The sport of boxing had seen many great heavyweight champions in the likes of Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. But when it was time for the Klitschko brothers Vitali and Wladimir to take the heavyweight throne they quite literally pulled no punches in their domination of the heavyweight division.
The brothers burst onto the scene in 1996 as two 6ft7 goliaths with power, skill and pure respectable class. Vitali was the older of the brothers and some would argue the better of the two but the most accurate description was that Wladimir’s style was clinical and utilized all of his natural advantages whereas Vitali’s style was clinical aswell, he was truly not afraid to get into not just technical fights in the ring but true and utter wars.
This was seen most in his 2003 bout with Lennox Lewis. This fight went down in the books as an instant heavyweight classic. Lewis was already classed as a great fighter and one hell of a champion but when Vitali came to fight, Lennox never knew what hit him and I mean that quite literally as Vitali’s punches were so fast that Lennox ate them so much, he was being schooled in the art of boxing by the underdog challenger. The match then turned into a full on brawl, the likes of which you’d expect in a prison fight. Unfortunately the fight ended controversially with Lewis winning due to a cut just above Vitali’s eye. He was ahead on the cards and insistent on powering through but the Doctor made his decision, much to Vitali’s disappointment. Yet even in the wake of this technical loss, Vitali gained notoriety and respect and the Klitschko brothers were skyrocketed to fame.
Wladimir made a name for himself by reigning as a unified heavyweight champion for nine years in which some of the best competition couldn’t touch him. He did lose the titles to Tyson Fury by decision in 2015 but he would not let that be the end of the Klitschko legacy. Due to personal issues, Fury vacated the titles, leaving them up for grabs and at 42 years old Wladimir took on the young, fresh and dangerous, Olympic gold medallist and champion Anthony Joshua in a fight that showed Wladimir could fight to the very last. While he lost in round 11 via knockout, he did knock Joshua down and was debatably ahead on the cards before Joshua’s second wind which led to the knockout. Like his brother before him, he didn’t win the fight but he won the night. He gained respect and kept the Klitschko legacy intact.