Wladimir Klitschko vs Tyson Fury

[Ambrose]

Ambrose, I still don't know what to make of that fight. Wladimir looked clueless in that fight. Reach and height is nothing if you don't know how to use it. Look at the black boxer Julius Long. He is 7'1" and has a 90 inch reach and much smaller boxers are dominating him. Fury looks a bit stiff and unorthodox in the ring, but I do agree with you that he is better than he looks.

Long is not very athletic, his strength and stamina are poor for his size, his skills are minimal (he has no coach like Peter Fury), and his will to fight is not that of Fury's. All things considered equal, the bigger man wins, but, only if all things other than size are equal.

 

[Rebajlo]

I may be new to this site but "Rebajlo" what's up with you bashing Fury Calling him a Pikey which means a lower-class person. I personally love his confidence and he doesnt seem to be a wigger. I think its great that he's the new Heavy Weight champ unless you'd rather the black Bermane Stiverne to be the new champ.

Dat Deceptive Speed -

"Pikey" is a pejorative term for "Irish Travellers" (otherwise known as Irish Gypsies) commonly used in the UK. Even the briefest of internet searches will reveal that pikeys are indeed "low class" people - and that's a euphemism. I guarantee that anyone who's ever encountered such grubs in person shall readily concur.

Fury springs from "Traveller" stock and habitually boasts of his Irish gypsy "ethnicity" (his Twitter user name is Gypsy King) therefore labelling him a pikey isn't exactly revolutionary, is it...

I dislike Fury's loud-mouthed demeanour. As I've stated on previous occasions, if a Negro boxer of comparable ability conducted himself as Fury does I'm sure that pro-White sports fans wouldn't interpret such behaviour as plain, hearty confidence. Instead, our notional Negro would become an instant mega-hate figure - based more on his unsavoury arrogance than on the colour of his hide.

Just because someone is a prominently successful White sportsman doesn't mean I must take a mandatory liking to him. I've never disputed Fury's boxing talent - I've simply voiced disapproval of his constant insolence. Is that some sort of crime?

By the way, do You agree with the Klitschko brothers' political views? I don't. And on that basis I've always considered the pair to be utter knobs - Vitali in particular. Yet again, nothing to do with boxing ability. Put it this way: I'm certain that both Tyson Fury and the Klitschko brothers would be self-righteously appalled by the "racist" opinions expressed on Caste Football.

Finally, to answer Your "hypothetical" question: I've also previously stated that as Fury is White, I naturally hope he defeats every non-White opponent he faces...

What is being overlooked here is Wladimir has very little experience fighting "up" with taller, bigger fighters. He's always fought across or down. One of my oldest expressions when evaluating boxers is: "all things considered equal, the taller, bigger, fighter wins". I watched the fight three times; I've watched a score of Fury's fights and sparring sessions; Fury does not get hit much. Fury can box as well if not better than Wladimir and he's taller with greater than a meter reach. If you think Fury is some tall stiff klutz like Willard you may want to take a second or third look. There's a damn good reason why Wladimir faked an injury and took an extra month of training for this fight, and why Haye backed out completely from fighting Fury.

Ambrose -

Nowhere did I say or even infer that Fury is some tall stiff "klutz". The bloke is obviously a highly skilled technical boxer therefore I really like his style - I just don't like his attitude and tiresome references to being a gyppo.

The main substance of my post concerned Klitschko's abysmal performance, which made things relatively easy for Fury. Nobody can possibly argue that the Ukrainian wasn't woefully sub-par. You make eminently valid points about fighting up, et cetera, but the truth is that Klitschko opted to employ a painstakingly cautious, minimalist approach which was never going to be successful against a determined, highly technical challenger who is twelve years younger and had placed great emphasis on improving his stamina.

The almost 40-year old Klitschko understandably wishes to avoid copping head shots or any other damage in the final fights of his career but such a safety first attitude is obviously a hindrance in taking on a 6'9" fellow who can actually box. As I said, the Ukrainian's skills and motivation have declined and - in a nutshell - he appeared to be well past his expiry date.

Klitschko is content to collect his hefty pay packet in exchange for suffering a few minor bruises and I predict the rematch will be a quite similar affair.

Unfortunately, Klitschko's piss poor showing against Fury all but matched the negative image of the "boring" and "limited" fighter with which the media has been smearing him for most of his career...