Charlton L. (London, UK): Despite predicting him to win, prior to the fight you stated that the heavyweight division will be back in the dumps if Wladimir defeats Haye because there will be no fights left to consider being that he won’t be facing Vitali. If that’s true, where does Wladimir go from here?
Vivek W. (ESB): Honestly, Vitali is the older of the two and I know his days are becoming numbered, but I don’t think there’s much left to do aside from collect victories and paychecks for Wladimir either. There’s literally no more mountains out there for him to climb and this was my biggest concern going into the fight. The heavyweight division suddenly came back into focus but just that quick, it’s a dead topic. Literally. I feel so bad for Wladimir because truthfully, there’s one thing that may haunt him well beyond his eventual retirement.
Every great champion or Hall-of-Famer has had multiple career defining fights to reflect on. Ali had Foreman and a couple others. Leonard had Hagler and a couple others. Duran had his couple and down the line. When you think of Wladimir’s complete body of work, honestly, what performance can you really reflect on and say to your grand-kids one day, “Sonny boy, I can remember one night sitting watching this guy perform in an epic battle for the ages”! I mean, really, over his complete tenure, as dominant as he’s been , what fight can you look back and truly say “damn, there were questions but he put them all to rest….this dude is one of the best to ever lace up a pair of gloves in the sport I love”?
I respect his dominance and think it’s hard to take it away from him, but I could never and would never find myself arguing with anyone who raised this very true question. I wanted Haye to win for the sake of the division, but I knew Wladimir would and I hoped like hell it would be the fire fight both men promised because I wanted him to have at least one truly defining mega-fight battle where he stood on top in the end. Instead we got what we got, and truthfully, I wasn’t impressed.
Where does Wladimir go from here? The logical answer would be to collect a few more checks and victories. The best answer? I don’t know how the K-Bros feel, but if it were me and one of my brothers, I’d probably tell him we should do a joint press conference and just tell the press, “we’ve done our damage……we’ll walk away now and give someone else a chance since it’s obvious that there are no threats out there”! Simple and cold! Just like that. For there are no threats anywhere on the horizon. PERIOD.
Alexander H. (Los Angeles, CA): Everyone is jumping on David Haye, but I don’t think Wladimir did any better than he did. I felt both fighters fought afraid to take risk and I think this is why the heavyweight division is so weak right now. How do you rate the overall legacy of Wladimir and how do you think he would have been in the 90’s during the Tyson, Lewis, Holyfield era?
Vivek W. (ESB): When this fight was initially signed my exact words were that “this fight has been on again, off again, so much and the hype has been so strong that come fight night, both men will enter the ring with a strong level of fear of being the one to get KO’d and letting their fans down, and as a result they would fight a very tight fight and take few to no risk”. Here we are in the aftermath and guess what? I’m not always right, but this one made me look damn good! I would co-sign every word of your statement, as neither man took any risk and both seemed content with the fight ending the way it did.
Wladimir said Haye “didn’t come to fight”. Well, my complaint with him was that if you know a man has said and done all the humiliating things to you that Haye did and you want to “punish him slowly”, why didn’t he take a more aggressive approach or a few more calculated risk? He did neither of the two. And Haye, in my mind lost about as much credibility as Shane Mosley. Both men had the audacity to say they hurt their foot and couldn’t plant to punch, but I cram to understand how is it that their mobility going forward was prohibited yet the both went backwards all night without hesitation? Very poor outing, and a very poor look for the sport.
Regarding Wladimir’s legacy, we can’t totally blame him that he happened to arrive when he did. It’s a weak state of the division, but that’s not his fault. I’d be the first to say his legacy is open for questions (based on his quality thin resume). But I’d also say that there’s no way in hell we can blame him for the fact that there simply is no viable threats on the current landscape. How would he have done against the likes of a prime Tyson, Holyfield or Lewis? Vitali in his prime I’d say could give either one of them hell to an extent. Wladimir? I think he falls short to all of the above. Some will disagree, but I think far more will fall on my side of the ledger. Let the debates begin.
Max N. (Northridge, CA): Victor Ortiz seems very poised to show up in a big way against Floyd Mayweather jr. How much of a shot do you give him, particularly after seeing him at the recent press conferences?
