Wlad did FAR better tonight than I expected

I honestly expected it would be Tyson-Holmes all over again, but Wlad unexpectedly did far better than that.

Great fight.

Wlad certainly lost his timing and speed (AJ saw all his left hooks), but tactically and emotionally he was great tonight. He did as good as could do 41 y.o. vs prime phenomenal fighter with bright future.

That was great performance from old fighter which only enhances Wlad's legacy.

 

Wlad looked horrible.

 

Yup, last night I was saying Wlad would be schooled and stop mid rounds, which almost happened, but he showed huge will and heart and fought on, but the younger man was too much for him.

I was never the biggest Wlad fan, but I can appreciate the fact that he had a great, HOF career, and his (probably) final fight was an absolute classic.

 

Sure gets up from a knockdown, comes back to knock down AJ. Excites millions of boxing fans, some call this FOTY already. Yep, totally horrible.

 

Crisps.

 

I agree. I really wasn't expecting Wlad to have any chance.

Not because Joshua is good, but because Wlad is ancient.

 

This is exactly what I expected from him and I thought he was much better shape and mindset than the Fury fight where the were a lot of distractions in his personal life and from complacency being a 10 year world champion. Physically he's not the same and he would likely have won 5 years ago, but when they were the same age? I don't know, that would have been interesting. He just struggled with the physicality in key moments and late in the fight which caused him to miss the distance and get caught.

 

Sometimes I don't know what people are watching. Wlad was incredibly skilful in there, his foot movement, timing, stamina, heart, power. Even his chin was good. He would have beaten any other fighter in the world tonight -possibly even Fury- and at the age of 41 that's pretty insane. That shot that knocked AJ down would have KO'ed pretty much ever other Heavyweight in the world.

 

He might have saw the left hooks, but the right hand was there. Wlad did great though, if you don't respect Wlad for the effort he put in this fight you're a piece of **** point blank.

 

Couldn't have said it better , Wladimir looked incredible tonight , the straight right hand was one of the hardest
punches i have ever seen and Anthony Joshua recovered from it.
Wladimir Klitschko would have destroyed Deontay Wilder tonight.

 

He looked good and would beat other guys in the division no problem. His legs and foot work was very impressive , better than Joshua's .. AJ could hardly get to him to deliver a clean punch.
Joshua took blows of him that have levelled most of his previous opponents. Insane getting up and carrying on after that knock down.. Wlad showed a pretty decent chin too. The fight looked like it was going his way up until the 11th round. He'll be kicking himself for not pressing himself while Joshua was out on his feet for 3 whole rounds.

 

I felt so sorry for him. He lost a gladiatorial fight tonight.

He deserves to hold his head up high and to go out on his shield.

None of the British fight fans will forget what he did here tonight

 

Wlad surprised me also, thought joshua would KO him early to mid rounds easily

However, he still showed the same limitations he always had- bad stamina, no punch variety, weak chin (rocked by every solid punch joshua landed), no inside game, panic mode when the opponent is pressuring him and thus no counter punching.

Credit to joshua for getting up and showing heart, and finishing strong, however he obviously does not seem to be a special talent like bowe or lewis

 

Wlad should retire on that fight. Top fight

 

Trolls gonna troll, I guess we're stuck with you clowns