Removing the False Veil of Greatness, Part 1 – Vitali Klitschko

By Anthony Mason - 05/31/2014 - Comments

vitali3353By Anthony Mason: Much has been made of the Klitschkos’ long title reigns. What many fail to do is put these so-called title defenses in context. The reigns of both Klitschkos will be analyzed and only when this is done can the legitimacy of their defenses be evaluated. Only after comparing the Klitschkos’ competition against the truly great heavyweights can their place in history be properly determined.

With this article, we will focus on Vitali Klitschko, and a subsequent article will complement this one to analyze Wladimir Klitschko’s career. Vitali is definitely a good heavyweight, but simply being good is not enough to be ranked among the best. Vitali supposedly has nine consecutive title defenses, tied with Lennox Lewis, Joe Frazier, and Mike Tyson for sixth all time.

Now it is important to remember that title defenses do not necessarily make a great champion. Chris Byrd has as many consecutive title defenses as Evander Holyfield (4), and more than George Foreman (3) and Michael Spinks (3). Seeing as Byrd’s only accomplishments are beating the limited David Tua and a completely shot Evander Holyfield, it would be hard to rank him ahead of the truly great champions simply based on title defenses.

Vitali has an incredibly weak title reign compared to Lewis, Frazier, Tyson, or any of the truly great heavyweight champions. Here is a brief analysis of the “best” opponents in Vitali’s career, not only his title defenses.

Ross Purity – out of 46 fights at the time, he only won 28

Kirk Johnson – never beat one elite fighter. Best win is Oleg Maskaev. Behind on points when he was disqualified against John Ruiz

Corrie Sanders – beat the extremely overrated Wladimir Klitschko (and we will get to that in the next article) and was stopped by Hasim Rahman. Never beat anyone notable outside of Wladimir.

Danny Williams – only claim to fame is beating Mike Tyson when he was a complete shell of himself

Sam Peter – beat absolutely nobody outside of a washed up James Toney, a man who is not even a true heavyweight. Despite that, James Toney battled Peter to two close and controversial decisions. This alone proves how weak the division has been.

Juan Carlos Gomez – only somewhat notable win is Oliver Mccall after Mccall was completely shot and past his prime

Chris Arreola – lost against every top-level (relatively speaking by today’s extremely poor standards) heavyweight he ever fought

Kevin Johnson – same exact situation as Chris Arreola

Albert Sosnowski – never beat an elite fighter

Shannon Briggs – completely past his prime and almost 40 years old

Odlanier Solis – did not even have 20 fights at the time of the title fight and never beat a notable boxer. Lost due to a knee injury, but he was such a weak opponent that even Vitali would have no problem actually beating him

Tomasz Adamek – a light heavyweight who lost to (a very good) Chad Dawson.  Only notable name that he beat is Andre Golota, who was over 40 years old and completely washed up. If this win is impressive for Vitali and validates him as a magnificent heavyweight, then Chad Dawson must be one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time for beating Adamek.

Dereck Chisora – a D-class heavyweight by all time standards. By today’s standards he might sadly be considered B-class. Only had 17 fights at the time, and was 1 for his last 3.

Manuel Charr – never beat one elite boxer.

Before moving on to the next section, I want to analyze Vitali’s performance against Chris Byrd. Byrd never beat one elite boxer in his prime. A washed up Holyfield is his only big name. David Tua is an extremely limited boxer and not an impressive win, as proved by Ike Ibeabuchi, who also exposed Chris Byrd.

It was not a true title fight (seeing as Lennox Lewis was the undisputed champion at the time, not Vitali). What is important to note is that Vitali was easily winning the fight, and it should not be considered a true loss since a shoulder injury stopped Vitali, not Chris Byrd. However, this act of weakness shows how far behind Vitali is in comparison to the likes of Evander Holyfield. Holyfield, like Vitali, tore his rotator cuff in his fight against a much tougher and legitimately good opponent in Michael Moorer (unlike Chris Byrd).

The similarities end there. Holyfield, unlike Vitali, decided to be a real man and true champion and fight through his injury to the final bell. Instead of quitting on the stool, Holyfield fought Moorer (a much more impressive opponent than Byrd) to the end and the decision was close and could have gone either way. On top of his shoulder injury, Holyfield was dealing with a dangerous heart condition. If Vitali were in that situation, he would have quit even sooner. When the going got tough against Vitali, he was unable to adjust and quit. The difference between simply being good, like Vitali, and great, like Holyfield, is large and clear. Muhammad Ali, an extremely fast, elusive, and great outside fighter, also fought to the end against Ken Norton despite having a broken jaw. If Ken Norton were to break the much less elusive and much slower Vitali’s jaw, who knows if Vitali would quit before the final bell.

