Anybody think Wlad will try to get to 26 defenses?

He could, but I don't think it is a serious concern for him, so I don't believe he will. If he was intending on breaking the record, he should have stepped on the gas pedal a little further back. Great run regardless of where it ends, though seeing him reach 26 would deafen some noise.

 

He will be stopped short of that, to Wilder.

 

I would be surprised. Making title defenses is a laborious task just ask Huck. It takes something out of you each time and while Wlad is and always has been far better than Huck 8 more defenses is asking a lot he turns 40 in six months. Btw Holmes has only 19 defenses technically. Marvis Frazier was not ranked and therefore no belt was on the line on that fight.

 

If he is still champ after the next 5 fights then he'd be a fool to not try.

That's the ticket to immortality right there.

 

It´s just a number. He could fight without the titles and still make history.

 

Where did Wlad say he was only going to fight 5 more times? I just thought he had the TV contract that stipulated that. I remember several months back him saying that he wanted to fight for another 10 years (which I don't believe).

I do agree that I can't see someone like Wlad really caring about breaking a record which is a travesty because it brings more attention to boxing (in a good way).

I do think Parker and Joshua will be ready by 2018, but I think 1 of them will fight prior to that.

I also disagree with you saying if Wlad did break the record that he would be Top 5. IMO, if he breaks Louis' record he will be #1. Between the 26 title defenses and him having the 5 WBO defenses and the amount of wins and quality of wins he should be ranked #1. It also helps him that he has fought on til such an old age being that consistent is really unheard of at HW.

 

Boxing publications say otherwise.

 

Yes, definitely. If he's already fighting for 5 more fights, if he makes it through that and gets to 23 consecutive he'd be crazy not to. Especially since his harder fights are coming up now, since once he gets closer to 25, he can just start shedding belt and picking his opponents more carefully. I agree he should have tried to work an extra fight in per year, it makes it much more dangerous to try to break the record at borderline 42-43, but I think he's going that route and that he's got a very good chance at it. If he gets past Fury and Wilder, he'll have unified, and at that point why not start shedding belts? And, the contenders the OP listed are very respectable anyway in terms of resume but really, with the exception of Povetkin, aren't real threats in any way. At that point, he'd have shattered the overall record for successful defenses including WOB defenses, broken the consecutive defense mark, broken the time mark, and have a decent argument for GOAT. If he beats someone along the way who goes on to have an ATG legacy after Wlad retires, maybe an Anthony Joshua, he'll have further strengthened the argument (that would probably be what it takes for me to put him at #1)

 

Fury, Wilder/Povetkin winner(so Povetkin II after the fraud is hopefully stripped for avoiding his mandatory) Glazkov, Takam etc. are all guys I would like to see Wlad in with before his finishes his career. I think he's got a good 4-5 fights left in him :good