good post swarmer. yeah, as rushman said, best today but not all time. the wlad is that video is the best he's ever been (at least offensively but he shows some sweet upper body defensive movement). that wlad's hook is quite brilliant and hooking off the jab really is a lost art and he does it very well. best heavyweight hook today, no more no less
Thanks for the advice and I have watched all the fighters fight you have mentioned many many times.. and I still come up with the same ..He can do all the things with it you mentioned and more and it is prb. one of the most powerful hooks ever , like I said he don't need much room to get it off and knock em out and the reason he don.t go to the body with it is because of his height.. on Thomson he did a bit cuz he was almost as tall as Wlad.
Not really, Wlad does not throw hooks to head/body, his body punching is more or less nonexistent(which is funny really, considering most fat hw bodies today are pretty ripe targets). Tall fighters can throw to the body fine. Hell, even Wlad's trainer used to have a tall lanky fighter that threw a crushing body hook-Hearns. he cannot throw hooks as well as any of the guys i listed. Wlad's good at throwing it off the jab, or in a 1-2-3. He is not an accomplished left-hooker besides that. His combination work with it is fundamentally strong but very basic. It's a shame really, because he could probably destroy 90% of his comp if he threw it more. But he either can't or doesn't. Hell I don't even think he throws the best l-hook today. I think Cotto, Lemieux and Pacquiao all throw better.
Wlads left hook is better than Gelentos or Fraziers. Dammit Klitschkos hook comes in 6ยด6 height and much more reach than short armed guys like Frazier, Tua or tyson. Get over it Klitschkos left hook is presumably the best and most efficent in the HW division ever.
I can definitely make a good argument that Wlad's jab is better than Lewis' or Holmes. Wlad's jab is better than Lewis' without question. Holmes is a tougher debate. However, as I said... an good argument can be made for Wlad. That's my point. Same with the second question. Guys like Frazier, Tua, Morrison... just because they are one arm bandits... it doesn't mean that they have the best left hook ever. Wlad doesn't need to throw the left hook with wreckless abandon, because he has other great tools. That's the point that I am trying to get across. Who in the heavyweight division has a great jab, straight right, and left hook? Wlad can be mentioned with any of the best in the history of the heavyweight division in regards to all three. Denying this only shows your bias and/or ignorance. It doesn't mean that you have to believe Wlad has the best jab/right hand/left hook ever... I am sure that many people completely disagree... my point is that a good argument can be made that he does, and he can be mentioned along with the best in each category.
Wlad used to mix it up to the body a good bit. It think that Steward has clearly tried to keep Wlad fighting tall, which really restricts his body punching. If you watched Wlad earlier in his career, he threw hooks from body to head at a blistering pace. For proof of Wlad's ability to go body/head with his hook.... look no further than the beginning of this video... Wlad's combo on Mercer after Mercer gets up from the knockdown.... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNU9xKJSrZk[/ame]
the question is: could someone make a reasonable top 10 all time heavyweight jab list, straight right list and left hook list with wlad's name featured in all 3? I think the answer is yes
Ray Mercer is still Wlad's most spectacular outing, and he needs to show some of these great assets in a dangerous fight to make believers out of more fans.
i don't think i'd have him in the left hook list but probably i'd have it in the jab. Right hand probably not tbqh, there are some real right hand artists in the heavies.