Peter, Byrd, Botha and Mercer may be considered world class opponents in this era by some, but that just shows how weak the era has been.
Leapai, Pianeta, Wach, Mormeck, Chambers, Rahman, Brock, Barrett and Austin are not what I would consider world class opponents.
Throw in defeats to journeymen Brewster, Sanders and Puritty, and that makes a poor record.
Have you ever considered the fact that many Olympic and world amateur boxing champions and medalists especially in the heavyweight class after Lennox Lewis did not have successful careers in the pros? Prime example is Odlanier Solis.
Take it from someone who has been a boxing follower since the early 60s, Most of the fighters Wlad and Vitali faced and beat would not have a chance against the likes of prime Cleveland Williams, Leotis Martin, Ernie Shavers, Ron Lyle, James Bonecrusher Smith, Razor Ruddock, Ray Mercer and David Tua.
Had any of the K Brothers fought prime Ray Mercer much earlier than they did, I doubt it if they could have survived!
The K Bros could have fought the like of Tyson, Holyfield, Morrison, Tua because they were already around in the 1990s but they chose to fight mostly in Europe and for the then minor WBO title.
Agreed Rich.
I just think that his opponents are criticized because he makes them look bad, much like Joe Louis did back when they called his opponents the ''bum of the month'' even though they were all former world champions or top contenders in their physical prime.
I also agree that Wlad's opponents is better than Floyd's because Wlad is fighting the best men out there. K9 promotions fights anyones fighters including Top Rank or Golden Boy.
@Danny i agree. Just look in boxing. Somehow Andre Ward is ranked higher than Wladamir Klitschko in the p4p list yet Wlad has had titles for almost 18 years, he is the only world champion in his division and has FAR more successful title defenses than anyone fighting today yet Ward, who had only fought 3x the last 3 years, only has 6 title defenses & currently only holds 1 world title, is somehow ranked above Wlad in The Ring...
I couldn't agree more. For that matter I was checking the other day the record of Mike Tyson. WTF? How some guys dare to compare the bums Mike beat with Olympic medalists, world champions and elite boxers like Povetkin, Sam Peter, Chagaev, Haye and Chris Byrd.
Like I said in another question, if Wladimir was an African-American the same "fans" who bash him now, they would include him in the GOAT heavyweight discussion already. Look at Jon Jones for example. This dude has been a champ only for the past 2-3 years by beating natural middleweights like Belfort, Machida, Shonnen and some past their prime dudes like Rampage and Shogun Rua, while he clearly lost to Gustaffson and got a gift decision as usually happen in such cases, and they already compare him with the likes of GSP, Fedor, Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, Randy Couture and Royce Gracie who dominated for a really long time each.
Same goes with Andre Ward. Some dudes dare to compare him with Joe Calzaghe already. That's blatant sugarcoated racism if you ask me. The only reason they behave like this is race and the rest excuses are bullshit.
He's an ATG regardless how BAD his style is
Are you being sarcastic?
Lol
Best wins: Peters x 2 Chris Byrd x2, Axel Shulz, Francois Both(2002), Ray Mercer, Monte Barrett (these last 3 by KO) Thompson x 2, Rahman, Chaegev. David Haye, Maruisz Wach and Povetkin.
Not a bad mix of border-line HOF guys and top contenders. Definitely an unfairly maligned CV in my book. On a par with Andre Ward's and better than Floyd's I think.
