have the k bros really cleaned out the division?

the klitsckho's have ruled the division for more than a decade, vitali gaining his title in 1999, wlad closely following in 2000. they are universally accepted as owning the division, and taking on all comers and getting the W (mostly). i dont deny they are exceptional athletes, both have there own attributes and haven't even looked close to losing in any major fights for years. i also dont deny that they do have a few top names on there CVs (byrd, haye, johnson, arrerola, hide, chambers). however i do think that the lack of talent in the division is a myth, and perhaps they aren't trying hard enough to find a tough fight.

my theory is this, they see the gulf between them and the rest of the pack, and have decided that they may as well pick a easy night than a tough night. most fans would no anyways so why take extra risk?

over the years and even today i beleive there have been more competitive fights for them than what they take. i mean is charr really the only option left? did wlad have to take on a previous KO victim? blame this on lack of opposition or people refusing to fight if you want but if you want a fight to happen then raise your price be flexible and do what it takes. is it a legacy you want or a job?

right now helenius, povetkin, pulev, mitchell, stiverne (the list goes on) are all more deserving, and would add to a fighters legacy at least slightly. and over the years there have been various fights have not happened. notibly valuev, holyfield, ruiz, grant, mccall, bowe and others, who may have been found out since.

you might say people dont want to fight them, but when it means a trip to the lions den, for peanuts sometimes, with rematch clauses for both brothers then can you blame people? froch was on the road as champion because he wanted the fame and glory, the brothers dont seem to have the same drive.

added to the fact that they seem to think if one of them beats somebody then it automatically means the other one doesnt have to. i think the k bros have harmed their legacy and will wrongly be remembers as the dominant force in a weak division, when in reality they have ran parellel to the division without fully embracing it. it was all there for the taking and they took the easy route.

anybody think im wrong and they derserve more praise?

Yes. Next question, lol.

Great article mate, there's a new breed coming through that will be ready in 18 months, so i think more challenges are ahead. Actual challenges too, not these old hags and stiffs they've been leaning on lately.

i think vitali will miss them all, lewis been his biggest night, and not ending well for him unfortunatly.

wlad at least still has a oppertunity to prove himself once the likes of mitchell, fury, price etc are ready

No I dont think your correct. The timeframes for the boxers you claim were avoided are way out of line. Bowe for example was finished before Wlad had even gone pro.

Valuev is maybe the only boxer of any kind of note that has not been taken care of. They have ruled division since Lewis unquestionaby, fought ranked challengers and accumulated all the titles. The opponents have not been top quality but the article is misrepresentitive in my view especially when using the likes of Bowe (never a viable opponent) or Povetkin (avoided the brothers like the plague) as examples of boxers they havent taken care of. The other boxers on the list just dont really make sense to me either in terms of being avoided. I couldnt rally disagree with you article more. They accumulated all the belts and took on the biggest challenges outside of each other.

My own view is that the fragmented nature of the sport and title situation will always mean there are guys who on the face of it or according to a certain set of rankings will look like a viable opponent, would defy anyone to name a fighter of recent years who has cleaned out a division to the satisfaction of everyone, even Roy Jones who was as talented and dominant a champ as we have seen in recent years had Dariuzs M he did not deal with.

For me you have to ask when someone has emerged and made noise about wanting to face either of the brothers or when someone looks either a real or perceieved threat have they been dealt with and to the best of my knowledge the brothers have always done this, they have also accomodated their mandatory challengers. This is the thing that always baffles me, if there were such a glut of heavies chomping at the bit to face the brothers and given how weak we are constantly being told the division is, why do these guys not get them into the mandatory challenger position?

The only two guys who for me you could make any kind of argument for the brothers having faced who they didn't are Valuev and Ruiz, Valuev was not going anywhere near the brothers for as long as Don King was trying to nurse him to the Rocks 49-0 and once Chageav had exposed him for the charlatan he as the fight had largely lost its lustre and Ruiz to be honest was never much of a threat to either and as I have said before if you are going to criticise the brothers for avoiding Ruiz you really have to criticise Lewis far more harshly as he dumped a belt rather than fae Ruiz when he was his mandatory.

i think if the wba hadn't of kept stripping wlad then he would've faced ruiz or valuev at some point given that is the only belt they seem to want to fight for,

yes, there have been a few frustating match ups like mormeck, but they generally try and take on any challenger that wants it whilst always fighting their mandatories to keep the belt.

The other thing is that in many cases there are fighters who dont want to face the Klitschkos. Especially at the moment when I think there are a number of fighters that are kind of waiting for Vitali to retire and then going to go for the vacant WBC.

I agree with rowleys point that having so many titles now means some opponents have been happy to avoid them. Valuev and Ruiz in particular I think were happy to stay in the WBA circle when the Klitschkos didnt have that belt and even now that Wlad does have it there is a pointless "regular" title that Povetkin has which means he can happily avoid having to fight Wlad but still call himself a world champion. I wouldnt bet against the WBC intorducing some silver or diamond version of the title in the near future either.

Wladimir had to face Thompson as his mandatory otherwise he would have had to have given up his belt which he won in 2006. The problem is most of these "up and coming" fighters don't want to fight the Klitschkos, they'd prefer to wait a few years and pick up the titles when they aren't around. I mean Povetkin has ducked Wladimir so many times, even when he was a mandatory. Arreola could happen in November or December but i don't think he seems to want the fight, the rest will continue to keep the 0 on their resumes fighting tomato cans referring to Wilder,Price,Fury etc..

The only top fighters who fight good opposition bar the Klitschkos are Chambers and Adamek

i think your probably right, although some of the fights are truely pointless (mormeck). i still dont see the desire from either of them, a lot of people avoid them, but the conditions they are offered (rematchs, fighting in germany etc) dont help.

Daft in the extreme, when you get a free shot on a platter you take it with open arms, not try to order a side dish. The offers apply to people who have free shots - not to world champions who get 50-50 - which both Valuev and Ruiz were at the time.

At the risk of reopening a debate that has been done to death this idea the brothers give everyone horrific contracts is not one that stands up to much analysis, if you bring something to the table such as a belt or a PPV audience as Haye did you get decent terms, if you bring no support and don't deserve the shot as Chisora didn't the terms offered reflect this.

Agree Rowley - never really understood this idea that the Klitschkos somehow earn the rest of the division a living, particularly when so many of their challengers have clearly turned up in a condition which suggests they've not given their all in preparation for contesting the once 'richest prize in sport.'

Like it or not, they've fought and worked their way to a position where they can call the shots. It seems certain fighters would rather bellyache about it then actually go out there and take the titles away from them so that they can dictate terms in the future.

[quote="zx1234"]i think if the wba hadn't of kept stripping wlad then he would've faced ruiz or valuev at some point given that is the only belt they seem to want to fight forquote]

This is a bizarre statement - Wlad never fought for the WBA belt before Haye.

And why was that......?

im not saying they havent earned the right to the stipulations, but they could chose to give a bit of slack and possiblly get better quality fights from it. and a rematch is okay, but when its with another fighter its a different thing.