Wladimir Klitschko, boring or just that good vs. Samuel Peter
September 13th, 2010
By Matt Muranaka: The Klitschko brothers are often times thought of in the world of boxing, as simply boring. With most of American fight fans not really showing any real support beyond the two Ukrainian brothers that have a combined: 100 fights, 95 wins, 5 losses, and 87 ko’s. This is the reason why they are mega superstars in Germany, and why Klitschko (55-3,49KO’s ) vs Peters (34-4, 27KO’s) II had around 40,000 people in attendance. But the question remains why do boxing fans across the Atlantic in America rag on such a “mega superstar” in Germany.
Wladimir has many tools in his arsenal now as Emmanuel Steward has gone on record comparing Wlad to hall of famer Lennox Lewis; “Lewis was a more versatile fighter, he could completely restructure the course of a fight. But in terms of boxing arsenal – Wladimir. But he is still very young, and I think he still has a chance in a couple of years to become one of the best in boxing history. However, his problem is a lack of decent opponents. Povetkin ran away, Haye also ran from both Wladamir and Vitali.” But with such effective clinching that was shown last Saturday, the question arises when, shall we ever get to see such tools? Is Klitschko that good in landing his shots and then tying up his opponent, or what I personally think, the heavyweight division is in such great turmoil, and despair that they can keep getting away with this for many more years? To me, Wladimir is the best heavyweight in the world today in this moment in time. By no means do I dare say what Dr. Ironfist, Vitiali Klitschko (40-2, 38KO’s) has stated recently by comparing Wladimir to Ali. But with other fighters dodging the champion, has to really hurt your head in thinking, what has boxing come to. But that’s for another article.
Was Wladimir punishing Samuel? You have to ask yourself that question once ESPN put up the final punch numbers. I mean why go in for the clinch when Peter landed single # shots in every round, and only a handful where flush shots… He went 35 for 199, with 9 jabs landing out of 51. That’s not bad if you look at the height advantage that Peter was up against, The Nigerian Nightmare is only 6 ft 2 in with a 77 inch reach. That’s pretty good but compared to Dr. Steelhammer, 6 ft 6.5 inches and 81 inch reach. You have to realize that Peters was not going in with a solid game plan around jabbing. Peter was looking for those impressive power shots. Well landing 26 power shots out of 35 total punches landed is a pretty good percentage, until you realize that wasn’t a throwback “IRON” Mike Tyson round. Out of 148 Power shots, 26 landed. Fight totals being Wladimir 142 out of 499 28% landed for Dr. Steelhammer, and for the Nigerian Nightmare 35 out of 199 18%. Was Wladimir simply clinching onto Peter to punish him? Many times in the fight you can hear the ref telling Peters, “Your hands are free, your hands are free.” Peter just couldn’t dig deep enough I suppose, but in his defense landing 18% of your shots will surely discourage anyone if your opponent is throwing and landing more.
In the middle of the 9th going into the final round round, Emmanuel Steward tells Wladimir to stop clinching. And in the same cut round across the turnbuckle corner trainer Andy “Pops” Anderson could be heard, “I’ll give you one more round.” I guess Wladimir had enough at this point, landing that great combination to put Peters down for the first and last time of that fight. Total punches for that round Wladimir 16/38 42% to Samuel’s 1/7 14%. And with Peters actually looking relieved that it was all over when he got up from the KO, smiling at one point. He sort of resembled a child waking up from a nightmare to only realize that they are safe in their bed. You have to think is Wladimir the “Ukrainian Nightmare”… I kid, I kid.
Even tho Stewart came out saying missiles where going to be thrown at the beginning to get the Nigerian Nightmare out of there in a hussle. It looked more like the jab jab right hand combination, or jab left hook clinch, kind of fight that we all Americans have so come to love and adore from Wlad…. just kidding. I believe Wlad won that fight convincingly and decisive. Even though some other columnist seem to disagree with me, which is fine everyone has their own opinions that they are entitled to. But Wladimir and his team must have thought something similar as they already came out stating Tua (51-3-2, 43KO’s), Mormeck (35-4, 22KO’s) and Adamek (42-1, 27 KO’s) could be next for a December bout. That’s 3 fights in 9 months. Something must be going right for Wladimir, or Floyd Mayweather Jr. got into his bank account and Wladimir is broke.
