A lot of talk about Wlad and how his record only reflects quantity. With 18 defenses--third of all time and climbing--there is no denying that, but the haters like to attack the quailty of his oppenents. Lets bust that by posting the 3 most notable wins of his best victims. You may disagree with the three I pick. Also, age, injury or bad decisons may come into play--which we can say about every great fighter's wins. But all said and done, this is an astonishingly good record by any Standards. Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Jack Dempsey, and any number of others would be very glad to have these wins. Byrd- Holyfield, Vitklit, Tua !!!! Povetkin- Byrd, Chagaev, Chambers Chageav- Valuev, Ruiz, Mehan Ibragimov- Holyfield, Briggs, Whitaker Haye- Valuev, Ruiz, Barret Pulev- Thompson, Ustinov, Dimentrenko Thompson- Solis, Price, Krasiniqui McCline- Briggs, Whitiker, Grant Peter- Tony, Maskaev, McCline Chambers- Peter, Dimenkreko, Brock Jennings- Spzilka, Perez, Liakovich Barret- Tua, Guinnn, Witherspoon And just so no one thinks I am padding things, lets include some over the hill champs and why they were still good wins: Mercer (6 fight win streak at the time)- Witherspoon, Morrison, Damiani Brewster (1 fight removed from championship)- Liakovich, Golata, Wladklit Rahman- (4 wins and a draw going into figth)- Lewis, Sanders, Barret Wow. A lot of guys who earned their shot with good wins. Guess Wlad has beaten some tough customers after all.
Wlad's very underrated recent record. 12 Opponents Undefeated, 12 with only 1 loss Bryant Jennings Undefeated 19-0 Wins over Perez, Fedosov, Szpilka and Byarm Kubrat Pulev Undefeated 20-0 11 KO's Alexander Povetkin Undefeated 26-0 18 KO's Has since stopped Takam and Charr. Francesco Pianeta Undefeated 28-0 15 KO's Mariusz Wach Undefeated 28-0 15 KO's Tony Thompson 31-1 19 KO's His 1 loss was a 4 round UD, Wlad stopped him twice. Stopped Price twice. David Haye 25-1 23 KO's Sam Peter Undefeated 24-0 22 KO's Eddie Chambers 35-1 18 KO's Ruslan Chagaev Undefeated 25-0 17 KO's Sultan Ibragimov Undefeated 22-0 17 KO's Calvin Brock Undefeated 29-0 22 KO's Eliseo Castillo Undefeated 18-0 15 KO's Chris Byrd 32-1 19 KO's 1 KO loss to Ike, Wlad beat him twice. Fabio Eduardo Moli 30-2 16 KO's, Never stopped Wlad stopped him in 2. Ray Mercer 31-4 22 KO's Losses were to Lennox, Holyfield, Holmes, Ferguson Wlad Stopped him in 6 Monte Barrett 23-1 13 KO's Wlad stopped him in 7 Wins over undefeated opponents Only 6 of Ali's opponents were undefeated. Only 3 of Frazier's opponents were undefeated. Only 12 of Holmes' opponents were undefeated, 4 with 1 loss. Only 4 of Norton's opponents were undefeated. Only 7 of Vitali's opponent were undefeated. Only 7 of Tyson's opponents were undefeated. Only 7 of Foreman's opponents were undefeated. Only 2 of Holyfield's opponents were undefeated. Only 2 of Louis' opponents were undefeated. Only 3 of Marciano's opponents were undefeated. Only 4 of Lewis' opponents were undefeated. Only 7 of Bowe's opponents were undefeated. Only 2 of Liston's opponents were undefeated. Only 6 of Charles' opponents were undefeated. He lost to 4 of them. KO's Foreman 68 Wlad 53 Louis 52 Charles 52 Holmes 44 Tyson 44 Marciano 43 Vitali 41 Liston 39 Ali 37 Frazier 27 Norton 33 Bowe 33 Lewis 32 Holyfield 29
He has a great resume. Look at how many 0's he took and how many guys he knocked down, out or hurt who were never hurt before. He beat a prime byrd, mccline, Peter (unbeaten), ibragimov (unbeaten), chagaev (unbeaten), haye, povetkin (unbeaten), Thompson, Chambers, pulev (unbeaten). He took the 0's from quality fighters. Thats also way he never beat a HOf ( IMO byrd and haye will be in the HOF), because he beats the guys in their prime and they cant become Champion and great. He is now going to take out fury and wilder, both unbeaten. He is absolutly a top 5 heavy of all time. If he beats fury, wilder, povetkin again and Joshua or Parker he will be the number one heavy of all time for me.
Just count the win and lose record of his challengers from bis title reign and you will be shocked how great this guy in reality is
It must have been a typo when I did the thread 6 months ago, 2 and 3 are awfully close on the keyboard.:conf Oh well, I'll fix it.
What hurts his resume badly is that he didn't rematch his KO losses, getting his brother to his work for him against his daddy Sanders is one of the most shameful ducks ever. Hurts Wlad's resume a lot. Also his chin and stamina issues prevent him from being ranked highly at a H2H level. Imagine if Wlad was fighting in the Lewis era against guys like Bowe, Holyfield, Ruddock etc... It's a weak HW era end of story, yes some of the guys you listed are good wins, but the likes of Lewis would have been able to do it just as easy.
Wlad is easily a top 5 ATG Heavyweight. Honestly and realistically, if he had retired for a few years and let a few names become champs, before returning and blowing them away he would of looked so much better. His constant pace and domination has made him honestly look kind of bad because it gives him no noteworthy opponents, because he's put them all away and killed their name before it gets big lol. realtalk
Not that much. 1) He did rematch one of them. 2) He will finish with a much higher overall winning percentage than most "greats." But thanks for making a reasoned post unlike this **** who can't read:
:deal I dont get why Wlad fans give him so much credit for Byrd who is a tiny ass HW and is really a LHW.
Maybe because he had a good pro resume a good amateur resume and Lewis dropped a belt rather than face him.