How boxing savvy are you?

Which goes to show just how poor the division is at the moment. Many look to non heavyweights to find a reasonable challenger.

 

Not anymore. He is stronger and bigger than almost anyone out there. All of his opponents have commented on how physically strong the man is. He keeps opponents at bay with his jab, length and the mere threat of the right hand, which though reluctantly used is the hardest punch in the division.

There are guys who get large shares of enormous purses who have thought out in great detail what you propose, yet none in recent history has been able to get their charge to execute it.

 

..............I read here before it aired in my area that the fight sucked (wow, what a surprise :-( ) so I didn't watch it. They're only heavyweights anyway, and therefore inherently inferior fighters.


Wlad is the best of a terribly sorry bunch right now. It seems to me that he's learned in the past few years to utilize his size advantages; jab stongly behind those tree-trunk arms, follow up with a strong right, and watch your opponent fall. He is more well-rounded now I must admit, and not a terrible fighter.

The way to beat him as I see it is to gamble a bit by landing something hard up the middle. He's agile and quick enough to pick off stuff coming around the corners, but stuff a hard punch in his face up the gut and he'll back off.

Admittedly, you take a huge gamble standing in to do this given his size and power, but what other choice do you have? Stand there tentatively and let him tee off on you? Or run away? That won't work.

 

The fact that Wlad was indeed moving to his right, straight into a southpaws power hand was brought up in the broadcast by Lennox Lewis. It was explained as a possibility that perhaps Manny Steward had Wlad moving in this direction because Thompson was a natural righty and had begun boxing with his strongest hand forward. Nothing further was dicussed on the matter.

 

i think this is a bull**** cop-out. when the fights are made between the best they can be fantastic. sergei lyakhovich v lamon brewster was a barnburner. hell, for that matter, klitchko v brock was decent and klit v peters was full of drama. oleg v rahman II was well fought suspenceful. brewster v krasniqi (sp) was also very good.

it's far better than some bull**** shuck and jive ali fight from the 70's where he's holding the ropes, behind the head, clowning for the judges whilst getting put into dementia-ville.

 

...........You picked how many fights out of all those years?

I never liked the 70's heavies either. They were, after all, heavyweights.

 

I would reckon that Haye and Chagaev pose the two biggest threats to Klitschko. It appears that Klitschko has some difficulties with southpaws and Chagaev, when healthy and in shape, has very underrated skills. I feel he has the division's best lateral movement and it's possible he could outpoint Klitschko.

As for Haye, both he and Klitschko share some clear similarities and differences. Both possess concussive power, a questionable chin, and both are pretty tentative until something lands. But Haye has a huge advantage in speed, reflexes, and variety while Klitschko has a tighter defense, more discipline, as well as about 6 inches in height. It would be an interesting matchup; I await Haye's heavyweight debut in October.

 

Wlad is mentally strong, not weak. But that has nothing to do with his losing as bad as he did against guys who will be totally forgotton in 20 years. He trains as hard as he can and I see that he is a man of character. Wlad tries as best he can. Wlad is highly intelligent, not especially skilled, not especially athletic outside of a good right hand and a basic ability to move. But I see him as not weak, but MEEK.

I have to be honest and wonder what he is doing boxing, never mind how he managed to hold on to his status as a champion. It may have something to do with the lambs in the division. Wlad does not respond to adversity well in the ring. I think that has been demonstrated time and again. He is not a risk-taker in a sport that is inherently risky and really built around taking risks -that is what greatness is -accepting and overcoming risks, in and out of the ring.

Wlad is brave, and he will meet his conquerors again, so in that sense he is a risk-taker but in the ring he is far beneath what I'd expect from a man that size,
with that experience,
and with that caliber of trainer.

 

Note to self: anytime someone glorifies "clinching ability" it sounds like "no skills inside". Clinching is nothing more than a basic and second-rate skill. As a matter of fact, it is a secondary skill. If you cannot find a position to evade, counter, or set to punch, grab him! Need to clear the cobwebs? Grab him! Clinching as a means of positioning your man to punch is tactical... what Wlad is usually doing is simply trying to not get hit in an easy and non-retaliatory way. It's nothing to commend.

 

That has always been duly recognize. He is very strong, with a serious reach, and a right hand that makes Drago's look like paddy-cakes. What irks me is when posters confuse this most basic boilerplate with a "high level of skill."

Wlad is tough to penetrate because of his physical assets, his right cross, and well, yes, his meekness -his natural reluctance to take risks and tendency to fight safely.

Come on. Purity, Sanders, and Brewster employed the simplest suggestion and caved him in. And you haven't any idea what the others have thought about the other strategies I suggested.

Wlad is more vulnerable than he should be, and far more vulnerable than any other great HW that some out here are already comparing him to.

 

Well let's be fair here, Haye is 6'3" and 215lbs on fight night, says he has no problem making 220lbs. That makes him bigger than Ali and Holmes, so i'd hardly say that he's a "smaller guy".

His combination of speed, power and technique is pretty rare. However, his chin is also questionable and we haven't seen him against real heavyweights yet.

 

The guy still gets down to under 200lbs for his fights Chris. The 15lbs is going to be quite artificial for mine i would think. In this day and age he is a very small man to be fighting heavyweight - the division sure has changed a lot from the day of Holmes and Ali. Holmes and Ali weighed that fully fit and ready with no bulking up - they actually came down where Haye goes up.

Now if he was to take his time gaining weight such as Holyfield did (we won't talk roids LOL) and allows himself to steadily mature into the division both weight wise and opponent/challenge wise then i have no qualms that he could well blossom into a damn good heavyweight. A champion maybe. For him to be looked at so closely already as is does make me a bit sad for the division.

 

I still think attacking the body is worthwhile...it's a big target and one that Wlad doesn't defend as much as the head. Maybe you're not going to score a kayo off it, but you could drain his stamina and outwork him up-close to win those rounds. I feel you've got to crowd him.

 

Clinching is a skill. It requires techique, timing, and strength, Stonehands. Without clinching skills, Ali does not beat Frazier, and perhaps Foreman.

I do not understand why you think Wlad has no business in boxing???.

I also do not understand if you think Wlad is lacking on skills. He's got the best jab and right hand in the division, a lights out left hook, fast hands, and for a huge heavy, can do things such as combo, hook off the jab, etc..

 

Ali used illegal tactics throughout the 70s and should not have been so indulged by just about every ref I know of except Mercante... which probably accounts to some degree for his loss against Frazier.

I know what clinching requires -and it's a skill, I've never said otherwise, but it's a second-rate skill and a secondary skill. If you are impressed by Wlad's skill set, then I don't know what to tell you. He is simple and he fights like a robot, and can command any fight as long as the other guy can't punch or is a relative somnabulist.

I like Wlad, I watch his fights. I just do not quite understand what he likes about boxing. I don't want to build a nest in his head, but I believe that the violence inherent in it scares him.