Once and For All: Fury-Vlad & AJ-Vlad are NOT Equal Wins

I'd like to hear Wlad's own thoughts on what was the better version of him. Of course almost 1,5 years can be a lot of ageing when you're around 40, but focus, preparedness and motivation are also important factors and can outweigh that. Whether it did or not in this case, Wlad himself is the best to answer. But the fact that he weighed 5 lbs for Joshua could be a clue that he had trained harder.

You could also add to the equation that Fury had been a pro for quite some time, while Joshua hadn't had 20 fights yet.

 

Defintely not equal wins in a number of ways.

Obviously Fury beat a better Wlad, younger, more active, sure Wlad got in great shape for AJ, he was clearly very motivated but being in fantastic shape and highly motivated doesn't turn back the clock, you don't regain reflexes you've lost.

Joshua/Wlad yes was more exciting and if you are talking about marketability and media attention the nature of the fight was more impressive but if we're talking about boxing legacy then Fury/Wlad is more impressive.

 

AJ fought the better Wlad, the Wlad that Fury ran from.

 

No way it was as close as you're suggesting. Wlad won some late rounds but got schooled for a large portion of the fight.

 

He's gone hard on the Fury hate train and it's very hard to convince CST to like a fighter even when he has no good reason to dislike them.

 

Obviously Fury's win is the greater win.
Wlad was the champion and had been seeing off challengers for years, in Germany.
Fury went over there and outboxed him so clearly, even the judges couldn't deny him.

AJ-Wlad was a far better fight. But not the better win.

 

I disagree. Fury had to win by a landslide in Germany otherwise he would not have gotten the decision. The worst decisions I've ever seen have happend in Germany.

Sven Ottke made a career out of it. Robin Reid was the worst robbery on his record and there are several of them. Infact Robin Reid v Sven Ottke is arguably the worst robbery in boxing history.

 

Beating a champion who hasn't lost a fight in 11 years, in his own 'backyard', is more impressive than beating an ex-champion who is coming off a clear loss.

This is so obvious, it's a no-brainer.

But it seems a lot of people here have less than no brain, they throw away all commonsense and logic because they are so driven by their own agenda.

 

Watch that bore fest back if you can bare it.. I watched a few months back. Wlad has a very strong case for 5 rounds. THere are many rounds Fury wins by dancing around, showboating and landing slaps/inside gloves/forearms (not clean punching). And jabbing but not actually connecting.

5 of the rounds I felt Wlad would land stuff that is quite hard to see on a first watch. The first time I watched (being a casual) I probably said something about how it was a schooling.. When in reality it wasn't at all. In the rounds I gave Wlad, I recall Wlad outlanding Fury with the stiffer jabs. A lot of the rounds have nothing in it. The rounds Fury won were simply Fury using his movement to nullify Wlads and his own offence...

 

Obviously Wlad will say he was better for the AJ fight, because he can't deal with the fact that he couldn't do a thing against Fury.

 

There is that risk of bias. I wouldn't say "obviously" since some fighters are sincere about this kind of stuff, but many times they clearly aren't. Unfortunately, since he is the one in the position to know. Other than that, it would be his trainer that could shed some light on preparations and mindset.

 

It's weird that this is even a debate.
I mean, come on, Fury can be criticized and ridiculed for winning the title in an absolute stinker if you like, for throwing a few punches a round and winning in a boring manner .... but I'm no sure why people want to discredit the achievement by pretending AJ's beating the dethroned Wlad trumps it.

 

AJ-Wlad was a much better fight (and that's a big understatement) but Fury had the much better accomplishment.

 

What we do know for a fact, though, is that AJ gave Wlad a chance to improve on his performance. Fury didn't.