Wladimir Klitschko has long been a brilliant talent, and is undeniably one of the most physically gifted heavyweight boxers in history. Every tool a trainer could hope to find in a boxer, Klitschko had in abundance.

Wladimir Klitschko's career grew after Emanuel Steward became his trainer. (AP)And yet, as Klitschko was searching for a new coach in 2004, something was clearly wrong.

He'd been knocked out in the second round by Corrie Sanders on March 8, 2003. That in and of itself was no big thing, as Sanders was one of the great punchers of his era and caught Klitschko clearly on the chin. In the NFL, a mistake might mean an 80-yard touchdown pass. In boxing, a mistake against a crushing puncher like Sanders led to a very short night.

So, that one loss should have been no big thing. It was, though, to Klitschko, who'd lost his WBO heavyweight title to Sanders that night in a monumental upset. He won a couple of tune-up fights after the loss to Sanders, but he wasn't reminding a soul of an all-time great. Klitschko fought uncertainly, without confidence,

There are fighters in the UFC now who were barely out of diapers when, almost 20 years ago, Rich Franklin first began to train in mixed martial arts.

Franklin is now 38 and has been fighting professionally since 1999. The one-time high school math teacher has seen the sport evolve, even as he has remained at or near the top of the rankings for more than a decade.

Often labeled the UFC's 'company man', Rich Franklin isn't known to turn down fights. (Getty)

Franklin, who fights Cung Le on Saturday in the main event of UFC on Fuel 6 at Cotai Arena in Macao, China, has been one of the sport's most consistent and well-prepared fighters.

But Franklin is seeing signs of a new generation of fighters who have trained in MMA from the beginning. That is going to make a vast difference in the overall skill set of the fighters in the game.

"The quality of the athletes we get coming into our sport is improving, and it has been that way for a while as we've grown," Franklin said. "But it's especially true now, because you're starting to see athletes come into the sport who have grown

Alfredo Angulo does not have a criminal record. He was not accused of any crimes. Yet in January, on the third or fourth day he sat in a holding cell at the Immigration Detention Justice Center in El Centro, Calif., the then-29-year-old Mexican Olympian heard some extraordinarily chilling words from the officer in charge of his custody:

Alfredo Angulo, right, appeared to have a bright future before he was detained by INS. (AP)You'll never get out.

For nearly seven full months, Angulo sat in those prison-like barracks, denied what would seemingly be basic rights. He wasn't given a pair of sneakers, which were given to virtually every other detainee who asked. Requests for a book to read were denied. He wasn't permitted to put ointment on a cut.

In similar situations to Angulo, most folks are held briefly, given an ankle monitor and released within a short time. But Angulo's detention rolled on, seemingly at one point without end.

To be sure, Angulo was no angel. He had a past with the Immigration & Naturalization Service, though it is difficult to ascertain the exact

At one stage in its history, just winning was enough to keep a boxer moving toward the top and in the hunt for significant, big-money bouts.

That is no longer the case, however, as the proliferation of cable channels and the growth of other sports has marginalized boxing the last several decades.

That's why, 50 years ago, a guy like Anselmo Moreno would have been a star of the highest order. He's a highly skilled boxer who not only wins the vast majority of his bouts, but he wins them in one-sided fashion.

But winning in and of itself isn’t enough anymore. It's also how one wins that matters. Style points count.Abner Mares spars during an outdoor public workout in L.A. (AP)

And so Moreno, who on Saturday will meet Abner Mares in a Showtime-televised card from Staples Center in Los Angeles for the WBC super bantamweight title, has a difficult challenge ahead of him.

The best way for Moreno to win simply would be for him to use his boxing skills to keep Mares on the end of his jab, neutralize Mares' aggression and turn it into a dull

More than a quarter century before the UFC, the late martial artist and film star Bruce Lee described in great detail what ultimately would become the sport of mixed martial arts.

The UFC was founded in 1993, partly in an effort to determine which fighting style is best. But as Lee had pointed out years before, it is a mixture of styles, not simply one, that is the most effective fighting form.

The UFC is honoring Bruce Lee in its promotional poster for UFC on Fuel 6. (UFC)

"The best fighter is not a boxer, karate or judo man," Lee once said. "The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style. He kicks too good for a boxer, throws too good for a karate man, and punches too good for a judo man."

Nearly 40 years after his untimely death at 32 in 1973, Lee's fighting philosophies are on display in cages around the world. Fighters who were born many years after his death idolize him nonetheless and credit him with shaping them as athletes.

UFC president Dana White calls Lee the father of modern MMA. While there are others who deserve to be in that

Stephan Bonnar disgraced himself when, after his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 153 in Brazil last month, he tested positive for the anabolic steroid drostanolone.

It was the second time in Bonnar's mixed martial arts career that he tested positive.

Bonnar announced his retirement Tuesday, so in a way he'll get away with cheating for a second time. The UFC released the results of its testing from the Brazil show on Friday. Bonnar failed for drostanolone and heavyweight Dave Herman tested positive for marijuana metabolites.

Stephan Bonnar announced his retirement from mixed martial arts on Tuesday. (AP)

Marc Ratner, the UFC's vice president of regulatory affairs and the man who administered the tests at the Oct. 13 event in Rio de Janeiro, said Bonnar would be penalized despite having announced his retirement.

He was suspended for nine months and fined $5,000 in Nevada in 2006 for failing his test at UFC 62, so it's almost certain that Bonnar will get a year from Ratner, who said he follows Nevada rules. Nevada rules don't allow for a suspension of more

The U.S. Olympic boxing program has become an epic failure and theories are abound as to how it happened. Some suggest amateur boxing’s lack of television exposure has turned better athletes away from the sport. Others blame the archaic Olympic scoring system.

Still others point to the growth in popularity of the NFL and the NBA, which then provide better financial opportunities for boxers.

Wladimir Klitschko getting his hands taped by trainer Emanuel Steward. (AP file photo)

But Hall of Fame matchmakers Don Chargin and Bruce Trampler, boxing lifers with more than 100 years combined experience in the sport, say USA Boxing's demise is far simpler to explain: There has been a distinct decline in the quality of trainers in the last two decades.

"Nobody is out there teaching the kids," said Chargin, an 84-year-old who remains active in the business today. "There are guys who call themselves trainers, but most of them aren't worth a thing. There are very few teachers and what we need are teachers who can bring these kids up the right way.

"There are still good athletes

On the morning of May 1, 2011, Mark Hominick awakened with a smile on his face, despite a massive hematoma on his forehead that looked like a bad Halloween costume.

Mark Hominick took a beating from Jose Aldo but persevered through all five rounds. (Getty)

The night before, Hominick had pushed UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo Jr. farther than anyone ever had, nearly taking the title from him at UFC 129. Hominick took a beating, but also delivered a beating and won Fight of the Night honors before a massive crowd in excess of 50,000 in Toronto, close to his training ground in London, Ontario.

Though he was disappointed by the loss, it was a good time for Hominick. His wife, Ashley, was pregnant and about to deliver their first child any day. And professionally, despite the loss, his stock as an athlete was never higher.

"There's no question," Hominick says now, "that my life, my career, started that night. I guess what happened is that I became a 15-year overnight success."

As the pages fell from the calendar, though, life became decidedly more difficult for