Will Klitschko legacy suffer through lack of competition

boxingnews24.com

By Gav Duthie: It seems like we are seeing a lot of quality coming through in the heavyweight division at present but the man who has dominated it for so long may be too far gone to see the benefits. David Haye revealed this week that camp insiders have told him that former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko is really struggling in training camp for his fight with Anthony Joshua and that ring inactivity and age may have caught up to him.

If this turns out to be true and AJ duly dispatches him on April 29th at Wembley Stadium how will this affect Klitschko’s legacy. He may end up like the great Larry Holmes 69-6 (44) who although a legend sometimes doesn’t get the boxing credit he deserves due to a lack of competition in his prime through no fault of his own.

Comparison to Larry Holmes

Holmes boxed for 29 years between 1973-2002 defeating celebrity journeyman exhibitionist Eric ‘Butterbean’ Esch in his last fight at the tender age of 52. He was absolutely class with one of the best jabs in boxing history. Having a quick look at a couple of lists he comes at #4 all time heavyweight with the Telegraph Sport and #3 with boxinginsider. So obviously his achievements have been recognised but due to his lack of competition during his prime years he rarely seems to be talked about in the same vein as Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Norton, Tyson, Holyfield and even other eras involving fighters like Dempsey, Louis and Jack Johnson. Holmes prime years were between 1978 and 1984. He defeated Ken Norton, Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers, Trevor Berbick, Gerry Cooney and Tim Witherspoon during this era. However Ali was completely finished and even Norton (fight of the year) wasn’t quite in his prime. This is very similar to Klitschko who has dominated boxing for a decade without there being truly great competitors bar his brother Vitaly. I believe Wladimir would have beaten anyone between 2005-2014 as would have Holmes in his prime but unfortunately for Klitschko Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Joseph Parker were not around then.

A bad loss and ring rust

Larry Holmes suffered Ring magazines upset of the year in late 1985 when outpointed by light heavyweight king Michael Spinks. He also lost a split decision rematch in 1986 and didn’t box for 2 years before Mike Tyson destroyed him in 4 rounds. I fear the same could happen to Klitschko at 41 years old. When Tyson beat Holmes he respectively said he didn’t really beat Holmes “If it was the Larry Holmes of the past I wouldn’t stand a chance, he was a great fighter”. It should be said that Holmes still had some notable wins post Tyson. He returned to the ring 3 years later and beat Ray Mercer in 1992 and was 15-3 after this fight but he was too far gone to beat the likes of Tyson and Holyfield. I fear the same for Wladimir Klitschko, I think a prime Klitschko beats Joshua but even if he is 10% below that he could be in serious trouble.

Klitschko Legacy

Wladimir has compiled a 64-4 (53) record similar to that of Holmes. One could argue that he has beaten the 2nd best boxer in the division (excluding Vitaly) 5 times. He took the undefeated records of Sultan Ibragimov 22-0-1 in a unification bout in 2008 and Ruslan Chagaev 25-0-1 in 2009. He also dominated David Haye 25-1 in 2011 and Alexander Povetkin 26-0 in 2013. In 2014 he destroyed Kubrat Pulev 20-0 in 5 rounds also. These were all good boxers but Wilder, Joshua and even Parker and Fury could be superstars of the future but Wladimir may be too old to pit his wits against them, we will find out on April 29th.

If Klitschko is finished and loses he will still be remembered as a top 10-15 heavyweight of all time but if he can turn back the clock and win he still has time to go even further. A boxers era is above all what defines them Muhammad Ali had Liston, Frazier, Norton and Foreman but the likes of Holmes, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko have not enjoyed the same challenges.