So the question still arises, is Wlad that good where he can simply just use that combination we have come to known him to be and the master clinch artist. If Peters didn’t train for those simple combinations and clinching right after tactics, you have to wonder why did he want a rematch to begin with? Or if he did train and learn from their first meeting, is Wladimir that talented to the naked eye, and only the man across from him really comprehends the danger of Dr. Steelhammer?
This was my first article, as I am a great fan of boxing and have really liked the community that makes this boxingnews24 great. Please leave any kind of feedback, thank you for your time as this is a long article.
Tags: 47 Responses to “Wladimir Klitschko, boring or just that good vs. Samuel Peter”
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Zenitram
I am really curious to see who you think is a great heavyweight. I can say that the person who you think is great would not be able to beat the Klitschko’s. You are just a K brother hater who does not know what the hell he is talking about. You are blinded by hate pure and simple. The K’s are just too big, powerful and skilled for anyone in the heavyweight division.
EVERYONE IN THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION IS BORING!!!
The Ks are good. Just like the old days like when Joe Lewis was winning all the time the writers said “bum of the month” instead of “once again a great win”
WHETHER
YOU KNOW HES TALKING ABOUT DAVE LARD.AS FOR VLAD IF YOU DONT LIKE HIM WHY DO ALL YOU ASSE$ KEEP WATCHING HIM. BECAUSE YOU WANT HIM TO LOSE THATS WHY YOU WATCH. BOXING IS ABOUT HITTING AND NOT GETTING HIT AND VLAD DOES A GOOD JOB AT IT WEATHER YOU LIKE HIS TACTICS OR NOT. BOTTOM LINE HE IS STILL THE HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WOOOOOOOORLD.
In my many years being involved and being a hughe boxing foan I would rarte the Klitchko’s and Larry Holmes as the best I have seen, that includes Ali and that sorry era of heavyweights.
Matt,
It was novel but good job coming out of the gate. Finally an objective writer. Can you get Dave Lahr off the bottle???
The K’s at their best stack up well against any heavyweight of any time. They are both a half foot taller than Jeffries, Dempsey, Marciano, Frazier and Tyson. They are several inches taller than Johnson, Louis, Liston, Ali, Foreman, Holmes and Holyfield. Among the greats, only Lewis is near their size. I consider Lewis a top 5 all time great and V. Klitschko fought him evenly, even won most of the rounds until cuts stopped the fight. Both the k’s are huge and both have very good boxing talent.
By the way, I believe that reason that the K’s fight so cautiously is because of their paper-thin skin, which bruises and cuts easily. They both know that they are one glancing punch away from a fight-stopping cut.
They continue to rack up win after win against whomever is put in with them. Anybody who says they are not great heavyweights is either a fool or invincibly ignorant.
In this fight, both guys clinched throughout the fight. It was a mutual hugfest. When Ali was hugging his way to the top, only HE was initiating the clinches. He grabbed Foreman and Frazier HUNDREDS of times in their fights. Not to mention pulling down on the back of their necks. Nobody complained about it then.
The k’s may be boring, but they are certainly great heavweights.
1 punch Clinch 1 punch miss Clinch! yes its Boring as hell! Just Cause they have Height Advantage and Weigh they win… other than that if they were in Super Middle Weight Or Lower They would have more than 5 Loses!
klit fan, one more thing– wlad has not one fight worth boxing history, not one fight worth a second look 20 years from now, wlad has fought for 10 years and does not have one super fight under his belt- look at that resume======== bum after bum , cupcake after cupcake== your superman not so super
klitsko fan, the klits are far , far from ever being the best. wlad fights like an old man and started out horribly, dude was waxed twice then it took him 5 years just to be able to fight past 5 rounds, during the worse era in heavy weight dv history, your boy is kind of the bums. Vitali has one fight worth anything- the night he beat lenox azz– everything after that was bum fights– sorry the klits not even close to being great
@eddy
I’ve also been watching boxing for almost 40 yrs and will state confidently that the Klitschko bros are the two best HW’s of all time. Ali was 215-220 lbs during his prime. Not even Ali could beat a K bros. Marciano was just over 200 lbs. The great legends of the past couldn’t beat the super heavies of today. The K bros are just too big for them.
wlad takes 10 rounds to beat a cupcake- you want to call that great , i call it as an average fighter who beats bums– and you nuts call this greatness– sad
Both these questions are obviously true.winningly good and visualy boring.
Decent, balanced article for the most part. To say the Kilts can’t be all that dull to watch simply because they’re popular in Germany means nothing. David Hasslehoff has/had a successful singing career in Germany. It’s simply a question of taste.
However, for Teddy Atlas to imply that Europeans have less sporting idols to choose from is ridiculously narrow-minded of the man. Germany in particular has (outside of football & boxing) Boris Becker, Steffi Graf, and Michael Schumacher. How patronising to suggest that Europeans struggle to fill the void left by a lack of baseball, basketball & MMA fixtures. Europeans have golf, rugby, MotoGP (that’s proper bikes, not Harleys), WRC, Formula 1 (that’s motor racing with left AND right-hand bends), and tennis, among other sports to choose from.
In short, I fear Teddy Atlas has shown himself once again to be in possession of less than all the facts.
If Wladimir was that good he would have knocked Peter out on the third round.
The Klitschos are talented, theres no doubt about that. Top 10 of all time though? No chance. It is the weakest division by light years at the moment and the fact that they can jab their way to victory against mediocre opponents does not entitle them to a place in the top 10 of al time. And as for the reason the broadcasters dont want to show it, its simply not at all entertaining to watch one large man throw singular jabs at another for 12 rounds. If they want more money they have to change their fighting style, which i cant see happening any time soon. If Haye can find the balls to fight one of them, we might see a more interesting fight. Come on David, give us something to get excited about
Wlad punches with big power,and it seems like they are not vicious swings but are telling .,even the glancing blows.
i have followed boxing for 40 yrs. the klitschko brothers are in all time top 10.very good defence- always in top shape. they fight smart.
Matt, keep on writing. You’re a lot more clued in than Dave Lahr.
Totally agree with what james Blond says in his blog. It is a myth that all of a sudden the heavyweight division consists of a bunch of under achievers. Think about it. In every other sport including boxing the athletes keep getting better, their performances continue to improve. But all of a sudden when we get to the heavyweight division they all stink! Give me a break! The reason they look so bad is because the Klitschko’s are that good. Don’t let the Dave Lahr’s of the world brainwash you. He probably does not believe the garbage he espouses himself. Somehow the boxing fans in Britain and the USA have been conned into believing that the Klitschko’s are not very good, they just happen to be the best of a poor lot.
I’m also from the USA, but I’m not drinking the cool aid.
I agree with a lot of the comments. Vlad is not boring. The people that are saying that are just not happy that their fighters keep losing to them. I idolized Muhammad Ali, but he was a clincer too. Why the hell let someone beat on you on the inside when you can keep them at bay and inflict punsihment on them on the way in. It is all about tactics. It is nothing new. You hit him before he hits you. It goes all the way back to James J. Corbett when he knocked out John L. Sullivan in the 23 round. Sullivan was a brute and a very, very strong man. He lost to a “scientific” fighter. Gene Tunney did the same thing to the great Jack Dempsey. Buster Douglas used superior tactics to KO Mike Tyson.
Got a news flash for all the haters: THE COLD WAR IS OVER!
Teddy Atlas falls into that category. He never misses an opportunity to take a swipe at the Klitschko’s. Funny thing is that he won’t let a fighter that he trains fight Vladimir. I think the reason Povetkin bailed out of the pre fight press
conference was that he had some sort of sinus problem or runny nose, or whatever. The bottom line is that Teddy knows there is no way in hell that Povetkin can ever beat Vladimir.
The man is that gd i enjoy watchin both brothers.and the fact they rnt yanks makes it even better.ali himself z both of them wud be gr8 in any era.
Refreshing when compared to an article written by Davey Lahr.
Similar to a good baseball game, you watch for the strategies and the nuances as the game progresses. Much like a Klitschko boxing match with the customary knock out the high point of the evening, compared to the bases loaded home run in baseball.
Brute force is not the style the brothers use to facilitate their winning ways rather skill coupled with a comprehensive thought out game plan together with their athleticism making the brothers peerless at what they do.
Whether or not Klitschko boxing is boring is in the eye of the beholder, the mere fact that the brothers fill football stadiums to the rafters with their fans must mean something even to a cynic.
Blonde, why do you insist on constantly using the word “aficionados” in inverted commas. And why can’t you accept that every single person who thinks they have dull styles might not be wrong?
