His chin wasn't the soggy cardboard people make it out to be. Let's face it he did get tagged with some good ones from time to time and came out OK. That said it wasn't anything special either. I'd rate his chin about average. He could take most guys punches but not those from a guy that hit as hard as he did. Wlad was the equivalent of a battleship that wasn't proof to its own weight of shell. If he'd had a chin like his brother, and his brother's sour disposition, my god, what a monster he'd have been.
Different fighting style altogether. He was much more offensive minded with a great snapping jab. IMHO that version would have been worse for AJ than the tentative, counterpunching version that Joshua fought.
You mean the "green" version that was wrecking the over hyped late 90's/early 00's? Facts are your boy fought the oldest most inactive version of Wlad and was not only losing but proved he wouldn't of lasted against the alleged "green" version of Wlad. GTFOH you racist pos.
LOL I actually enjoyed the Szdunek trained Wlad much more. He was an offensive machine. The Steward version was probably smarter and better overall, but at 41, things start to slow down even for a guy in excellent condition like Wlad. I think any young version of Wlad would have cleaned Joshua up that night.
Good observation, his chin wasn’t McCall like but it was slightly above average for sure. Wlad was such an excellent boxing fundamentalist that he, to his detriment, never developed a crafty effective inside game.
Bold statement, the pre-Manny Wlad also jumped back in straight lines which would have made him more vulnerable early on in the Josh fight.
His chin was his weakness but how he transitioned into a completely different fighter in order to combat this (admittedly becoming much less exciting in the process) was very impressive.
Pre Steward Wlad was one of the greatest offensive heavyweights I think there has ever been. His jab, straight right and more importantly his left hook off tge jab was a thing of beauty, especially when was throwing it 5, 6 times.
I'm not the one that has been banned multiple times for racist trolling. You're pathetic. Joshua beats any version of Wlad.
The fact it took him 11 rounds to finally beat a 41yo inactive Wlad says otherwise. Being banned for alleged racist trolling is better than admitting to being a nonce....which is what you have done in the past.
11 rounds to beat a guy that had spent over a decade as world champ and never been knocked out or beaten convincingly in that period. The version of Wlad that fought AJ would never lose to Sanders or Brewster. Totally different fighter. I had to look up the word nonce. You are one creepy dude.
Punch resistance was about average, maybe a tad below. The main problem in the earlier part of his career was his tendency to panic under pressure. He didn't compose himself well in a crisis and burned up a lot of nervous energy.
2/10. He simply can't brush off a punch or operate if he thinks a glove will touch him. The breeze of a punch sends him into lock down.