The Boxing Thread

Aye we’re all pish. Every boxer from here on in is pish too, just cos it’s no the 90’s anymore. Seems good enough for me.

 

The heavyweight champions of today aren't pish. They are the best heavyweight boxers in the world at the moment. They are not however, as good as the heavyweight champions of the 90's or in fact the 70s. This is what happens in boxing, boxers are compared to previous boxers....its happened since they invented the sport and it will always happen.

People compared Jack Dempsey to John L Sullivan.......they compared Marciano to Max Baer, they compared Ali to Joe Louis.....and it continues....

 

Julius Indongo gets destroyed in two rounds by unbeaten Regis Prograis


I think Josh Taylor would also destroy Indongo, 140 is heating up some killers in that weight class now, hopefully some big fights on the horizon for Josh Taylor.

 

Wladamir Klitschko would destroy most folk in most eras. Saying otherwise is just nonsense. Nostalgia plays a part in always thinking the previous eras were super duper.

 

The Klitschkos were good. There's no denying that. But they fought in an easy division for years. On top of that they consistantly hand picked opponents that were smaller than they were. Thats what their whole tactics were based around....fighting guys smaller than themselves. They held them off with a strong jab, then anyone getting close got a straight right down the middle.

Any time that they fought opponents the same size or bigger than themselves they got beat.

Lennox Lewis was probably in the worst condition of his fighting career when he fought Vitali Klitschko, yet still beat him.
Tyson Fury.....another one the same size as them....beat Wladimir.
And Joshua...same again....beat Wladimir.

When they were fighting smaller opponents like Thomas Adamek or David Haye.....they looked top notch....because of the old jab and straight right technique that didnt work against bigger opponents.

 

If Wk fought AJ a year earlier, he would destroyed him, in fact I woulda backed WK in the rematch, he wouldn’t have made same the mistake twice.
The Klitschkos didn’t just win because they were bigger, ridiculous to say that.
And even if that were the case, they woulda still been bigger than the majority of heavyweights in years gone by, so woulda had even more an advantage, by that logic.

 

Both Kilts could definitley box and either would’ve held their own in any era imo. Vitali was definitley the natural fighter between the two though, you can see that Wlad is very reluctant to really mix things up even when his opponents are completely outgunned. Obviosuly that needs some context, as anyone who’s been the best heavyweight in the world for as long as Wlad was can obviosuly fight.

Fury is also a neat boxer. Not really easy on the eye and very unorthodox, excellent punch output, decent defence and good chin.

Joshua - physical freak. Power in every shot and puts his punches together well. Stamina is a bit of an issue though.

I don’t think any of these guys would be the absolute best in any era, but I think they would all be contenders/difficult fights in pretty much any era.

 

If a 40 year old Wlad can come in and fight a young champion in his prime being out of the ring few years of not fighting and be seconds away from beating AJ in his prime I would say he was pretty * good. AJ had the ref on his side in that fight like he always does, some refs would have stopped the fight when AJ was hurt. It's the same with Wilder the ref gave him time to recover against Ortiz.

 

Watch the AJ/Takam fight and come back to me.

 

When your the champion and your handpicking opponents you can make sure they suit your tactics.

Size is an issue. But they were handpicking opponents that were nearly a foot smaller than themselves. Go look at Riddick Bowe or Lennox Lewis. These two guys would have wiped the floor with the Klitschkos (and Lewis did beat Vitali). Im not saying that the Klitschkos were bad.........cause they were good boxers......Im just saying they fought in an easy division at the time.

 

You should watch the fight it was an early stoppage, it was a big talking point at the the time so hardly nonsense.

 

No you replied to both.

 

The ref stopped Takam far too early. Joshua threw a combo at him and missed them all. Joke of a stoppage iirc.

 

I don’t think it’s fair to say they were handpicking opponents. Are there really any heavyweights they should’ve fought that neither did? They fought a poor standard of opposition because that all they could fight, it wasn’t a case of avoiding anyone.

I think Lewis beats the best version of either Klitschko, but it isn’t an easy fight for him by any means. Vitali stepped in at short notice to face Lewis and gave him a very, very tough time.

 

The Klitcschkos both avoided Valuev because of the size issue. Im not saying Valuev was any good, but because he was actually bigger than they were....and that was something they were not used to.....neither would fight him. Valuev twice held the WBA belt during this time aswell.....and still both Klitschkos avoided him.

And Lewis did have a hard fight against Vitali. But most people agree that Lewis was in the worst shape of his career when he fought him......even at that he still beat him.....so you can imagine what an in shape Lewis in his prime would have done to him