The Klitschkos continue to dominate the heavyweight division with no truly threatening challengers on the horizon. Today it was 31-year-old Albert Sosnowski of Poland who got a crack at WBC champ Vitali Klitschko. Sosnowski proved a bit tougher than expected but - as usual - the title remained in the Klitschko family as 38-year-old Vitali scored a tenth round TKO.
Sosnowski landed more shots than recent Vitali opponents (Samuel Peter, Juan Carlos Gomez, Chris Arreola and Kevin Johnson) but was never a threat to actually win the fight. Klitschko hurt Sosnowski in the ninth and finally dropped him with a left-right combination in the tenth. Referee Jay Nady had seen enough and stopped the bout at the 2:20 mark of round ten.
While the title defense received almost no coverage in the U.S., approximately 60,000 fans packed a soccer stadium in Gelsenkirchen, Germany to watch the fight.
The only viable contender for either Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko is Britain's David Haye, a former cruiserweight champ who now holds the WBA heavyweight title. Haye talks a good game but so far hasn't demonstrated any desire to actually get in the ring with either Klitschko.
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david haye could be the big treat to anyone
haye talks and talks, and has bowed out of every possible klitschko fight, he just makes a name from challenging them, but won’t fight them
The heavyweight division is in a seriously sad state. I can’t remember a time when we had so many boring, marginally talented fighters in the top 10. The Klitschkos, while reasonably decent boxers, are about as uninspiring as they come.
We need another young Mike Tyson to show up and kick everyone’s ass!
Haye is a decent enough fighter but no Muhammad Ali. He talks a good fight but unlike Ali does nothing to back it up. The heavyweight boxing scene right now has become somewhat of a farce. There are so many world champions but none of them are really worthwhile champions. There are no Alis, Foremans or fraziers around. Primo Canerra could even be a dominant champion if he was around today lol.
Haye is a smashing fighter who has built himself up powerful enough to put anybody down.Tremendous power.Though truely in love with himself and bordering on obnoxious sometime’s.He is articulate,though should learn when to show respect to other fighters instead of encouraging people to look for him to be put in his place.Which I do believe Vitali Klitschko will.Whether or not the most polished pugilist out there.He is a very worthy Champion.Though he is 38 now and like us all is not getting any younger.When is Haye going to back up his words and fight Vitali? Or is he playing a waiting game, Haye’s speed and power will surely be more beneficial as The older and better of the two brothers starts to slow down.Put them in a ring together now,let’s see who’s left standing.My money would be on the quiet and respectful Vitali.The Heavyweight division has been a disgrace for too long.This would be a fight people would pay to see.
What heavyweight division? The Klitschko brothers are the worst thing that has happened to the division in recent memory. They carefully pick weak opponents and the only time either of them stepped up to worthy opposition, they lost. There is no Lennox Lewis caliber heavyweight around to fight. The two brothers are slow, plodding and very boring fighters who prefer to fight in Europe and againt non-threats. They have little or no market value in the U.S., their intent is clearly to hold the titles as long as they can and make lots of money–smart business but miserable for the heavyweight division. It will be intersting to see what David Tua can do in South Africa this month and he may be interesting enough and big enough market value to make an attactive opponent to one of the brothers. Tua still seems to have the best punch in the division and a rock solid chin. He could not beat a very fast and very smart Lennox Lewis, but neither of the Klitschko brothers is anywhere near as good as Lewis was.
The Klitschko Brothers are the best heavyweights out there. HBO was supposed to show Wladimir’s last fight against undefeated #1 challenger Crawford (36-0)- I thought they would team it up with a repeat of Manny Pac’s blowout but all they showed was the BORING repeat of the Pacman’s blowout. W.Klitschko knocked out Crawford in the final round – which I had to read about in the paper. It couldn’t have been more boring than Pacman’s fight – which people got suckered into buying. Instead of showing good fighters – HBO show the foul-mouth fighter that Vitali knocked out as a Big fight – give us boxing fans a break. If there was some top fighter in the heavyweight division in the USA – that could be a big draw – I’m sure either one of the Klitschko’s would fight in N.Y. or Las Vegas but unfortunately there isn’t.
Maybe Big George Foreman should come out of retirement -he retired when he got screwed out of a decision against Shannon Briggs-who’s still listed as a contender? Lennox Lewis-who did he ever beat?-a washed up Tyson and Rahman-after Rahman previously knocked him out. Now Rahman wants a rematch with the Klitschko’s, Come on give me a break-show me a good heavyweight who could beat the Klitschko brothers. And please someone has to stop Holyfield from brain damage.