The heavyweight category has always been the glamour division of boxing but recently it has more closely resembled Kirstie Alley than Kim Kardashian. Nonetheless, let's take a look at who is the best and who is simply trying to get there.
Wladimir Klitschko (56-3 with 49 KO’s) – It’s impossible to name anyone else
at the top of this list unless you are the ultimate contrarian. Please don’t make a case for his brother
because Vitali is now 40 years old and odds are that his little brother would give him a
whoopin’ if they were to square off. That of course will happen about the same time Don King joins the
seminary and gives his millions away to Bob Arum.
The brothers have vowed there will never be a
civil war inside the Klitschko family no matter how many millions are thrown at
their very large feet.
Dr. Steel
Hammer as he’s now known, made noise in 1996 when he took home the gold medal
at the Atlanta Summer Olympics. He
amassed an extraordinary amateur record of 134-6 which was a precursor to the
success he would enjoy as a professional.
Since turning pro, he has lost only three times, all by TKO but more
importantly has won 56 times with a stunning 49 KO’s in the process. Klitschko has not lost in over 7 years and is
the current IBF, IBO, WBO, WBA and The Ring Magazine heavyweight champion,
amassing every relevant title on the planet except one and that title belongs
to his older brother and number 2 on our list, Vitali.
Vitali Klitschko (42-2 with 39 KO’s) –
Though over shadowed
by his younger brother, Vitali has parlayed his raw power and enormous 6’8”
frame into a championship boxing career. As the current WBC champion he possesses the only major boxing title not
held by his brother. With 39 KO’s in
only 42 fights, he holds the highest knockout to fight ratio of any champion in
the heavyweight division.
Interestingly,
his two losses were both due to injuries and he was ahead on all cards in both
fights. His first loss was due to a
shoulder injury which forced him to retire from the fight in the 9th
round against Chris Byrd and his last defeat came courtesy of a doctor’s
stoppage in the 6th round for a cut above his left eye against
Lennox Lewis.
Vitali has
won his last 10 fights dating back to 2003. Sadly, we will never know who was truly the greater of the two
brothers. In their primes, it would be a
coin flip. But this list deals with the
here and now. Right now, Vitali
Klitschko is the second best in the world.
Tomasz Adamek (44-1 with 28 KO’s) – The former light heavyweight turned
cruiserweight turned heavyweight is next in line to take a shot at wresting the
WBC Heavyweight championship belt from Vitali Klitschko.
The Polish sensation has not been as
dominating in the heavyweight division but has nevertheless gone undefeated
with the big boys. He’ll get his shot to
prove he is worthy of this spot on our list when he goes toe to toe for the
title in front of his countrymen in his native Poland on October 9th
of this year.
David Haye (25-2 with 23 KO’s) – Okay so this might not be the most
popular choice seeing as Haye was outclassed in a unanimous decision to
Wladimir Klitschko in early July of this year. But nobody has defeated Wladimir, or Vitali for that matter, in so long
it’s hard to hold that against him. There are the Klitschko boys and then there’s everybody else. Number 4 might as well belong to David Haye.
Robert Helenius (15-0 with 10 KO”s) –
The Nordic Nightmare
is only 27 years old and at 6’7” he is one of the few who could square up with
either Klitschko and look them straight in the eye. Helenius had a career boosting knockout over
Samuel Peter in April of this year and needs to rack up a few more victories
before getting a crack at the heavyweight strap.