By John F. McKenna (McJack): WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO and The Ring heavyweight champion of the world Wladimir Kltischko (57-3, 50 KO’s) is knocking on the door of greatness as he methodically takes apart all of his challengers either by KO or by a decision in which he wins virtually every round.

Despite all the hype which surrounded “The Greatest”, Muhammad Ali while he was an active fighter, many boxing observers including this writer point to Joe Louis as being the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. This in no way diminishes Ali’s major accomplishments and the impact he has had on boxing.

Bomber Joe’s accomplishments in the ring however were staggering. He held the heavyweight title nearly 12 continuous years, longer than not only any other heavyweight champion, but longer than any other champion in any division in the history of boxing. The only reason Louis did not become the first man to regain the heavyweight crown was because he never lost it. Ali, by contrast lost the title to Leon Spinks, who at the time had only seven fights. Muhammad then went on to win the title back for the 3rd time in his next fight. In addition Louis defended his title a record 25 times, which is also a record for any weight division.

Louis set the standard for combining blazing speed with paralyzing power in both hands.
His left hook was text book perfect and has never been equaled in both speed and power by any other heavyweight champion.

What makes Joe’s records so special is that the heavyweight title was not yet cheapened by boxing officials who wanted to call their fighters heavyweight champions and started creating various other titles. It must be kept in mind that Louis went into the army in 1942 and engaged in nearly 100 exhibition fights while entertaining U.S. troops around the world. If not for that the amount of his title defenses would have been markedly higher.

Almost going unnoticed up to this point is the record that is being accumulated by future Hall of Fame fighter Wladimir Klitschko. After going through a difficult time earlier in his career in which he was knocked out three times, even his brother Vitali suggested that perhaps it was time to hang up the gloves, Wladimir has come back to be one of the most dominant heavyweight champions in boxing history. Undoubtedly tapping Emanuel Steward to be his trainer was the most important decision he ever made in his boxing career. Although Wladimir was blessed with God given talent, it was Steward who molded him into the fighter he is today.

Steward recognized early on that part of “Dr. Steelhammer’s” problem was conditioning, and that his poor conditioning contributed to the KO’s earlier in his career. Steward also taught Klitschko how to effectively use his height and in particular his powerful left jab.

Currently Wladimir has defended his title 16 times. The catch is that those defenses occurred during two title runs by Klitschko. Louis’s 25 title defenses were done during a continuous run, with Joe holding on to his title from 1937 until his first retirement in 1949. When he retired for the 1st time Joe Louis had amassed a record of sixty wins and one defeat. The lone defeat was to the great German fighter Max Schmeling in 1936.

“Dr. Steelhammer” crossed another major milestone in his long title reign by chalking up his 50th career KO on March 3 against challenger Jean-Marc Mormeck. Just like Louis, Klitschko has been criticized for his selection of opponents. But the reality is in both Louis’ and Klitschko’s cases that it has been difficult to find worthy opponents.