Vitali Klitschko Appreciation Thread

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Link to tweet

What matters are results, and Klitschko's are some of the best ever. Klitschko won 45 of 47 professional prizefights and 41 of them by knockout. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2003 to 2004 and again from 2008 to 2012. The record books will show Klitschko as one of the most dominant champions in boxing history.

[uponit7771]

1. K&R, I don't see how this works out for Putin. He'll be occupying Ukraine for years

[Native]

2. Love this picture

[link:http://

Link to tweet

?t=BTptirpfXCXDP1uR_jGr1w&s=19|

[Carlitos Brigante]

3. Message from the brothers :

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. He's made my list of five favorite boxers.

[Carlitos Brigante]

6. Which one? Or you mean both? I remember people considered Vitali

the better boxer. But I always liked both of them. They were not only great at what they did. But also struck me as being humble.

[H2O Man]

8. Vitali had

the better chin and was physically stronger, but his brother had better boxing skills -- Manny Stewart taught him how to "fight tall."

Also, current champion Usyk has reportedly joined the brothers in Ukraine.

[Carlitos Brigante]

9. It's been a while. Yes, I remember now. I knew of Wladimir before

I knew about Vitali. Yes, a guy that big at that weight. He could really move (Wladimir). Did they have some kind of agreement not to fight each other? Or am I thinking of someone else? I'll have to look it up. I can't remember if they fought each other.

[H2O Man]

11. They didn't fight.

The brothers were intent upon making history by winning the four titles between them. I believe that their mother had said they couldn't fight each other back in their amateur days. I'm glad they didn't.

(Manny once called my son, to offer him a spot in Manny's gym. This was when Wladimir was champion. My daughters & I were hanging out with Manny, and he liked a photo of my boy hitting the heavybag that was on my shirt. I still have his card. Once he really took over Wlad's career, he ruled the division.)

[Carlitos Brigante]

12. Emanuel Steward?!! That's amazing. I can't even count how many champions he's

trained. Guy can be 5'-4" or 6'-4", he always figures out how to improve them.

[H2O Man]

14. Yep!

One of my brothers hung out in the gym when Tommy Hearns trained, and sat ringside at his biggest fight. (I've got great photos, though they got blurred in that second round!)

Manny told me that Tommy was the most dynamic fighter in the ring he ever worked with. There's a youtube interview, about an hour long, of Manny ranking the heavyweight champions. The guy was brilliant. Plus when Wlad was in his prime, Manny said the guy who would eventually replace him as champion wa young Tyson Fury. He knew the sport.)

[Carlitos Brigante]

15. I don't watch anywhere near as much boxing as I used to. Have

only seen a little bit of Fury. Speaking of Hearns. Having read your posts over the years and what you said above. You know your shit. So wanted to get your take.

My brother and I watched that Hearns Leonard rematch and where floored by the result. Maybe we were unfair to Hearns, who we thought wasn't anywhere near as aggressive as we remembered him being prior to this fight.

[H2O Man]

16. I'm glad that Ray

is gracious enough to say that Tommy won their second fight. I agree that Tommy was hurting Ray at times, but seemed to hold back -- as if he was haunted by the memory of being exhausted in the first fight. But he allowed Ray to set the pace in the first fight, and failed to enforce the pace when Ray was hurt in the second one.

What is hilarious is to hear Ray today saying he still gets late-night calls from Tommy, who wants a third fight!

There are too many PPV fights these days. Some have pretty good undercards, but more do not. I remember the era when fights were on ABC regularly, followed by the HBO/Showtime era. Those were great times. I liked the Tuesday Night Fights, hosted by Sean O'Grady (who knew my boys from when they were five to adulthood!), and the ESPN FNFs. At least ESPN still has some good fights on from time to time.

[Carlitos Brigante]

19. I knew you were the right guy to talk to about this. I didn't realize Sugar Ray

even said that. Seems like a very classy dude.

We were just kids back then. But I remember us both being so disappointed. Talking about "Man, that was fixed!!". Which is very disrespectful to both these great men.

As you can tell, I loved boxing. growing up in PR. It was one of the few sports where I could see us in the world stage. Speaking of PPV. Up until around the time I was about to leave for college. Our local Channel 2 would broadcast all the major fights for free. Then PPV took over in the 90s. It was nice while it lasted.

I bet you got lots more stories about the sport.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. I post on a boxing board.

I facetiously asked posters which Vitali fights I should watch so I could pretend his victim was Vladimir Putin. They suggested his fight with Kirk Johnson. Vitali wrecked that fella.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Lennox Lewis is one my favorite fighters because of the reverence he showed for the GOAT

I look at his victory over Vitali in a different light now. That being said I'm sure their friends now and Lennox stands with Ukraine.

[H2O Man]

18. Lennox brought class

to the great sport, both in and out of the ring. I have great respect for him, and was happy that the one time I got to talk to him, I thanked him for his class. He thanked me!

I go on numerous boxing forums, and the vast majority of retired fighters and the boxing community support the Klitschko brothers -- and Usyk, who has now joined them -- and Ukraine. (Of course, there are a very few Trumpers who are ignored on some forums.)

[Carlitos Brigante]

22. Great fighter and seemingly great guy. Another one of those big dudes who move with the

ease of a man half their size.

[redstatebluegirl]

4. K&R a true patriot!

[H2O Man]

7. Recommended.

There are two ex-heavyweight champions and one current one in Ukraine now. They are true patriots.

[Carlitos Brigante]

10. Agreed, real stand up guys. May this shit be over soon. nt

[H2O Man]

13. Have you seen

any of Usyk's fights? What a talent in the ring!

I heard that guy Trump's calling Putin a genius, and it shows how Putin is the sociopathic thug that Trump dreams of being. Then I thought about the three interviews I did here with Dr. Bandy Lee in 2020. The first focused on Trump being a sociopath, the second on his followers, and the third predicting January 6. So I started watching a series of evaluations of Putin on youtube.

As bad as events are -- and they are horrible -- I did watch a current news interview with a military leader familiar with the US Intelligence assessment of Putin today. And there is a possibility of his self-destructing. The pictures/reports on his most recent meeting with his subordinates, where he was so isolated in a huge room, got me thinking of writing up an analysis of Putin. Maybe I'll get ahold of Bandy, and see if she's able to work with me this weekend.

[Carlitos Brigante]

21. I have not watched his fights. Looking up on "The YouTubes" now.

If you still have those UTube links and could share a few. Reminds me of "Bush in the Couch" (I think that's the title). Normally I'm weary of "remote psycho-analysis. But these 2 specimens who occupied the WH (and the one in The Kremlin) are so obvious and transparent with their pathologies. That they almost make it easy for any professional.

I admit, I overestimated Putin's capacity of being rational. I don't mean I ignored his obvious sociopathy. But it was more like, this guy might do seemingly crazy shit at times. But he's no moron and there are lines he may know better than to cross..... oops......

Anyway, feel free to share if you get a chance to discuss. This shit is both fascinating and frightening.

[oasis]

20. K and R