You're framing the Wlad comparisons in a very skewed way. You say it was ring rust but in the actual fight he looked like an older fighter who took a much needed rest and kept himself in great shape in the interim. He looked quite good against a young hungry challenger. In the Fury fight he looked all of his age and you can tell the accumulative fights had started to catch up. Biggest of all what you left out is AJ got the stoppage on Wlad, which Fury did not.
Clearly Wlad was going through personal issues at the time, with the dissolution of his marriage, had been phoning it in for his last few performances, and didn't view Fury, who was roided to the gills on Nandrolone, as a threat, so he also lacked motivation. No one really thought Fury had a performance in him like that, and let's be honest, risk averse counter puncher vs. risk averse counter puncher, has never made for the most compelling fights, and usually always benefits the guy with the longer reach, which was Fury. So it was the definition of a styles make fights type of debacle for Wlad. But the Wlad that showed up against AJ was a different animal altogether, angry, determined, motivated and with something to prove, and even in losing, laid it all on the line and put on a fight of the year contender. Fury forced Wlad to take the lead, something he's been uncomfortable with for years, and fight his ultra negative cagey fight and it worked for him, while Wlad forced AJ into fighting his fight, which required AJ to walk through hellfire and brimstone to get the job done, and while he took some physical and psychological damage in that fight, AJ beat him at his own game. Which counts for a hell of a lot more in my opinion. Also, what's the likelihood the Wlad that fought AJ, loses to a clean Fury? A very slim one. Are we really even going to waste our time debating which version of the bummy Whyte was superior, who isn't even close to an impressive scalp on either of their resumes? He doesn't even rate in AJ's top 5 wins, but tellingly, he probably cracks Fury's. Regardless, Whyte's best wins are a gift over Parker, a gift over Chisora, a last minute freak KO of Chisora in a rematch that he was losing, looking subpar against Rivas, subpar against Wach, getting sparked by Povetkin, then going on to beat a Covid ravaged walking corpse of Povetkin who could hardly make it up the steps at the weigh in, in the rematch, then getting a gift over Franklin right after Fury KO'd him. So yeah, looking decent while racking up a few controversial wins after the AJ match, rates far higher than looking horrendous vs. Wach, getting violently KO'd by Povetkin then KOing his cadaver and getting outworked by the blobby cow Franklin in the periphery of the Fury match. All versions of Whyte suck, but the version Fury faced, clearly sucked more.
What makes Fury the best based on what his resume is garbage the only one who can claim the best is Usyk Fury just got a big mouth like his stupid fans.
First off Wilder is 38 not 40 so you can stop with that nonsense adding on 2 years to fit your narrative. Secondly no one was saying Wilder was shot prior to the fight and he was fairly big favourite with the bookmakers. If Wilder KO's Zhang this weekend what will you say then ?
They both beat Klitchko useless point and Wilder is not quality from any stretch of the imagination he is the guy that was protected by the WBC his whole career avoided top 10 protected by his agents it was rubbish. Now he is totally exposed and Zhang will destroy him I don't know what he is thinking taking a fight with a dude who is stronger and more skilled.
Yes they did they beat the same Klitchko I am not impressed by Fury vs Klitchko fight that was one of the most boring low punching hug fest garbage fight I ever seen I was more impressed by Joshau.
Do you understand how absurd it is for a spectator to say a fighter was "going through personal issues" and "lacked motivation" and decide that that DRASTICALLY affected his performance? This is someone you don't know and have never met. It's a situation you only know tabloid headlines of. It's ridiculous to make sport related speculation about something you have no comprehension of. It also implies that you know about a mans personal life two years later when Vlad faced AJ, and that it was significantly better. This is a person you've never met who has prepared professionally and diligently for every opponent he's ever faced. It's wild to say he completely fell off mentally just because a guy you don't like beat him. He trained his ass off for Fury, who he HATED for years, tried his best (even gambled his entire image going for an intentional headbutt KO) and fell short. As far as him phoning it in, he scored a KO of the year style knockout on a game, undefeated contender one year prior. The Vlad who showed up vs. AJ, while two years diminished from the Fury fight, was up against a MUCH more hittable opponent. He looked better vs. AJ because AJ doesn't have the ability to fight like Fury. Joshua marched in in classic boxer puncher style because that's his style, a style that Vlad has dominated for years. Styles make fights.
