If the Klitschko's wore Red White and Blue

Boxing has 3 heavyweight champions right now with 1, David Haye, being hyped for the past year or so as the divisions “saviour” though it's been the other two, the Ukrainian brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko that have dominated and fought the best over the years as they've stood out as the best amongst a very dire division. Though recently comments by HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg have made it obvious that Ukrainians aren't welcome on HBO any time soon. With Wladimir about to face the highly regarded Russian Alexander Povetkin in just months HBO have basically gone on to say they have no interest in the fight. Though what is it actually with the Klitschko's that Geenburg has a problem with?

The general opinion points to the Klitschko brothers being “dull” and “boring” as fighters, though many are willing to accept they are hugely talented it's this “boring” slur that seems to have stained the fighters. Though the idea in all sports is to win, if you can look good doing it then that's a bonus, whilst fighters like Floyd Mayweather, Cory Spinks, Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright, Jermain Taylor and even Ricky Hatton late in his career were dull, choosing to either run or spoil they managed to remain on TV and generally avoid the slur. In the case of all those just mentioned apart from Hatton the fighters were all American (and even Hatton wore red, white and blue in the form of the Union Flag) and more importantly fighting on US TV. It's also worth noting that not one of them had truly concussive KO power.

In the Klitschko's you have two fighters who dominate lesser opponents with ease, rarely losing a round between them, much like Mayweather has done, using a safety first style to pick opponents apart. The brothers accurate powerful jabs often sending opponents into shells they refuse to come out of, making fights turn out to be one sided beat downs with Wladimir often sparking the opponent out late on whilst Vitali just beats the fight out of an opponent. Between the 2 fighters they have stopped 86 fights early (from 94 wins) with 5 losses, all of those coming by stoppage as well (by KO/TKO or Retirement). From 99 fights only 8 have managed to reach the final bell, if you compare this to ANY heavyweights in history it turns out favourably, just look at these records:

Muhammad Ali 56(37)-5(1)-0
Joe Louis 66(52)-3(2)-0
Floyd Patterson 55(40)-8(5)-1
Rocky Marciano 49(43)-0(0)-0
Larry Holmes 69(44)-6(1)-0
Lennox Lewis 41(32)-2(2)-1
Joe Frazier 32(27)-4(3)-1
Sonny Liston 50(39)-4(3)-0
Mike Tyson 50(44)-6(5)-0
George Foreman 76(68)-5(1)-0

Those 10 above are from Boxrecs top 25 all time list, every fighter apart from Frazier, Tyson and Marciano has more distance fights despite fighting less than the Klitschko's. Not one fighter has matched the amount of KO's the brothers have between them and even those described as “dull” weren't turned away from TV. Lennox Lewis, the “last great” heavyweight was often slurred with the “boring” tag, like both Klitschko's he was a top level amateur (like Wladimir Lewis was an Olympic gold medal winner) who relied on his elite jab to dominate opponents. Although Lewis could be explosive in fights when he wanted to he was at his best as a clever calculating type of fighter who broke opponents down, a lot like the Klitschko's do.

Those that are eagled eyed, will notice that Lewis stands out for the fact he's not actually “American”, though like Hatton he was British, another fighting under the “Red, white and blue”. Though others may prefer to draw their eyes to Rocky Marciano, the last great white heavyweight to be world champion. Although since then there has been white heavyweight title holders such as Tommy Morrison no white fighters has dominated the division, the once desperate search for a white heavyweight champion. A Great White Hope for decades was boxing's holy grail, the fighter that could make a promoter stupid money and be sold to the sports biggest fans. Now add in a massive punch and a perceived fragility and a promoter could have a field selling the fighter, sadly, like Ingemar Johansson the Klitschko's don't count as “Great White Hopes” having been born in Europe. Instead of being sold as master boxers with KO punches they are being sold as “boring” fighters with silly names.

Funny that HBO's Greenburg has recently admitted that the fight between Povetkin v Wladimir “doesn't register” when he then adds “on delay”. Is the reason HBO are wiping their hands of the Klitschko's less down to the fact that the brothers are “boring” but more that HBO are unable to compete with the every growing power of both German based fights and, more importantly the internet? Boxing fans in this day and age see things “live” via the internet, they know the results hours before HBO would be showing the fights. Do HBO really expect boxing fans to wait?

If the Klitschko's wore red, white and blue they'd be shown live, they'd be sold as great white hopes and their dominance would be the telling factor not their “dull” style of fighting. Funny that a birth place turns a marketable pair of fighters into something HBO can't be bothered to show live to make boxing a tea time sport rather than a night time niche sport.