By Jason Kim: Trainer Emanuel Steward recently did a good job of explaining exactly why the Klitschko brothers are still not popular fighters despite the fact that both of them have been dominating the heavyweight division now for many years. Neither Wladimir Klitschko or his brother Vitali Klitschko have been able to establish themselves as huge attractions in the U.S for some reason.

Steward told esnewsport.com “Their style isn’t that exciting. The who’s the bigger puncher is Wladimir, but he’s reluctant to let his missiles go. And Vitali is the one who throws a lot of punches, but he doesn’t have the big punch. The biggest problem is that there’s just not that much talent in the heavyweight division.”

That’s a pretty blunt assessment by Steward on what’s been holding back the Klitschko brothers from reaching stardom in the U.S. You can’t disagree with what Steward is saying because he’d dead on correct. Wladimir has the much better power compared to Vitali, but he doesn’t let his hands go enough. He’d rather throw one punch and then grab his opponent in a clinch than to throw combinations to try and get them out of there. Steward hasn’t been able to change Wladimir’s style to get him to be more offensive minded to help make him a more exciting fighter. You can see Steward urging Wladimir on between rounds in his fights, yet Wladimir goes and does what he wants to do. That usually involves a lot of clinching and jabbing rather than him throwing power punches.

It just seems like Wladimir was scared by his fights against Lamon Brewster, Ross Purity, and Corrie Sanders where Wladimir was hurt when he was letting his hands go. He’s been a much more defensive fighter since his loss to Brewster back in 2004. Vitali does throw a lot of punches, but he doesn’t have the hand speed or the big power that Wladimir has. Vitali wins because he outworks his opponents and he’s hard to hit in the head because of his height and his habit of leaning backwards to avoid shots.

Wladimir is facing Tony Thompson (36-2, 23 KO’s) in a rematch next Saturday night at the Stade de Suisse, in Berne, Switzerland. Steward is almost apologetic about the fight, saying that the only reason Wladimir is facing Thompson is because he’s his mandatory challenger otherwise they would have fought a more exciting opponent.