CAN Wlad become ATG/Hof'er?

Those are great points and I think he might even have a chance if he retired tomorrow. :yep

 

Perhaps he'd been spoiled by Chris Byrd fighting once every 9 months or so.

 

Bump

 

2nd longest ever HW title reign and Olympic Gold Medalist... Mission Accomplished I'd say.

 

I knew in 00 he was atg bound. Never lost faith after the Sanders loss either.

 

Top 5 Heavyweight.

 

Miss ya, Brook.

On the whole, Wlad did well to follow this gameplan. Unified, cleaned out the field and much of the next field to come after that. Couldn't avenge the Sandrers loss, but did well in rematches against Peter and Brewster. ATG is subjective, but he's a first year HOF caliber fighter ten years after this post was made.

 

Wlad is FOR SURE a HOFer.

 

I just gave the late Ruskull a like.

 

Twice over. Literally.

*Completely ignore the WBO defenses in the official title fight tally, and cut Wlad's main title reign in half. Each half would still tie for 5th all time for title defenses.

*Include the WBO, and he's one win short of Joe Louis' 26 wins in title fights, and had more days as champion than any other heavyweight in history.

*The guys who finally took him down, Fury and Joshua, hadn't even turned pro yet when Wlad was racking up defenses. The day after Byrd I, one of early Wlad's signature wins, AJ celebrated his 11th birthday. Tyson was 12.

 

Watching early Wlad circa 1999- 02 I just knew I was seeing a great fighter in the making. I'll admit I doubted his future in the sport after the epic collapse in the Brewster fight. He deserves enormous credit for rebounding his career when basically almost everybody thought his career was over.

 

Wlad proved the Naysayers wrong... Incredible career especially considering the fact everyone wrote him off after the Sanders and Brewster losses.

 

Hahaha! Ruskull was a good poster.