Does Wladimir Klitschko deserve to be #1 P4P?

By Boxing News - 09/30/2015 - Comments

wladimir53562By Gerardo Granados: I’m debunking writer Dan Rafael´s Wladimir Klitschko pound-for-pound number 1 spot claim. Days ago there was a fun argument battle on twitter between ESPN´s analysts Dan Rafael and Brian Campbell; about why Dan thinks Wladimir Klitschko should be number one on the ESPN pound for pound list, but just as Brian many agree that Roman Chocolatito Gonzalez is the righteous number one.

Others such as The Ring Magazine and Boxingnews24 also have Roman on the number one spot, but it seems like the savvy Dan Rafael might be overlooking Chocolatito´s talent and achievements.

Wladimir Klitschko mostly relies on his size, average fight weight of 245 pounds, 6´6” height and 81”reach to bully limited boxers who walk strait lines, who have poor or no head movement; some simply can’t time his jab and go under it. Most of them allow him to impose the distance and tempo staying at the end of his jab, in close Klitschko clinches or leans on the shorter opponents to negate them to work on the inside but he has a weak inside game.

I wonder if once Wladimir retires fight fans will compare his jab to Larry Holmes´s, or remember him to have the chin and ability to recuperate as Evander Holyfield had, maybe compare his footwork to Muhammad Ali´s, or remember him to have a great inside game as Riddick Bowe had, maybe compare the power George Foreman had to his, he surely doesn’t have the speed and mobility Mike Tyson had or the ring IQ Lennox Lewis had. But still has been able to dominate one of the weakest heavy weights eras of all times.

It’s been over ten years the drought of talent in the Heavyweight division has lasted, the last great heavyweight Champion was Lennox Lewis followed by Vitali Klitschko who just as his brother Wladimir dominated an era of poor talent in the major weight division.

To say that Wladimir has been the dominant force at the Heavyweight division over the last ten years is a mistake, because the righteous Champion after Lennox Lewis retired without giving a deserving rematch was his brother WBC Champion Vitali; who was a better boxer, had more punching power and also had a good chin. So after Vitali recently retired back in 2012 the reigning Champion has been Wladimir, but before that happen he was just the belt holder of the IBF-WBO-WBA belts.

The pound for pound list is supposed to list the best boxer, boxer punchers regarding the weight division but how can we compare the ability of a heavyweight to the ability of the lower division boxers? The big lions can finish a fight with a single punch (not all of them) they are heavy so you cannot expect them to have great footwork, work rate, mobility or speed (with few exceptions of course) so how can you measure their boxing skills set against the ones the lower weight divisions have?

Flyweight Champion Roman Chocolatito Gonzalez is only 5´3” height, 64” reach often fights guys who edged him on height, reach and size but none of his opponents can match the ring IQ, ability to adjust, ring generalship, punch accuracy, footwork, over all defensive skills, ability to maneuver his opponents, to prepare his combinations, to wait for and to create openings, to set the tempo of the fight and to change it, or to impose the distance.

I believe Wladimir has been so dominant in the past years because not only of the lack of talent on his opposition but also because he is very effective exploiting his smaller foes weakness while using his natural tools to win. But I don’t think he even belongs to the top ten pound for pound list.

If Wladimir fought at the flyweight division being only 5´3” tall and 64” reach using only the boxing skills he has shown in the past would he still be able to dominate the division?
If Chocolatito had similar size height and reach an average heavyweight have and also kept his superb boxing skills would Wladimir stand a chance against him?

Well if it is supposed to be a list in which we rank the boxing ability and the skills of fighters then we should not base our opinion exclusively on statistic record or solely in the achievements of the boxer but also the quality and skills of the opposition faced and Roman´s opposition is better skilled than Wladimir’s.

I don’t believe there is any doubt that the number one spot belongs to Roman Gonzalez and even think that Wladimir Klitschko doesn’t belong to the top ten. But what about the reader, do you agree?



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