The WBC has declared reigning heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko to be “the greatest puncher ever in the heavyweight division.”
Official WBC Statement: “[Vitali] Klitschko proved that he is the best fighter in the world nowadays, pound for pound, after defeating Juan Carlos Gomez who had a record of 35 knockouts in 44 wins and only 1 loss.
"Klitschko has outdone all other fighters, no matter what division they belong to. The heavyweight world champion is the only one who can claim he is the greatest champion in the world of boxing as nobody can defeat him.
"With Vitali´s extraordinary wins, in fights that have been stunning to world fans, showing absolute control and power, our king of the heavyweights has silenced many mouths and media that had unfairly attacked him without any evidence, and been disrespectful to him, considering the great class he is showing.
"Jose Sulaiman, president of our organization, stated today that Klitschko is the pride the WBC as well as he is the pride of world boxing. Vitlai Klitschko’s record is now: 37 wins; 36 of them by knockout, and including his last win by KO, his percentage in this specialty went up to 97.2%, fact after which Klitschko is placed as the greatest puncher ever in the heavyweight division.” Fightnews.com
Here we have a read debate opportunity on our hands. WBC, while not the spokesman for the average boxing fan, is still an authority. When something like the above mentioned is stated to the public, proof and legitimacy is expected.
The question is: How do they (WBC) designate a puncher? Is it by the fighter’s knockout record? Or is it by the ability to cause a certain amount of damage with any given punch?
The difference between the above stated, is basically whether a fighter can get a knockout by multiple connects, or by a single punch.
Vitali was never a knockout artist, but instead just a big guy who can get the job done. He is capable of finishing the fight if he sees he has hurt his opponent. That is a very good skill to have, because finishing is a problem for many fighters nowadays. Vitali is sharp, aggressive, and very smart in the ring.
Personally, I think he is the best fighter right now in the heavyweight division. I also give him lots of credit for being able to come back after such a long lay-off, and still be able to dominate pretty good opponents in the ring, this displaying very little ring rust.
To call him the greatest puncher ever in the heavyweight division might be a tad too far fetched. He is no doubt a great puncher, but the word “ever” is not very practical to use in this case.
A puncher has to be looked at from a few different perspectives. For example: a knockout artist is only as good as his opponents. If a given boxer fights chumps for most of his career, than it is wrong to put them into a category of great punching boxers.
Now, I am not saying that Vitali is not one, but what about Joe Louis with 75 percent KO numbers of total 68 fights? Or what about George Foreman with 84 percent KO number of 81 fights? How about Rocky Marciano with 88 percent KO number of 49 fights?
Let’s not forget Mike Tyson.
All the above mentioned fighters in my opinion were harder punching boxers than Vitali Klitschko. I do see that none of them had 97.2 percent KO rate, and that is a very good point made by the WBC people.
But I must come back to my other argument, which is the fact that those guys had competition not comparable to Vitali’s. The class of fighters in those years was much higher than it is today, at least in the heavyweight division. Could Vitali have knockout out Ali in his prime? Or Mike Tyson is his?
I would have to say no to both of those.
WBC has made a very bold statement, and is offending to a lot of greats, in a wide spectrum of ways.
Vitali is a good fighter with a successful return. If we look at percentages, then yes, Vitali does hold that record. But let’s, in our minds, create some dream matches with a mixture of past champions, would he still hold that record? I think not.
A better way of phrasing Vitali’s record KO numbers would have been to state that Vitali has the highest KO percentage of fights fought and won.
3 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete