Wlad put up a pretty good fight against Joshua, much better than expected. If he'd faced M Tyson of the Holmes fight? Would Wlad have being able to take him in to the latter round and beat him? Anyone see chance of an upset here?
Don`t kow if AJ could have put Holmes away in 4 rounds from `88, Tyson was a better finisher than AJ is, AJ isn`t at the level Tyson was at in his prime.
As brave as Wlad was in that last fight, imo he'd be gone before 4. But I'm betting at least one person thinks Wlad could have succeeded!
Tyson's all wrong for Wladimir. 6'6 and 245 lb, it still made no difference: if Wlad was facing anyone with genuine KO power (even to a decent degree) or any speed, he was going to fight cautiously and look to one-shot, grab, spoil and foul his way through. Haye, Povetkin, Chagaev (jabbing masterclass, but still very safety-first) etc. being good examples, even during his best years. Having been relieved of his titles and with one foot in retirement, he did throw out his rulebook for the Joshua fight out of necessity as much as anything, which made for a cracking spectacle. But gallant effort though it was, he did ultimately lose. That style isn't going to cut the mustard against Tyson. Sure, he could conceivably hold and smother his way to a wide decision loss, ala Bonecrusher, and have the 'glory' of saying he went the distance, but no matter how many times I consider this one I always see the same kind of outcome: Tyson stops a very tired and demoralized Wladimir, maybe on his feet but having taken a lot of punishment, after six or seven rounds. Wlad just hasn't got the style or aggression (for all the talk of his KO percentage, he usually had to settle for points wins against his better opposition) to beat Tyson.
This content is protected A much lesser fighter than Wlad had Tyson in all kinds of trouble with his hit n hold tactics.
At those junctions of their respective careers its a near mismatch. Tyson knocks him out early. Joshua nothing special and the fact klit held his own with him at 174yrs of age, bears that out.