The knockdown I have seen are anything but clean. There cleanest is when wlad has hold of one of povetkins arms.
When he applies himself he has good variation. Brewster 1 is a great example Watch the Jefferson fight where he drops him on hard left hooks inside a clinch he doesn't do that anymore Vitali has the best variation now if not the last decade or more
the guy throws many punches so well. that, for me, makes all his clinching and leaning so much worse.
This is spot-on. Wlad does what he does exceptionally well, with the benefit of a ref who doesn't mind him falling onto his opponent's back again and again and again. You can't deny the utter efficiency of Wlad's style. It is what it is: dreadfully dull, but enough to clearly outclass every challenger.
Sapping every bit of energy from an opponent by holding, leaning, pushing and throwing is not outclassing.
The only other fighter I have heard so many complaints about regarding clinching is Ruiz. Ruiz used a technique that suited his ability and he made the most out of it. I always thought he was over achieving given his skill set. But I felt then that something should have been done about his excessive clinching. Wlad appears to have more talent than Ruiz, but will only use it if he absolutely has to and that's the problem for me. Wlad appears to have the ability to take out most of his competition at will, but is unwilling to take any risk. ( yeah I know, glass jaw ) It's a toss up as to who would be more boring to watch, Ruiz or Wlad. In this Povetkin fight Wlad was clearly leaning / clinching on purpose, sometimes not even throwing a punch beforehand and if that isn't a foul in boxing is should be. The market has spoken and it's not interested in seeing what Wlad has to display.