Vivek W. (ESB): I’ve said from day one that I love this fight. I love everything about it. You can’t talk Mayweather without speaking on his measuring stick, (Manny Pacquiao), and one of the major debates between supporters of the two men is level of competition. What I like about this fight is that it’ll be the first time in a long time that either one of them face a young stud in his prime. What I like about Ortiz is that not only is he still in his prime, but he’s just hitting it, and while he’s just hitting it, he’s still green enough to not know exactly how big this colossal event will be.
For those who don’t follow that logic, think about the kid up the block who’s too young and ignorant to know that you don’t jump from the 5th floor balcony because you “want to get a rush”. Or too headstrong to realize that you don’t play tackle football with someone who has on a helmet when you don’t! Sounds funny in logic, but the reality here is that Ortiz is simply too young and rambunctious to comprehend the magnitude of what he’s gotten himself into here.
Floyd Mayweather jr. told a few spectators recently that he had to remind Ortiz that “there’s more people at the press conference than he typically has at his fight and he has no idea what awaits in a venue where there’s 17,000+ screaming at the top of their lungs”. He then went on to tell him “when all those people are screaming and you’re asking yourself what the f**k am I doing in here with this animal, you (Ortiz) won’t be able to say a word with that mouthpiece in”. Classic stuff……vintage Mayweather! But also a strong dose of brute reality that Ortiz will have to be prepared to handle.
I love the fact that Ortiz is not only young and rambunctious enough to invite such a colossal affair into his life, but he’s a fast southpaw (which we know isn’t Mayweather’s favorite). Knowing that he’s knocked down every opponent he’s every faced has to account for something. Again, I think we have a fight on our hands, and unlike this meltdown in Germany we got this past weekend dealing with Haye and Klitschko, I think in this case a real fight’s gonna break out! Stay tuned.
Cedrik T. (Liberty City, FL): Floyd Mayweather jr. made it very clear in his press conference last week that he wants the fight with Pacquiao and that the only thing preventing the fight is Pacquiao’s resistance to commit to the drug test. I find it strange that we haven’t heard anything from Team Pacquiao in response to that statement. What are your thoughts?
Vivek W. (ESB): Considering all the things that we’ve heard from Arum recently, as well as other members of Team Pacquiao and Pacquiao himself, I want to think that non-response is strange, but I’d be ignorant if I did. Now….this doesn’t mean that I think you’re ignorant for feeling that way, but what I’m getting at is this: WHAT IS THERE FOR THEM TO SAY? They’ve gone on record a ton of time saying that they’ve “agreed to all randomized testing protocols”, yet now we realize after hearing from the source that in fact this never happened.
Somewhere out there someone is saying to themselves “why would you believe Mayweather over Pacquiao”? For the record, I know what Mayweather stated to be fact, and if you think that what Pacquiao has said in the past if fact, I ask for two things: We’ve heard all the proper verbiage, but I’ve yet to see a signed contract agreeing to the demand, which you know Arum would have presented had there been one. Secondly, we’ve yet to hear Pacquiao or his team and promoter say anything in response to Mayweather’s statement that they heard like the rest of us a week ago. These guys are supported by far too many in the media……what’s the hold up?
At the end of the day, there’s been one reason this fight hasn’t come into fruition and only one reason, yet people continue to complicate the matter by making statements that don’t add up and can’t be proven. In one breath people say that Floyd Mayweather jr. didn’t come forward when Pacquiao agreed to all stipulations; yet when Mayweather speaks publicly to state how much he wants the fight and that he will not change his demands, it reverts to “well, Pacquiao won’t take the fight because it’s a matter of pride and he doesn’t like the way Floyd went about asking”.
Which one is it ladies and gents? Did Pacquiao agree to the test (like people are trying to convince us he did)? Did Mayweather truly “turn down down $75M dollars after Pac agreed to the test”? Or did Pacquiao not agree to the test under the grounds that he “doesn’t like the way Floyd went about asking”? It can’t be both ways. I can live with Team Pacquiao saying they don’t like the way they were asked. That’s legitimate. But say that. Don’t tell the world you agreed to the test and continue to talk about the way he went about asking being improper. There simply isn’t room in one sentence for both alibi’s.
Yes, to answer your question, I find it all very strange that Team Pacquiao has yet to respond if their position is correct. Perhaps that’ll change after one of them reads this piece. (Don’t hold your breath).
(Vivek Wallace can be reached at vivexemail@yahoo.com, 954-292-7346, Youtube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VivekWallace747), Skype (Vito-Boxing), and FaceBook).