A DOMINANT HEAVYWEIGHT?

By Oleg Bershadsky

 


Photo Credit: Jose Hernandez/BRC

 

Everywhere I turn I tend to hear the same cliché that has become so popular in boxing over the last few years and that is “that there’s no one dominant heavyweight.” We hear this so much that we just take it as a given and don’t argue it. Every time I turn on the TV or read an article I hear how the heavyweight division is wide open and that on any given day any one of the top heavyweights can be victorious. Well, excuse me for stating the obvious but it has always been like that, and that’s why boxing is the greatest sport on the planet. Any good heavyweight who can punch has a chance to win on any give night but that certainly does not mean that the heavyweight division is wide open. There can still be one dominant heavyweight and if history has shown us anything it’s that basically every fighter eventually faces defeat and that unpredictability in boxing is what draws millions of fans around the world to this sport.

I have never been the type of person to blindly follow the group and so I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there certainly is one dominant heavyweight. Who is he? Vitali Klitschko, that’s who! The same Vitali Klitschko who took it to Lennox Lewis for six rounds until the fight was stopped because of a horrendous cut over the challenger’s eye. That same fighter who dominated Corry Sanders and literally annihilated a solid boxer named Kirk Johnson. These two wins alone are enough to give Vitali the title of the currently most dominant heavyweight and if we add his fine performance against Lennox Lewis there can be little doubt about who stands on top of the heavyweight division.

Still not convinced? Well can you name one heavyweight who you think can beat Vitali on a consistent basis? I can’t, but that is only my opinion and you are certainly entitled to yours. Currently the cream of the crop in the heavyweight division consists of Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, James Toney, Hasim Rahman, Monte Barrett, Andrew Golota, Lamon Brewster, Jameel McCline, and the new addition to the group, Klitschko’s next opponent Danny Williams. I am not going to analyze each fighter’s chances against Klitschko, but I will say that while each of these fighters does have a chance to upset the “new champion,” Klitschko would certainly be an overwhelming favorite in my book against anyone of these fighters.

Regardless of your personal feelings towards this fighter, few can argue that his size and skill make him a dangerous opponent for any heavyweight. Taking into account a series of impressive performances and his constant improvement with each fight, which I’m sure can be at least partly attributed to his new trainer Emanuel Stewart, it is in my humble opinion a sign of his dominance. Whether you agree or not with me is entirely up to you. I just want fans and experts alike to think for themselves and stop using the same trite saying over and over again,  especially if you never gave it much thought and just take it as a given. It is time that we give this fighter the respect he deserves at least until he proves to us that he is not what I claim him to be. But until now he has not shown us anything that would indicate that he is not the “real deal,” and so in my opinion, like it or not, Vitali Klitschko is the dominant heavyweight in boxing today.

Questions? Comments? Email Oleg Bershadsky

11-09-2004

 

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