By Chris Gray: It has been a long road for the Klitschko brothers but finally, with the vanquishing of their bitter rival David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s), thanks to the jab of the younger sibling Wladimir Klitschko (56-3,49KOs), they have fulfilled their dream of holding all four versions of the heavyweight title.
Never more has their dominance over the heavyweight division been more complete. And yet the success of the Klitschko’s spells the doom of a division that has long been in decline. A decline that began with the fading of the great American heavyweights, the last of witch were vanquished by Lennox Lewis, fighters like Tyson, Holyfield and Bowe. It is unfortunate for the brothers that their time at the pinnacle of the noble art has been marked by an absence of any quality heavyweights.
The blame for the lack of genuine opposition should not be leveled at the two men who currently rule the division. No one really knows for sure why the great Americans have vanished. Just as no one can say with any amount of certainty why the dinosaurs became extinct. To their credit the Klitschko’s have fought the best the world has had to offer for the greater part of a decade.
And yet the Klitschko era well be remembered as one of the most boring eras in the history of boxing, at least as far as the heavyweight division is concerned. And the reason for this is something that we can all understand. Here are two fighters with physical attributes that set them apart from the rest of the big men. Built like Adonis’s, they have a combination of colossal size and athleticism that is a rarity amongst the behemoths of the sport. Heavyweights who, while not hailing from America, can rightly be called great. Yet they have used their advantages in the most unappealing way imaginable.
In a country that has waited the entire length of boxing history for one of their own to reign as the dominant heavyweight champion, it is understandable that with the two Klitschko’s dominating as they have, that they would be embraced as national heroes. But outside of their own country the
Klitschko’s have alarmingly few admirers.
HBO has shown no interest in their resent fights, because people won’t shell out their hard earned dollars, or stay up till the early hours to watch boring fights. With all those attributes in a division where there is no serious threat, why do they play it so safe? Why don’t they have more fire in their belly’s? Why don’t they unleash the savage in them and start to brutalise their opponents in a more devastating fashion, in a way that would get our pulses racing? There can only be one reason, they are afraid to do so.
For a brief time it seemed that things mite be changing. With no one in the heavyweight division able to rival the Klitschko’s, it was left for a cruiserweight to step up and try his luck with the big boys. His name was David Haye. He did what no one in the heavyweight division was able to do, he made himself a rival to the Klitschko brothers. He generated a level of interest in the heavyweight division that was so badly needed. He got the whole world gripped by the potential of a Klitschko fight. And for a while he gave us hope that the heavyweight division mite be saved. At least he done that much.
Sadly that was all he was able to do. In the end Wladimir ‘Dr Steel hammer’ Klitschko, did what he always dose, he used his physical advantages to nullify Haye. All night long he jabbed, jabbed, jabbed. Occasionally he threw the right hand but nothing else. Perhaps he threw one combination the whole fight, but that was it. He took no risks, ignoring Emanuel Steward, who kept imploring him to throw more punches. He showed no variety. Despite his obvious hatred of his opponent, despite the fact Haye was really only a pumped up cruiserweight, despite the fact Haye came into the fight carrying an injury, Klitschko never made a real effort to knock him out.
With Haye’s rain now over, there is no one left who can generate any interest in a Klitschko fight. The question that must now be asked is; how long will it take for the brothers to go into decline, or will they retire at the top, the way Lenox Lewis did. At least when the Klitschko’s retire there mite be a chance that we’ll get to see something closer to a competitive fight for the heavyweight championship of the world.
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