Klitschko Remains King of the Heavyweights

Wall Street Journals Daily Fix ^ | 3:43 pm ET Nov 16, 2014 | Gordon Marino

[curth]

On Saturday night at the O2 Arena in Hamburg Germany, Wladimir Klitschko (63-3-0, 53 knockouts) pulverized Kubrat Pulev (20-1, 11 KOs), knocking him out in the fifth round with a lethal left hook. Klitschko’s victory marked his 17th consecutive title defense. He is third in line behind Joe Louis (25) and Larry Holmes (20).

At 38, Klitschko seems unbeatable. Eight years into his reign, he has dominated his division more than any other active champion today. He holds the IBF, WBA, and WBO titles, but remains one belt away from realizing his most immediate goal, unifying the heavyweight crown.

[SamAdams76]

I mentioned that boxing has its devoted fans and I'm not surprised the sport can still fill a 50,000 stadium for major fights, but you have to admit it's a sport in decline. I'm old enough to remember when a fight for the heavyweight title was a major event that millions of people would watch on TV and a major fight would dominate the news cycle for weeks.

These days, a championship bout barely gets mentioned and the average guy on the street not only cannot tell you who the current heavyweight champ is but they probably couldn't even name one besides maybe Muhammed Ali and the guy who sells grills on TV.

[HonkyTonkMan]

Never heard of him. I did enjoy the Bellator MMA fights last night though!

[manic4organic]

My daughter hangs out with Hayden occasionallyin Nashville and met Wladmir last year at a friend’s house. Very nice and smart gentleman. He holds a PhD and speaks several languages.

[SgtHooper]

Do both of these brothers also have PHDs?

[PGalt]

Interesting. Thanks for the post; pic. HOORAY Wladimir Klitschko!

[CommerceComet]

My brother and I had a discussion about the Klitschko brothers a couple of years ago. We began to wonder about why we always cheered against them. They don't really talk smack, they're gracious to their opponents, they are really smart guys who are accomplished in much more than just fighting, they don't get into trouble/scandals, they seem quite likable, etc. We really couldn't come up with a good reason to cheer against them, although we both wanted to see Wladimir beat the heck out of that mouthy David Haye.

I have come to respect their skills but I still think that in their primes, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, and Mike Tyson would have been too much for either brother to handle. That's a pretty short list of greats that takes in 60 years of history.

[Hugin]

A lot of fans have gone over to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). More action, more different strategies, and mostly much closer to actual fighting.

[Jimmy Valentine]

His older brother Vitali was even scarier in the ring

[CommerceComet]

His older brother Vitali was even scarier in the ring.

The late Emmanuel Stewart said that the difference between the two was that Vitali was a natural fighter. What had to be taught to Wladimir, Vitali did instinctively.