B
The oposition is good, but the K’s are too far ahead. The UK & USA are so brain washed
Well put Mr Bond, how’s Money Penny?
Anything not American is boreing. Boxing is a market controlled by the US and then the market constantly brain washes its people. If Wlad was American he would be the new Ali or running for office, that is for sure!
One final thought. The idea that the “opposition” that the brothers face in the ring is of poor quality is merely another myth contrived by those not interested in the Klitschko success story. The Klitschko skill and natural talent simply makes the opposition look “poor”. When not facing the brothers in the ring many of these fighters give the impression of being very talented themselves.
People, heavyweight boxing is healthy and on the cutting edge the talent is out there and the excitement that goes along with heavyweight boxing is just like it always was the only difference is the way certain journalists and their agenda try to influence the way we think about our beloved sport.
Wladimir K. is a damn good heavyweight, and it offends me, that so many people in the boxing community subestimate him. He has beaten a lot of topheavyweights, young strong opponents that averages a weight around 230-240 pounds. Furthermore, I dont agree that todays heavies are so bad. Peoples said the same thing when Larry Holmes was champ in the 80ies, and same thing about L. Lewis in the 90ies. The simple fact is, that Wladimir would have killed most of the former greats sucs as Holmes, Foreman and Ali. Wladimirs punches are fast accurate and deadly (only man to ever floor Mercer). Emanule Steward praises him as a great fighter, doesnt that count for something? Please, give credit where credit is due, and that is that W.K. simply is above all other and former heaviweights boxers.
Not boring, just too good! The only thing that is boreing is the “boreing properganda campain”
The Klitschko brother style of boxing is highly technical and specialized toward avoiding punishment while at the same time dispensing punishment in a well measured quantity that in the end demoralizes the opponent before they are finally stopped through wear and tear upon upper body. In other words boxing in its classic unadulterated form.
The erroneously peddled claim that Klitschko boxing is “boring” stems from boxing “aficionados” that really prefer no rules mauling rather than genuine boxing on occasion referred to as the “sweet sport”. There is little that is sweet about UFC style contortions of almost anything goes which is the chief element in that sort of combat.
For those who love boxing the Klitschko brothers are your men. For the crowd that prefers the street fighting and wild displays of uncontrolled emotions of berserkers going after one another go to your local inner city beer bar after midnight.
I don’t find them boring at all, both brothers seem to me to be very good technical fighters. The poor opposition doesn’t help, and it may be ironic that the same lack of talent from the challengers might be what has them being beaten when they are shocked to find a capable fighter against them. To me both brothers employ tactics of attrition in their fights. It’s a bit hard to advance and be agressive when your opponent is 4 1/2 feet away and has his left fist either hitting you or just sitting on the end of your nose. They’re good. Very good.
i am not american but i do think that when u watch a figth at ligther weigths, and you turn the channel to a heavyweigth figth, were the klitchkos are figthing, then their is no comparison, guys at ligther weigth actually BOX, they dont use clinching as a resource. also remember that boxing is half a sport and half a business, that people suport their nations figther, and that when that fighther is very good he can get audience world wide. the klitckos are boring period thats why nobody else from outside their country will pay 50 dollars to watch his figth. my respects to both brothers though, they dominate their class like not many other heavyweigth did. thank god we can watchy all figths for free in mexico
He is just that good……he dominates
Both.
His too good for this mediocre crop and at the same time as boring has can be.
boring
Klitschko Brothers are the best boxers in the world. David Haye stop hiding!
LINE THEM UP! IS THERE NO ONE ELSE! LOL!
How could anyone say that fight was boring. A boring fight would have went to the judges for unanimous decision. Wladi didn’t even need to throw combo to beat SPeter. 49 KO in 58 fights, how can anyone say they are boring?
HATERS
nice article. K-brothers rocks! who said boring? to those critics in your face! HAHAHA!
this is k-bros time………
I don’t want to criticize Sam Peter but he took that fight for the money. And his trainer-what sort of tactics was that.? Wlad would have won with one hand. Sam did not train for this type of fight!
If not for the clinches, he would have spent half the fight bend over! Hopefully the knockout is a wake-up call. He needs to retire and become a banker!!!!
boring i watched 3 rounds then tuned over i love boxing but that was terrible !!!!
Was this article made to combat a David Lahr column? I think so