For my money the Wlad fight was the best performance ive ever seen from him. His package of skill, will and guts in this fight was never there since or before. All fights after Wlad, from Takam to Pulev, were imo worser, in some fights you missed the skill, in other the will or the guts. But thats just my opinion.
I really can't give much for kudos regarding the Joshua/Wlad fight (or the Fury/Wlad fight for that matter). Wlad was well past it. In my opinion, the prime of Wlad would have seen him stopping both.
Lol at people in 2021 saying AJ hadn't reached his prime by the time he fought Wlad His fight after Wlad was against Takam in October 2017 and then he lost to Ruiz in June 2019. So AJ's prime lasted for 20 months and 3 fights from the ages of 28 to 29 until he lost to a fat mexican, got his confidence obliterated and changed his style completely to his detriment. Makes perfect sense.