir Klitschko. His combination of size, technique, hand speed and power is excellent by any measure. He has relatively fast hands, holds his hands properly and fires his punches sharply and with good form. The only weapon lacking in Wladimir’s arsenal (and this applies to both Klitschkos), is that neither brother commits to body punching, particularly left hooks to the body. However, on the outside Wladimir’s jab, cross and hook to the head are all not notch. On those occasions when an opponent is able to close the distance to Wladimir, he is quickly enveloped in a Klitschko bearhug before he can get set to launch an attack.

Wladimir’s major deficiency, particularly true in his early career, is his mysterious tendency to either completely run out of gas late in a match or get hurt and stay hurt by punches that did not appear to be very destructive. At times, he looked like his chin was made of exploding glass. These weaknesses have been ameliorated by the magic work of new trainer Emanuel Steward. Wladimir appears to have more energy in the later rounds of his more recent matches. In addition, Steward has big Wlad holding like an octopus whenever his opponent gets near enough to throw a shoe at him. It makes for ugly boxing, but the wins keep piling up.

Wladimir Klitschko would stand a good chance to beat any heavyweight in history from number 20 on down. Even many in the top 20, maybe even some at the very top, would struggle with Wladimir’s size, strength and firepower. Remember, Wladimir is about a half foot taller than Tyson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano and Frazier. He is several inches taller than even Foreman, Ali, Liston, Johnson and Holmes and Holyfield.

Vitaly Klitschko also has the advantages of size and strength over his opponents, even moreso than his younger brother. Vitaly also never met an opponent he didn’t want to hug. Like his brother, he is an expert at the inside tie-up. But that is where the similarities end.

Vitaly’S strengths do not include proper punching technique; he holds BOTH hands at his waist for the majority of fights. His weaknesses do not include a weak chin; even after being blasted by a Lennox Lewis ICBM uppercut he remained upright. He is blessed with an enormous body and long arms, passable hand speed, and punches that are inexplicably powerful. I say inexplicably, because he does not ‘set down’ and commit body momentum and torque to a punch, so much as he reaches out with arm punches and then quickly pulls back his head with his left extended in anticipation of a counterpunch. However, this technical deficiency does not seem to diminish his power. As they say, when big V hits them, they stay hit.

Vitaly Klitschko would fare even better against other dominant heavyweights in history than his younger, slightly smaller brother. His size, reach, careful style, power and impervious chin make him an unmanageable package for most heavyweights at any time. The only other great heavyweights his size, other than his brother, is Lewis, whom he fought on equal terms and whom I consider a top 5 all time heavyweight. There are two other interesting facts about VK; he has never been knocked down, and in the two fights that he lost (both due to injury) he was ahead on the judges scorecards at the time of the stoppage. How many fighters can say that they have fought at the very top of their weight division for an extended time and were NEVER knocked down by a punch? Vitaly Klitschko, Marvin Hagler, and ….?

I believe that the main reason the Klitschkos don’t rely on the left hook is that they don’t have too. Both have very good jabs and one-two combinations. Their height and reach enable them to stand tall, potshot, then reset, rather than get into heated exchanges. Neither fights on the inside, again because they don’t have to. As both of the Ukranian giants are normally larger and stronger than whomever they face, their holding is very effective.

One might expect that their size would render them very slow afoot. However, while neither will be mistaken for Willie Pep, both the Klitschko’s can move around the ring and at times walk away from a tight spot. Neither of the brothers is a Carnera-like immobile target.

The Klitscho’s also get high marks for coming into their fights prepared. Both men are in supreme shape and have never brought into the ring the spare tires packed by so many other heavyweights. They give their profession the respect it deserves.

Yes, it is true that they have beaten mostly mediocre talent. But the same is true to a certain extent for all heavyweight champs. A careful review of the opponent list of Jeffries, Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Liston, Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield and Lewis shows that all of them struggled from time to time against less than top notch competition. It’s time for the Klitschko brothers to receive their rightful recognition as excellent, even all-time great, heavyweight champions. JGA

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