In Vitali’s entire career, and in all of his “title defenses,” he never beat one remotely elite fighter. There is not even one B-class heavyweight on his resume. (I am talking with regards to all time standards, not by today’s weak standards) The only man he ever fought that was elite was Lennox Lewis. As one would expect with Vitali’s weak resume, he conveniently only fought Lennox when Lewis was 38 years old, well past his prime, and completely out of shape. Despite Lennox having all of these disadvantages on top of taking Vitali as a replacement on two weeks notice, Vitali was obliterated and lost complete control of the fight starting with the fifth round. Vitali was clinching even more often than Jack Johnson after the first half of the fight ended. At least Jack Johnson had to fight 45 rounders, what’s Vitali’s excuse for that much clinching in a 12 rounder? And that’s only assuming if Lennox was merciful enough to let him go the distance, which he wasn’t. Vitali either has some of the worst conditioning in heavyweight history, or the more plausible explanation – Lennox was forcing Vitali to excessively clinch due to the excessive beating he was laying on Vitali.

Those who claim that Vitali was dominating the fight and crushing Lennox are fooling themselves. Vitali had a decent start in that fight and an extremely slim two-point lead on the cards after only six rounds. Somehow, people attempt to validate Vitali’s greatness based on this fight and the slim lead when the fight was only half over (and this is only assuming the excessively clinching and uppercut-eating Vitali would survive to the final bell). These fans must have not yet realized that even a prime version of Vitali could not even survive against the worst version of Lennox Lewis. This alone shows how weak Vitali is by all-time standards. His only impressive moment in his entire career is when a shell of an all-time great heavyweight champion stopped Vitali and horribly disfigured him, in his prime no less.

There are those who claim that Lennox Lewis ducked Vitali in a rematch, but they fail to consider that perhaps a 38-year-old man well past his prime at the end of his career might have more important matters to attend to than defeating a man who couldn’t beat a terrible out of shape version of Lennox, even when Lennox had to prepare for a new opponent in Vitali on two weeks notice. The only reason Vitali obtained a false aura of greatness is because of Lennox Lewis. Vitali Klitschko did not attain “greatness” on his own. It was Lennox Lewis who made Vitali Klitschko supposedly “great,” at least in the eyes of misinformed fans.

In one night, Lennox Lewis made Vitali famous, then turned around and made him nameless, because Vitali never understood how vital to Lennox the boxing game is. While Lennox Lewis was earning his greatness by defeating the likes of Razor Ruddock, Tommy Morrison, prime Ray Mercer (in a controversial decision), prime Golota, Evander Holyfield, and making Riddick Bowe constantly avoid him, Vitali had to leech off of Lennox Lewis’ success when Lennox was completely past it. If it were not for Lennox graciously blessing Vitali with his presence, the myth of Vitali would have never started.

It was mentioned before that Vitali had the same number of consecutive defenses as Frazier, Lewis, and Tyson. Nowhere on Vitali’s career, however, do we see the caliber of opponents that Frazier, Lewis, or Mike Tyson fought. Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali, Jerry Quarry, the great Bob Foster (an extremely accomplished light heavyweight unlike Adamek), and Jimmy Ellis. While a prime Vitali was busy losing to a past his prime Lennox Lewis, Joe Frazier lost to the prime George Foreman and the greatest heavyweight of all time in Muhammad Ali.

Mike Tyson beat Michael Spinks, who like Bob Foster is one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time. Mike Spinks was no Tomasz Adamek. The underrated Spinks also established himself at heavyweight with two close and controversial decisions over a previously undefeated Holmes and a legitimate challenge in Gerry Cooney. Adamek never did any such thing at heavyweight, unless one is somehow impressed with beating a 40 year old washed up Golota and a D-class Chris Arreola, who lost to every step up in competition.

Tyson also beat the likes of Tony Tucker, Razor Ruddock, and an old but still great Larry Holmes. Tyson also beat the underrated Frank Bruno twice. In between his two losses to Tyson, Bruno gave a prime Lennox Lewis a very tough fight before being stopped. Bruno actually had a four-point lead on one of the scorecards after six rounds, but I never hear anyone proclaiming what a magnificent all-time great champion Frank Bruno is. Not only did Bruno have an even larger lead than Vitali, but he also did it against Lewis shortly before Lennox reached his prime, whereas Vitali went life and death against a 38-year-old shot version of the same fighter. Of course, I do not rank Bruno higher than Vitali, but this comparison shows how ludicrous it is to base Vitali’s “greatness” on a two-point lead on the scorecards when a shell of a great fighter stopped him. If one wants to rank Vitali highly based on his destruction at the hands of Lennox Lewis, then Frank Bruno cannot be far behind. Of course, both are extremely ridiculous things to do.

