Here is a collection of different opinions from fighters who have actually faced the current WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion of the world Wladimir Klitshcko in the ring. A lot of people like to criticize the 6'7" Ukranian's style, but these fighters would say otherwise.
Ray Austin On Klitschko
Wladimir fought him in March of 2007. Austin is ranked #7 in the WBA currently, has come off 3 straight wins, and hopes to challenge for the title again soon.
“He’s an all around athlete. A great athlete, a better athlete than what I had anticipated when I got in there with him. He’s got everything a heavyweight is supposed to have - he’s strong, he’s got mobility, movement, good jab. But the key thing was for me to go in there and take it to him and make him fight and don’t let him box and get in his comfort zone. That was the plan - to break his rhythm.”
“Basically, in that situation, my mind wasn’t even there. Wasn’t nothing coming together for me that night. Nothing. And it ain’t no certain excuse. It happens like that sometimes. Some nights is your’s, some nights it’s not. That was the wrong night for me not to click in [laughs].”
“He was kind of fast on his feet. His mobile movement from the right to the left was better than I anticipated. Cause when I first went in there, I cut the left off immediately and he darted back the other way. And he did it so swiftly and fast. Like, this is what he do, he didn’t have no problem. When a guy is used to going a certain way - like you got a guy who you push and he’s not used to going backwards, he’s kind of clumsy when you push him back. You go, Uh oh, I kinda found something. But when I cut the left off, he did it like that’s how he was practicing. He just moved with no problems, like this is what I do. I said, Oh okay, this guy isn’t gonna stand still. He came to fight [laughs]. Because I watched the Sam Peter fight and Sam seemed like he caught up with him a little more. Even though he boxed Sam pretty good, Sam was able to catch up with him and land a couple of punches. And that’s what I was looking to do.”
”If he’ll rematch me, I’ll definitely appreciate that. If not, I’ll target his brother. I see a lot of things with his brother I know I can expose. I’m not gonna say what it is - if I get the fight then he work on that. I saw him fight Peter. He has a fight coming up, I’m gonna check to see if he’s still doing the same things. Right now, the heavyweight I want to fight is him - Vitali.”
He was also asked about what he thought about Wlad as an all time great..
“Yeah, I think he’s one of the greatest so far. He hasn’t really truly been tested, he’s been in a couple of wars, he won a few, lost a few but he still got to prove himself. Long time to come to prove himself. But so far, out here right now, he’s probably one of the best.”
Phil Jackson On Wladimir
Jackson fought Wlad in 99' and sparred with him in preparations for Wladimir facing Ray Austin in 2002....
“The experience that I got from Wladimir - he’s a tough cookie. He had those losses, I don’t know what happened to him. To me, Wladimir - he’s a good fighter. Something went wrong, somewhere down the line. To me, I knew he could still be the champ because he has that power. He has that power.”
“He has an excellent jab. He’s not a mover like his brother - his brother moves extremely well. Wladimir wears you down with that power.”
“Klitschko had more power, most definitely. In both hands. You could feel it. Put it this way - if it would have been Wladimir in there when his brother fought Lennox Lewis, I think he would have dropped Lennox Lewis. I honestly do. I think he would have dropped Lennox Lewis.”
Jackson thinks his style has changed alot.... “Back then, he just don’t give a damn. He just came forward. He just throw ‘em at you. Now he boxes more, he boxes smarter now and waits for the right time to use the power.”
Chris Byrd On Klitschko
Byrd fought Wladimir twice in 2000 and 2006 in title fights...
“Wladimir beat me the first time, I just didn’t feel right. The second fight, I can be very honest - I was never in the fight. He fought a great fight. He made some changes to his style. He got my respect for beating Sam Peter. I got hit with all kinds of punches. It wasn’t the fight we trained for in sparring. Everything felt great going in but when you get out there and start getting hit and certain things don’t work for you…I thank the Lord I had the chance to have a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko. He’s such a big, strong, good boxer. I take nothing away from him.”
“It was knuckle-headed of me to think I was bigger and stronger than him. He’s 241 pounds of muscle and I was 212 pounds of bulked up muscle, not even for real muscle. So I felt I had to go in there and push him around. And it didn’t work out. It was a horrid showing, getting hit with all kinds of punches. I was pretty sharp in sparring, I was pretty aggressive, but Wladimir Klitschko is a big, strong guy, he’s talented. He knows how to box.”
What kind of fighter could beat Wladimir? “I would say be a big, strong guy and press him forward. But you gotta move the head. I didn’t move my head. You gotta give him angles because he’s so tall and shooting down and he’s taking that half-step back and he’s getting his punches off. It’s hard to fight him.”
Lamon Brewster on Wladimir Klitschko
Brewster fought Wladimir in 2004 and 2007
“He was able to maintain the jab, whereas the last time I knew his jab would be busy but I was able to get past it. In the second fight his jab was better, he had an awesome jab and I tried to get past it but I couldn’t. So then he was accumulating punches. I knew, at some point, I couldn’t keep getting hit like that.”
“I felt I was the same, relentless Lamon Brewster in both fights but sometimes, somebody has the better night. Unlike crying wolf or claiming poison, you just admit when someone’s better than you that night. He was better that night. And I might be better the next night.”
Sultan Ibragimov on Klitschko
Ibragimov fought for a unified IBF/WBO title in February 2008...
“I should have been more aggressive. When I tried to go forward, he’d go back. If I did get inside, he’d hold me. I couldn’t fight him. It wasn’t that I took his punches, or his speed or power - it was his height and it was a very hard technical fight. Nobody could do anything. I felt bad that I didn’t train differently. I should have had more of an attack strategy than defense.”
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