Questions About Wlad Klitschko?

It isn't always easy to pinpoint the start and end of a fighter's prime, as not all of a fighter's attributes and abilities will progress/regress at the same rate. It's not uncommon for an older version to be weaker in physical attributes such as speed and punch resistance, but have made technical improvements in other areas.

"Prime" is therefore a bit of on arbitrary phrase, and is further muddied by fighters competing infrequently and there being a big stylistic factor to how fights play out.

Pulev was Wlad's last "great" performance, and there were no obvious signs of decline in that fight. Stylistically though Pulev was meat and drink for Wlad, and chances are it's a highlight reel knockout at any point in his career.

Wlad looked mediocre against Jennings, and I think Wlad at his best puts on a much more dominant performance. If you want to argue Wlad was past his prime by the time he fought Fury, you'd probably use Jennings as the basis for that. Based on the Joshua fight though, Wlad clearly wasn't "shot" or anything along those lines.

Without Fury, he probably reigns until he fights Joshua, which would presumably still be the money fight in that alternate timeline. With the possible exception of Wilder, I don't think there's anyone else on the scene that you'd pick with confidence over the Klitschko that lost to Joshua in 2017.

 

Wlad could not let his hands go against Jennings. Jennings offered basic movement and Wlad struggled to pull the trigger. Losing your reflexes like that is a sign of very clear erosion. Not shot but clear decline. If you look at Wlad’s opposition leading up to Jennings he fought all north south fighters that stood right in front of him. Pulev, Leapai, Povetkin, Pianeta, Watch, Thompson, it’s not til you get to Haye in 2011 that Wlad faced a real fast mover. And Wlad’s reflexes in that bout for a man his size are incredible. It’s night and day to how he fought Jennings. So somewhere between 2011 and 2015 he began to decline. Between age 35 and 39.
I don’t believe Wlad looked good against Pulev. He just knew Pulev, a good contender, was a sucker for the hook and couldn’t block it. Impossible to tell against Leapai because he was a very poor contender. Povetkin was an excellent opponent and that was an ugly match. But the Ukraine vs Russia rivalry I think Wlad was very much up for that bout. So my guess is he started to slide some after Povetkin.
Wlad had a long rest, when he fought Joshua and style wise Joshua was right in front of him. I think that helped in Wlad’s improved performance but he still struggled to let his hands go and he repeatedly threw a slow hook that Joshua easily evaded.
All in all I think Wlad probably was in decline for Pulev, then Jennings, then Fury, and then made a rebound of sorts for his last fight with Joshua.

 

Has nothing to do with prime in those cases are more to do with the opponent. Not opinion , fact. Here's the proof.

Klitschko threw 545 punches against Jennings and 162 power punches.

Against David Haye Klitchko threw 376 punches and 133 power punches.

The stats show he let his hands go more against Jennings. David Haye made him reluctant to throw when he was in the prime of his career.

Was Gassiev old and past prime when he failed completely to let his hands go against Usyk?

Its a stylistic issue. Jennings made the same Wlad who bulldozed Pulev look bad because he moved his feet.

There was no difference in the Pulev Wlad and the Wlad who fought Jennings only 6 months later. The obvious difference is the opponents who were vastly different in style.

The Jennings fight is just an excuse for the Fury loss. Everybody who saw that fight , including you , still picked Wlad to dominate and stop Fury

 

Wlad looked mediocre against Tony Thompson.

 

For me personally i can't judge when his prime was because many
of his opponents were totally overwhelmed and mostly physically weaker.

Name me an outstanding opponent that he defeated when he was in his so-called prime?
For a comparison you would have to put Fury or Joshua against a prime klitschko.

In my opionion his biggest and most dominant victory against a good opponent was
Pulev but that's supposed to not have been his prime so I don't know.

 

Luis Ortiz might’ve done the trick if he got in before Joshua. Just look at the Jennings fights and how Joshua clipped Wlad with uppercuts.

 

He looked as good as I have seen him against Pulev, then he seemed to be on the slide by the Jennings fight.

After the Jennings fight, his days were numbered in hindsight.

Either Fury, Joshua or Wilder was going to get to him.

 

Impressive post.

 

It was styles .. one played into this strengths, the other did not although I do think he looked decent against Jennings ...

 

Probably 2005-2011 or thereabouts. He reigned for quite a bit longer past that point but started scoring less knockouts. Not sure how much longer he would have reigned had it not been for Fury coming around. There were definitely still some contenders that he could have beaten in that 2015-2018 period but also some dangerous ones who might have capitalized on his decline

 

I actually think Jennings merit against Wlad is overlooked to near-criminal degree. Some people only score head punches and they will gave the tall guy jabbing at range more points than an opponent smashing his ribs all round. Only power punch connects to the body in similar number to only jab connects to the head means the body puncher should be winning the round no matter how well the tall guy plays off the shots like he's ignoring them. That happened in a good amount of the Jennings fight, in my opinion. Much more on the Jennings merit side of Klitschko sliding side of how that fight played out and the way in which in played out.