He is a very good boxer, I don't want to deny that. But he was lucky to arrive once Klitschko and Povetkin are on the brink of retirement. Wlad 2006-2013 and Povetkin 2014-2016 crush him.
And at 41 he seemed like giving his best performance of his career. This was the most dedicated Wlad in best shape.
His hand speed was completely gone, he was continually being beaten to the punch. The only reason he got back into the fight was because Joshua gassed out.
Yet he should have knocked Joshua out. We can guess what Klitschko 7 years earlier with Manny in his corner would have done.
Yeah he would have won but I wonder how he would have dealt with Joshua turning up the heat like he did, he couldn’t simply clinch like he did to smaller fighters.
Well you can say the same thing about Wlad. If he was fighting guys in the late 80's till the late 90s they would of crushed him. The heavyweight is so bad that the casuals are praise people like AJ for beating old men and struggling to do that. Being honest do you think a prime Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, David Tua, ect would struggled to beat a 41 year old glass chin Wlad and a 39 year old Povetkin? Hell no, in fact in Povetkin and Wladmir's prime they would been slaughtered by the names I just mentioned.
That is all well and and good. Joshua is now 22-0 and learning all the time and is not yet the finished article. How would Joshua 32-0 compare? A lot of these fighters are still fighting scrubs at this stage of their career.. his rate of development and quality of resume is comparatively outstanding up to this point
I've no doubt that prime for prime Wlad beats him, but that's more of a testament to how great Wlad is than anything else. We know Joshua beats Wlad at the end of his career and it's pretty much a banker he'd have beaten him when he was the WBO title holder. But the Wlad from Byrd to Pulev beats Joshua imo
Joshua vs the Wlad when was the WBO title holder would of been abit of a shot out maybe? Wlad was really quiet aggressive back then. Could gas or get caught easily though. But he'd of had every chance of catching Joshua first. He had great hand speed back then.
I guess Corrie Sanders, Ross Purrity,and Lamon Brewster must be great as well since they all knocked out a prime Wlad right? Wlad was never great. As I stated he fought in a watered down era. Got exposed as having a glass chin in that weak era. Then spent 10 years hand picking his opponents and grabbing on them.