Agreed. A great deal of his recent success has a bit more to do with his opposition, as opposed to the common claim that he his in the peak of his prime.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you. Wlad has some very good skills and assets, I can't fault him there...but I have to choose the guy (Larry) who could overcome when he was tested. When properly tested, unfortunately Wlad has come up short, every time. I think Larry has the wherewithall to seriously test Wlad, definitely.
Wach can bang, his trouble was his aim at getting through Vlads defense and Vlad's Jab for one...time will tell what becomes of Wach if the last fight did not ruin him but I think he is better than Helenius,Thompson and at least as good as Fury, Vlad showed good composure when hit but Wach hit him clean with 250lbs but could not do it too often ...Larry fought far worse than Wach, Scott Frank, Leroy Williams, Tex Cobb and many others
He had him covering up for about 8 seconds, after which Wlad regained control of the fight for the duration, just as he had up until the final seconds of the 5th round. So, Wlad was the dominant operator in the fight for 35 minutes and 52 seconds. You are right, horrible performance that reveals a real weakness.
It IS a weakness. The punch came near the end of the round, and Wlad only assumed control in the next round. Deny it if you want...but Wlad does not like to get hit back. He does not respond well, never has. He goes defensive. Larry is going to exploit that.
Peter I'll give you...and let's be honest, it was a fight where Wlad looked out of sorts and definitely in trouble. But, he did deal with adversity. Sort of. But Haye? Please, tell me where Haye tested Wlad. What adversity did Wlad have to overcome from Haye?
True to a point...but I think it's become a tired line trotted out far too often. It's lazy thinking. In two of his losses, Wlad came a cropper because he could not finish his opponent off and gassed. They say he learned from that. But, in the Wach fight, he again tried to finish his opponent off, could not, and gassed. Wach could not take advantage of that, but does that mean that Wlad is any better now, because he didn't lose? He made the same mistake, but luckily he didn't pay for it this time.
I've often been critical of Larry's title opposition. He fought some stiffs for sure, and he should have fought the likes of Page, Thomas etc. It's not about the quality of opposition. I'm not concerned about that from either Larry's side or Wlad's side. It's about overcoming adversity. Beating the odds when one is not expected to. Larry has. We know he can get up from titanic right hands. We know he can gut it out and fight in the trenches when he has to. He can box when he wants to. He had not one dimension, but a few. Sure he struggled here and there, but he gritted it out and got the W regardless. Wlad did overcome against Peter fair enough (more like survived) but he folded like a cheap deck chair on three other occasions when his mettle was tested. Not good.