If I felt I was no longer winning comfortably, I would. Lennox quit while he was ahead, and he was the same age as Wlad, with a lot less fights and a lot less wear and tear.
He's old and semi shot. He never landed a single good straight right, his weapon. No left hooks. Pawing jabs. Tired. Fury or maybe even Wilder would have given him a run for his moneys
He did not seem very interested in there, but then again Jennings was a very awkward opponent. Next fight should be against Fury. If he gets through that one he should go for wilder and then retire. He has done enough in boxing. He should let go of the throne after those two.
Marciano took a ton of punishment. Wlad does not. In 3 years, Wlad could possibly have the most title defenses and longest time as HW Champion in the ~130 years of boxing. I think he should suck it up.
How convenient to suddenly pull out the past prime excuse. Only a few months ago after smashing Polov , Wlad could fight on another 5 years and beat every body in the division easily. Wlad wasn't past prime yesterday when nobody gave Jennings a prayer of even a moments success. Wlad has looked bad like this in the prime of his carrer. watch brewster and williamson
A kid now, a woman, clear deterioration of his skills. Writing's on the wall. He's not long for this game.
I get that he's old - I'll chalk it up to a bad night, before Mosley got starched by Pacman and Mayweather he looked like a panther against slowass Margarito. Old guys can look even better than their youth on some nights against certain opponents, then look past it against other guys. Wlad didn't adapt to Jennings. When the ref rightly took away the clinch from him, he had no inside game whatsoever. Either he was tired again, or he's old and been fighting this way for so long he's forgotten how to maul guys with dynamic, fluid punching. Wlad might've won 10-2, but that doesn't tell the whole story. From the seventh round on, I was ****ting my pants in suspense. Jennings was a live man and fought hard, and Wlad was in mortal danger in the second half.
I recall at one point during the poll, you and I were the only two that voted "Klitschko decision" against the other 60-something who voted KO... I think people just didn't see the style mesh coming.
Looks like Wlad's past his best days, which IMO were 2007-2011. I think he still has the tools for one more good year. He should unify.
Fortunate to have been around for the Golden Era of the Heavyweights....earlier Ali..Foreman..Frazier to name a few...and Later on Holyfield....Tyson...Lewis.... got to say the past 10 Years of Heavyweights has been very ordinary Klitschko is the best of an average Lot.!!!!!
I'm not sure what was up with him tonight, he looked weaker. His legs are still pretty good but his snap was just gone. The right hands he threw were just so lazy and almost pushy (nothing like the right hands we're used to seeing from Wlad), the left hook was nowhere to be seen. The jab he paws with it but he's been doing that for a while now so it's no surprise here. Something was missing tonight though and it wasn't Jennings making Wlad look bad, he just didn't look himself.
I thought Wlad looked off already when I saw the pre fight workout sessions, he looked "slow" on the pads, almost telegraphing his punches. I also thought the sparring clips were unimpressive. Did he really start camp on the first of april, isn't that a tad bit late? He also came in "very" light, same thing he did in the Povetkin fight, and I thought he looked off in that fight aswell, even though he dominated Povetkin. His strategy in the past has been to be lighter against faster more mobile boxers, but when he's pushing 40 that might not be to his advantage anymore. Comparing him to previous fights where he has weighed around the same weight in his younger days, he seems to have less bodyfat now, dropping the bodyfat too low has a negative impact on physical performance. I think he and his team should realise he's a slightly heavier fighter these days, make the proper adjustment and stay around 112-113kg, even against smaller oppnents.