By William Mackay: With the Wladimir Klitschko (52-3, 46 KOs) and David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) about two months away, I think this is as good a time as any to discuss whether Wladimir is hurting the sport of boxing by continuously dull title defenses of his IBF/WBO heavyweight titles. Since winning the title in 2006, Wladimir, 33, has been a big disappointment in his title defenses, showing little emotion, very little aggression and seemingly content to win by doing just enough to get the victory.
Rather than throwing power shots and trying to take out his opponents as early as possibly like previous exciting heavyweights like Mike Tyson and George Foreman, Wladimir seems to prefer to jab and clinch his way to victories.
As such, Wladimir’s bouts are rarely talked about and when they are, it’s often in negative terms. In short, Wladimir has failed at giving boxing fans the type of entertainment that they’ve been looking for in a heavyweight.
Although Wladimir continues to be a popular figure in Europe (Germany, Ukraine & Russia) where he and his brother Vitali Klitschko are worshiped by fans, it isn’t that way elsewhere around the world. In other places, Wladimir isn’t well thought of because of his safety first fights which include mostly jabs and little else.
Since winning the title in 2006, Wladimir has looked unspectacular against Lamon Brewster, Hasim Rahman, Calvin Brock, Ray Austin, Sultan Ibragimov and Tony Thompson. Each one of them were the type of fighters that Wladimir – if he chose to – could have looked good if he had come out firing away from the start.
After all, each of them is flawed and not nearly as dangerous as someone like David Haye. Yet, Wladimir fought them as if they were knockout artists and someone to be wary about. Now, three years later, Wladimir finally is facing a real threat in British heavyweight David Haye, and I’m now I’m really hoping that Haye can knock Wladimir out so that we’re free of him as a fighter.
The heavyweight division needs a champion who brings excitement to the table and not someone that puts the fans asleep both in and out of the ring. Wladimir’s interviews are about as interesting as watching paint dry and rarely has anything revealing to say.
And it seems to carry over to the way he fights. Unlike his brother Vitali, who tries to take off his opponents’ heads, Wladimir just jabs and holds. The style is very similar to how Lennox Lewis used to fight, but in my view, much worse because Lewis could be counted on to throw some huge uppercuts at any time in his fights.
Wladimir, however, doesn’t even throw an uppercut and only seems to throw his right hand or left hook when he thinks it’s absolutely safe to do so. This is why it’s for the best that Haye knocks Wladimir out and puts him out of his misery.
If Haye can then beat Wladimir again in a rematch, and get rid of his brother Vitali, we’ll have a real champion for awhile in Haye and one that can finally bring some excitement to the dying heavyweight division. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait.
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