Good column on Jacobs/Quillin/Fury/Klitschko

http://ucnlive.com/the-square-jungle-jacobs-quillin-fury-klitschko-showtime-peter-nelson-and-hbo/

Good stuff on Jacobs/Quillin/Fury/HBO here.

Sums up Klitschko here:


Last year The Square Jungle took a look at the Klitschko legacy after the Ukrainian walloped Kubrat Pulev in five rounds:

By scoring an extraordinary KO of an ordinary opponent, Klitschko also finds himself back in the dopey “All-Time” conversation, as led by folks who have shown little – if any – affinity for history. Just as comparing Bernard Hopkins to Archie Moore is silly (Moore had close to 200 documented fights by the time he was 40 and probably dozens more that are not on the record), so too is comparing Klitschko to Joe Louis an exercise in jackassery. Not every fighter from yesteryear is sacrosanct but the lack of perspective from those who want to make Klitschko some sort of legend is notable.



Since both Louis and Klitschko faced weak competition throughout their title reigns, there is a kneejerk tendency to equate their records. This is a mistake. No matter what the merits or weaknesses of fighters like, say, Nathan Mann or Bob Pastor, the fact is they all had to run a gauntlet of contenders in an era when the safety net offered by promotional contracts and network meddling did not exist. Bob Pastor too could have been 30-0 and proud possessor of the FECARBOX title if only he had been allowed to fight TBA more often instead of one hard case after another on a monthly basis (this is not to say every Louis opponent was a live body. Along with a few hapless types, Louis also faced dubious characters such as Harry Thomas and Tony Galento. And, yes, Mann himself, with ties to Dutch Schultz, can be considered one as well).



Despite the fact that Klitschko was not the clear Number One until his brother disappeared into the fog of Ukrainian politics in 2013, he is still considered “dominant.” It is hard to see how a fighter can dominate a division when he split the contenders down the middle for years with a co-champion. Louis was definitely “dominant” since he did not share the title with another champion and with the exception of a few black contenders that his promoter, Mike Jacobs, refused to greenlight for business reasons, Louis faced just about every heavyweight worth fighting.



Klitschko being lauded for creeping up on the record for most heavyweight title defenses (still held by Joe Louis) by those who claim that sanctioning body titles are worthless is silly enough but knowing that the most obvious reason certain authorities are fabricating history is to put themselves in the center of “Big Events” is outright depressing.



In the end, Klitschko deserves credit for being a legitimate box-office draw, one of the lost arts of boxing and a genuine crossover star in Germany. True, Europe has a puzzling history of worshiping odd imports (Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rourke and David Hasselhoff, to name a few) but Klitschko had the kind of mass appeal that has traditionally been the basis of prizefighting. That, coupled with his exemplary conduct over the last decade, ought to be worth celebrating enough.

It takes a clever man to play they idiot and do it properly

" Despite the fact that Klitschko was not the clear
Number One until his brother disappeared into the
fog of Ukrainian politics in 2013, he is still
considered “dominant.” It is hard to see how a
fighter can dominate a division when he split the
contenders down the middle for years with a co-
champion. Louis was definitely “dominant” since
he did not share the title with another champion
and with the exception of a few black contenders
that his promoter, Mike Jacobs, refused to
greenlight for business reasons"

The lack of self awareness on display is remarkable

That paragraph is quite embarrassing isn't it Raf.

Article kept referring to Fury as Irish and spoke of the significance of having an 'Irish world champion'. Can't be taken seriously.

kingraf wrote:" Despite the fact that Klitschko was not the clear
Number One until his brother disappeared into the
fog of Ukrainian politics in 2013, he is still
considered “dominant.” It is hard to see how a
fighter can dominate a division when he split the
contenders down the middle for years with a co-
champion. Louis was definitely “dominant” since
he did not share the title with another champion
and with the exception of a few black contenders
that his promoter, Mike Jacobs, refused to
greenlight for business reasons"

The lack of self awareness on display is remarkable

Self-awareness?