Even Rocky Marciano, who made a living off of past prime opponents like Charles, Walcott, and Moore, still had a more impressive list than Vitali. Although Charles, Walcott, and Moore were well past their prime, they were much more game competitors than the likes of Sam Peter or Corrie Sanders. Obviously, not all title defenses are created equal when you compare Vitali Klitschko to the likes of Marciano, Frazier, Tyson, Lennox, and the other great champions like Foreman, Ali, Holmes, and several more.

Some may come up with the criticism that heavyweights in the pre-Liston era are too small to be able to be considered better heavyweights than Vitali, but they must have forgotten that the definition of a heavyweight is relative and changes based on the time period. If we treat all-time heavyweight rankings like pound for pound rankings there is no way either Klitschko is more accomplished than at least the twenty best heavyweights of all time. Highly ranking the likes of Jack Johnson, Sam Langford, Harry Wills, Gene Tunney, and others is not based on the fact that they would defeat the Klitschkos, because the size difference is too massive.

They definitely do rank higher than the Klitschkos as heavyweights, however, and that is due to the higher level of competition they fought relative to what was considered a heavyweight in their era. If a Klitschko fought a modern fighter with modern heavyweight attributes, and the pound for pound skills on the same level as an Archie Moore or Jack Dempsey, they would be in trouble. If a 187 pound Jack Dempsey could destroy a 245 Jess Willard, nothing suggests a 220 to 230 pound modern heavyweight with modern nutrition and conditioning, with the same advanced skills as a Dempsey type of fighter could not do the same to either Klitschko. So pound-for-pound, even the smaller but great heavyweights definitely demand greater status than the Klitschkos. Again, everyone needs to remember that the definition of a heavyweight is relative and changes based on the time period. That needs to be accounted for when ranking smaller and older heavyweights, even when they are not heavyweights by today’s standards. Simply because human beings naturally evolved to be bigger over the years does not give the Klitschkos the excuse to be ranked highly.

Also, many must have forgotten that smaller men like Dempsey, Holyfield, Roy Jones, and Tyson were able to defeat much bigger men than themselves in the forms of Jess Willard, Riddick Bowe, John Ruiz, and an old but still tough Larry Holmes. Not only does this apply to heavyweights, but men like Henry Armstrong, a natural featherweight, was able to dominate middleweights like Ceferino Garcia. The lightweight Roberto Duran did the same against the likes of Iran Barkley. Another heavyweight example, a prime Ray Mercer gave a bigger nearly prime version of Lennox Lewis fits and went to a close contested decision. A prime Vitali, however, did not have the size disadvantage of Ray Mercer, and still got stopped even with the advantage of being in his prime when Lennox was far from it.

There is far from any indication that the Klitschkos would dominate every heavyweight smaller than them. There is no indication that would suggest that Vitali or Wladimir could defeat smaller but more skilled fighters such as Ken Norton, Sonny Liston, Jimmy Young, Joe Frazier, Joe Louis (who feasted on every opponent much larger than himself), Evander Holyfield, and Mike Tyson just to name a few. Wladlimir couldn’t even survive against three smaller D-class fighters with far from elite skills, and it is scary to imagine what Tyson or Liston could do to him. If slow, plodding Sam Peter can drop the much bigger Wladimir three times, it is foolish to assume that heavyweights with vastly superior skills than Sam Peter could not outbox or stop the Klitschkos.

Others will claim that Vitali’s longevity and title defenses, high W-L ratio, and KO ratio alone will make him great regardless of competition. This is nonsense. Deontay Wilder is 31-0 with 31 KOs, but I highly doubt the same people that praise Vitali’s power can rank Deontay highly. Lamar Clark was 42-0 with 41 KOs at one point, an even higher ratio than Vitali’s, but no one claims he is one of the greatest.  As for longevity and title defenses, it has been proven how weak these accomplishments are when put in context. Beating the likes of C-class Sam Peter over the course of 9 “defenses” is the furthest thing from greatness. Chris Byrd, another C-class boxer, is not a greater heavyweight than George Foreman based on having more consecutive title defenses, and the same applies to Vitali.

With proper contextual analysis, it is obvious that Vitali’s defenses are simply fallacious excuses to consider him a legitimate all-time top 20 heavyweight. A man whose ONLY notable moment comes in a TKO loss to a 38 year old out of shape man is the furthest thing from historically great. Vitali is simply the beneficiary of being born at the right place and right time, and for his failure against the only legitimately tough opponent he ever fought, history shall forever exclude him from the truly great heavyweight champions.

In part 2, just as is the case with this article, Wladimir Klitschko’s legacy will be put in objective, fair, 100% factual, and unbiased context to evaluate his career.

 



Comments are closed.