How does Vitali rate against the all time greats?

By Boxing News - 06/25/2012 - Comments

Image: How does Vitali rate against the all time greats?By John F. McKenna (McJack): It is always difficult when you attempt to make comparisons of fighters from different generations. For heavens sake it is hard enough to get trained boxing judges to get it right when watching a fight that is right in front of them.

It is always fun however to compare the all time great fighters from the past with the best fighters of today.

Way back in 1951 when the great Sugar Ray Robiinson’s record was (128-1, 84 KO’s) boxing writers devised the term Pound for Pound. It was a way of comparing him not only to the best fighters of his era, but also to the great fighters from past such as Joe Gans, Harry Grebb and Benny Leonard. The term has been in use ever since.

Boxing fans tend to view fighters from their own era through rose colored glasses. As time passes the old timers assume almost a super human status. Boxing fans from the 1920’s looked upon Jack Dempsey as the greatest heavyweight champion of all time and nothing could dissuade them of that view. In the 1930’s and 40’s it was Joe Louis who reigned supreme in the eyes of boxing fans. Many today still rate Louis as the greatest of heavyweight champions.

It is easy to build a case for Louis. He held the title for 11 years and 8 months and defended his title 25 times. Both are records which still stand today over sixty years after his retirement. “Bomber Joe” scored five one round KO’s during his title reign, which is also a record.

Rocky Marciano retired undefeated with a record of (49-0, 43 KO’s). His punching power was notorious. Rocky had the ability to hurt you wherever he hit you and his body punches was among the best ever. At 5’10”, 185 pounds and a reach of 68” Marciano was considered a small heavyweight even in the 1950’s, which was the era he competed in.

The name of Sonny Liston occasionally pops up when discussing the all time great heavyweights. Liston however did not withstand the test of time. He held the title for a mere 18 months and defended it only one time against the overmatched Floyd Patterson. Liston in the early 1960’s was considered to be a huge heavyweight, but at 6”1” and 214 pounds he would be a mere cruiserweight by today’s standards

Liston was TKO’d by Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) in February 1964. Ali was 6’3” and in his prime weighed in around 217 pounds, still small by today’s standards.
Joe Frazier was 6’0 and weighed 206 pounds when he defeated Ali in March 1971.

The point is that many of the fighters from the past, because of their lack of size would simply not be competitive against the current WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klistchko (44-2, 40 KO’s).

Joe Louis has always been this writer’s favorite heavyweight, but even I have to acknowledge that at 6’ 1” and 205 pounds in 1942 he would be hard pressed in the attempt to compete favorably against “Dr. Ironfist”. The same is true of Dempsey at 6’1”, 192 pounds and Marciano at 5’10”, 185 pounds.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the fighters who challenged Dempsey, Louis and Marciano, were much smaller than today’s heavyweights. Billy Conn weighed only 169 pounds when he challenged Joe Louis in 1941. Carpentier weighed in at 164 pounds when he took on Dempsey in 1921. Imagine the outcry today if Vitali signed to fight a contender who weighed less than 200 pounds.

A misconception exists that the heavyweights of today are inferior to the fighters from the past. That argument simply does not hold water. Are we to suppose that athletes in every other sport and in every other division are better, but when we get to the heavyweight division, some how they do not measure up to the fighters of yesteryear?

The same charge was hurled at Joe Louis in 1941 when he was making short work of his opponents. The boxing writers of the day went as far as to dub 1941 as Louis’ “Bum of the Month Campaign”.

Let’s take a look at some of Klitschko’s accomplishments. His KO percentage ranks right up there among the all time greats. Vitali has never been knocked down. No other heavyweight champion can say that. Vitali has never been behind in a fight. He was even ahead on the scorecards in the two fights he lost due to injury. “Dr. Ironfist” very rarely loses a round and has gone through periods where he went seven fights in a row without losing a round.

The west has been slow to acknowledge Klitschko’s greatness as a fighter. But even in the United States Vitali is finally starting to receive the acclaim he deserves.



Comments are closed.