1. Had Wlad turned up with his spine when they fought and thrown caution to the wind instead of flinching like a lady against Fury light punching and twitching would Fury have been able to stand with Wlad. 2. Other than the night he beat Wlad and became unified world champion what performances from him have made you go WOW this elite and a future world champion? Im a Fury fan, i couldnt believe he beat Wlad that night, personally id never seen enough from him to believe he had what it took to hang at the top level and thought if Wlad went for broke around the 8th or 9th rounds he could of got to Fury.
1. No. I think round 12 showed all we needed to know about what probably would have happened if Wlad went all out. There was a good reason even the British bookies had Wlad the favorite for the rematch. 2. It was one of the dullest and worst heavyweight titlefights I ever withnessed. Litterally nothing happened, and both sides were responsable. I never figured Fury would keep the titles for very long, even without a rematch taking place. He just isn't the type, and too vulnerable against semi technical punchers. He held the Ring belt longer as I expected, due to just not fighting at all. For me he's another Douglas or Spinks.
Wlad's issue vs Fury wasn't one of commitment or aggression it was one of styles. Fact is Wlad fights one way, he's a spoiler, he gets off first then either moves away or clinches to prevent a counter or any exchanges. Fury with his movement and height ensured Wlad could never get off first and after a decade of fighting one way Wlad simply couldn't adapt. It comes down to muscle memory, you train to fight one way, you'll react that way during a fight subconsciously. You can tell yourself to "be more aggressive" but it's not that easy. Same when Haye fought Wlad, he's a counter puncher but needed to be an aggressive pressure fighter to get to the taller Wlad but you can't just undo all those hundreds if not thousands of hours of drills which are ingrained deeply. Even if Wlad could of overcome these deeply ingrained instinctive responses during the fight and he got inside on Fury, what would he do there? He has no inside game. Suffice to say Fury was all wrong for Wlad, Fury was Wlad's bogeyman, just like Junior Jones was for Barrera and Norton was for Ali. Wlad's only chance was if Steward was still with him. If anyone could see the stylistic nightmare Fury would pose to Wlad's style of fighting it was Steward and maybe he could of begun to ingrain a different way of fighting in preparation for Fury. Getting Wlad to press and counter adding some inside skills. But even that's a big ask, but maybe he could of picked out a flaw Wlad could exploit. Without Steward Wlad had no chance.
This is honestly one of the best posts that I’ve ever read on here, since becoming a member over 6 years ago. Outstanding. An absolute pleasure to read. I agree entirely with everything you’ve written. I’m so tired of people saying things such as: “The version of Wlad who fought AJ would definitely have beaten Fury” Those types of fans just don’t understand.
I would think Fury punches harder than we think. Something kept Vlad back. Doesn't Fury have 19 knockouts in 27 fights. Not terrible. The only question I have is how will he avoid Wilder's straight right hand. It will come fast. The first couple of rounds mean everything.
It’s classic Monday Morning quarterbacking — what he did didn’t work, so obviously he should have taken a different approach ... so the result would have been different, right? The thing that’s easily overlooked is boxing is 90 percent mental. Tyson Fury clearly won the mental game. The Batman costume, the crazy-man act (if it was an act), the refusal in the last hours to step into the ring if Wlad’s promoter didn’t remove the mattress-thick padding under the ring, etc. Fury operates well in chaotic situations. Wlad does not. Plus there’s this: Wlad was always going to get old one night. He wasn’t up for rookie of the year. It was inevitable that the time was going to come that he wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger — I remember Joe Louis talking about the Marciano fight and saying ‘I could see the openings, but by the time I threw the punch the opportunity was gone.’ I think Wlad adjusted to this somewhat against AJ ... he forced himself to do the uncomfortable (for him ... cheers to the muscle memory post above) by throwing without seeing the opening first, and IIRC he kinda cheated his right hand/shoulder forward toward the target just a tad so as to compensate to get it there a tad quicker ... but it wasn’t enough at that stage.
He got to Wlad mentally, plus I think Wlad had personal problems going in, but the styles thing everyone's on about could've been rectified in the rematch, JUST THROW, and I think the bookies and most fans seen he just didn't turn up mentally for the first one and still had him favourite for the rematch..I'm not buying the style match up as the problem so much...Does anyone not think if he had the same balls for Fury as he did for Joshua he wouldn't have won ?? You could see he was embarrassed of his effort with Tyson by the way he fought Joshua, he redeemed himself and took more risks than he has in the last 10 yrs against arguably his most dangerous opponent Pov aside. Imo Fury was lucky not to rematch a faded Wlad, its let people think his skills are way way better than they are as he would've been knocked out...I like Fury as hes a UK fighter, but **** me he aint nowhere near what people say he is
1. Yes. But he knew what Wlad was, and fought in a way that he knew would stop Wlad fighting. Fury had a longer reach and better footwork, that was always going to be a nightmare for Wlad. If Wlad was more agresive I think there's a reasonable chance Fury would have stopped him, as he did shake him. 2. The performances against Chisora and Hammer were impressive.
I honestly think the bigger issue is Fury isn't as evasive anymore. The Fury of olde I'd favour, but I think Wilder catches the current version, unless he can pull off a performance much better than his last one.
Look how he has played with chisora twice. Chisora has only ever been pushed back by haye and he got ktfo. Fury although loose and throws 50% power most of the time has enough pop to discourage anyone wailing in. If klit was more aggressive he would have been more soundly beaten. He knew that which is why he didnt try or gamble. He was older and more faded against Joshua. Not more determined His style just doesnt match up. Someone like povetkin could cause fury problems. Fast covers ground quick and finds gaps. A straight up big dude lile klit or aj is built for fury to beat
I picked for Fury and did a thread saying it would be on points. It wasnt that Wlad was lacking anything that night, it was that Fury with his style was all wrong. I wish I new how to dig up old posts on here as I would show you what I wrote on the subject and then what Wladimir said after. Wladimir was not able to throw his big right because he likes to line it up with the left jab first and Fury being a mover didnt stay still, so Wlad had to keep resetting himself
Wlad started slipping since Pulev fight, in Fury fight he was ancient and had no reflexes and stamina. If you're 3 month to 40, you won't be able to fight like 30-35 years old. You try to make it sound like Fury defeated a prime Klitschko.
