I thought Wlad looked GREAT!

Ok, admittedly, I am a Wlad fan, and have been since I saw him beat Charles Shufford in 2001. However, I feel I am one of his more objective fans, and have criticized him for his style in some fights, like the Byrd and Ibragimov fights. Although I think he is easily the best HW out here today, he is not beyond my criticism.

But that being said, I thought we saw Wlad looking great last night. The combinations were coming back...something people have been asking for awhile. He went to the body and threw an uppercut here and there, which you don't see from him or his brother often. He took some punches finally and looked comfortable although admittedly Thompson is not a big puncher. But last night, we saw a good blend of Wlad's old style with his newer one...it wasn't always pretty but it was much better to see than most of his last few fights.

And kudos to Tony Thompson. He did better than I expected...he really was trying to catch Wlad with a shot coming in, and did a couple of times. I've really only seen Sanders catch Wlad as flush as Thompson did, which was pretty impressive. He had good style, good technique, and really did himself a favor even in losing. And his chin was pretty sturdy.

We should all appreciate that last night was the first good HW fight in awhile...it was bloody, there was a lot of clean combination punching, it was relatively competitive.

My only criticism of Wlad is that I thought he overexerted himself a bit too much in the first 4 rounds (he then took a breather in the 5th and got back to work) and he sometimes clinches when he doesn't have to, although he did better last night.

 

I don't really understand this logic, for two reasons.

First, Wlad got caught a number of times and never looked "scared" as some have said...not once! He was jolted back by a right hand or two but that's to be expected of anyone getting caught with a clean shot. I thought he looked MUCH more comfortable than usual in getting hit.

Secondly...for all the crap Wlad gets...how about his opponents? They sure as hell seem "scared" to get hit with Wlad's power, moreso than he is of theirs...where's the critique there? Thompson is the only guy lately to really stand there and try to trade with Wlad.

The crap Wlad gets for being good at "hitting and not being hit" is ridiculous...this is boxing, where you are supposed to do damage, and not take it if possible.

When Wlad loses rounds for being too defensive, then we can talk about being scared of being hit.

 

I don't get this either...Wlad won 3 of the first 4 rounds, landed some great shots and took some as well...because he wasn't dominating, somehow he was scared and confused? That's just bizarre logic.

And Monte Barrett is not a big puncher. Wlad walked through him because at that point in his career, he could afford to be offense only. He would beat Barrett similarly today because Barrett is that kinda fighter totally made for Wlad.