By Anthony Mason: Wladimir Klitschko will be fighting Kubrat Pulev in a few months time. Once again, Klitschko is able to pad up his title defenses against a weak heavyweight. Pulev may very well be the best option available, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a weak option. As always with Klitschko, he is the beneficiary of a watered down era where he can accumulate meaningless and worthless title defenses against weak competition.
Unlike Joe Louis, who actually fought in a legitimate heavyweight era, Wladimir’s competition epitomizes a Bum of the Month club. At least when Joe Louis lost, he was losing to the likes of Max Schmeling, Ezzard Charles, and Rocky Marciano. Who did Wladimir lose to? Three D-level boxers in Corrie Sanders, Ross Purrity, and Lamon Brewster.
Wladimir’s biggest wins come against Chris Byrd, Sam Peter, and David Haye. Byrd was an average heavyweight who was quickly stopped by Ike Ibeabuchi. Byrd’s greatest win comes against a completely shot Evander Holyfield. Immediately after his loss to Byrd, Holyfield was easily picked apart and stopped by a former middleweight, the blown up James Toney. Byrd’s biggest accomplishment is beating a washed up Holyfield in a decision, when a past-prime natural middleweight was able to stop him immediately one fight after.
David Haye is the other “great” win on Wladimir’s resume. What has David Haye done to be considered such a dangerous heavyweight? He beat a completely shot and past his prime John Ruiz, that is his greatest accomplishment. Chisora, Harrison, and Valuev are far from a high-quality list of wins. Even James Toney defeated John Ruiz prior to a no contest, and Ruiz wasn’t completely washed up as he was against David Haye.
Toney also fought Wladimir’s other best opponent, Sam Peter, to two closely contested decisions that could have gone either way. One of Wladimir’s best wins come against someone who could not even convincingly beat a washed up natural middleweight. Everything that Wladimir’s best opponents have done (beating a washed up Holyfield and Ruiz), James Toney did, and Toney arguably defeated his other best opponent, Sam Peter, in two closely contested fights. There is nothing that any of Wladimir’s best heavyweight opponents have done to separate themselves from a blown up, washed up, completely past-prime, natural middleweight. Somehow, Joe Louis was in a Bum of the Month Club going against Baer, Schmeling, Sharkey, Braddock, Conn, and Walcott, but Wladimir is one of the greatest heavyweights for fighting Haye, Peter, and Byrd, who are no more special than a washed up and out of shape James Toney?
This is the makings of a so-called “great” heavyweight champion? You cannot fault someone for fighting in a weak era, but you definitely can’t give them any credit for it either. I don’t care if Wladimir has 100 consecutive title defenses if it comes against that kind of competition. If the likes of Michael Spinks or Razor Ruddock went against the likes of Haye, Peter, and Byrd, they could easily accumulate as many defenses as Wladimir. The best of the best, such as Louis, Holmes, Ali, Foreman, Tyson, Liston, Lennox, Holyfield, etc in their primes would walk through Klitschko’s opposition, and the Klitschkos themselves, with little problem at all. If Holyfield wasn’t busy fighting the likes of Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Ray Mercer, Michael Moorer, and old but still game Holmes and Foreman, he could have easily accumulated several meaningless defenses like Wladimir or Vitali have.
There are those who will claim that today’s boxers are far more advanced, but that obviously wasn’t the case when Foreman regained his title after 20 years. That obviously isn’t the case when almost 30 years since the beginning of his career, Hopkins is still the best light heavyweight in the sport at 49. Size, speed, and strength don’t mean everything if one has the skills to overcome them. If today’s heavyweights are so much better, why are the best heavyweights unable to do anything more impressive than a blown up, washed up, middleweight James Toney? Could you imagine if top contenders like Tunney, Walcott, Charles, Moore, Norton, Young, Bob Foster, Moorer, Patterson, etc. needed two controversial decisions to beat a washed up James Toney, like Sam Peter did? That obviously never would have happened, since the old school heavyweights are far better than Wladimir’s Bum of the Month Club.
Kubrat Pulev has not beaten one remotely elite boxer in his career, and somehow this meaningless title defense will add to Wladimir’s legacy. I am not faulting Wladimir for choosing this opponent, since it is the best available, but that does not change the fact that his title reign is a farce. Wladimir can have all the meaningless defenses in the world, it does not put him close to Larry Holmes or Joe Louis even if he has as many defenses as them. If title defenses were the basis for greatness, Then Tommy Burns with 11 consecutive defenses is greater than Ali (10), Frazier, Lewis, and Tyson (9 each). Chris Byrd has as many consecutive defenses as Holyfield (4), and one more than George Foreman. Does that put him anywhere close to their great level? Absolutely not. Bernard Hopkins is a great middleweight, and he had 20 title defenses. But do those 20 defenses put him ahead of the likes of Hagler or Greb? Calzaghe (21) and Michalczewski (23) have a large number of title defenses, but can they be ranked higher pound for pound than the likes of Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins, or Gene Tunney?
If a high W-L and KO ratio were the basis of being great, then Deontay Wilder is one of the greatest. Lamar Clark was 42-0 with 41 KOs, but can he be called great? Picking and choosing Wladimir’s statistics prove absolutely nothing without any context. With context it is obvious that he is a good heavyweight, but he has done nothing to put himself in the ranks of the best heavyweights. Unless the heavyweight division suddenly begins to fill itself with unbelievable talent, there is nothing Wladimir can do to be considered great, the same problem that his brother dealt with in his career.
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