Could Fury have beaten prime Wladimir?

On paper no, with Wlad's mental fragility - I can see it being similar.

 

It was more of a psychological factor than a physical one.

A prime version of Wlad would have fought Fury in the exact same manner in my opinion.

He was defensive minded and psychologically scarred from his earlier knockouts.

The earlier versions of Wlad were vulnerable but also very dangerous as he was more of an aggressive fighter.

I would honestly have given a pre-prime version of Wlad a better chance of beating Tyson than a prime version. Even the one who was beaten by Sanders. Because that version of Wlad would have gone forward at Tyson and let his hands go.

 

AJ didn’t beat a better Wlad.

AJ was just an easier fight for Wlad stylistically.

Tyson had 3 years out of the ring with all sorts of issues.

Why would he have had an issue fighting Wlad in Manchester, when he’d already psyched him out and beaten him in Germany?

Your post is illogical.

 

On what basis?

 

So if AJ beats Tyson, AJ will be the best HW of all time?

Ha!

 

Their fight and prime Wlad's quality.
The fight was dull, with very, very low punch output, and when Wlad finally opened up in the last round (too late), he clearly had the best of the exchange.
Close as the rounds were, even this past it version could have beaten Fury if he just let his hands go more. There was a good reason he was the favorite for the rematch.
Then if you look at prime Wlad, who hardly lost rounds and dominated opposition, there's no question in my mind.

 

Great post.

Best one of the thread.

I don’t think people realise how important the psychological factors are.

The earlier versions of Wlad would have had a much better chance.

 

Lets look back at that 12th round

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Looks like your typical Klitschko , hugging and even turning his back away from the combat in the first minute. Also your typical Klitschko ref breaking the action and warning Fury for tying to work in close.

WK then saw a moment to attack as Fury was reaching around to pull up his trunks that were falling bellow his ass. So he was only brave enough to open up on Fury while he had his arms around his back.
And just because he fought a moment of desperate bravery in the 12th doesn't mean he would come out the gate fighting that way in a rematch , or ever.

Its also hilariously sad watching K2 Stans claim WK was old and past prime while then claiming he would have done better in a return.

If a guy is past prime he's past prime.. They come get any better. He had more success against Joshua cos Joshua punched himself out and didn't recover till 4-5 rounds later.

 

He still clearly won that round, so a more agressive approach would have turned a relatively close fight towards Wlad.
Fury's way of winning rounds is clowning and landing one or 2 more a round in a very passive fight, that's his whole stick.
Plus, Fury was caught juicing 7 months prior, which wasn't known during the fight because the UK kept it silent.

 

The difference is that Klitschko would have had a different mindset going into the rematch and he wouldn't have had a wife getting treatment for suicidal depression. The mental aspect is extremely important. Tyson Fury himself scrubbed the rematch because of alleged "depression".

 

He barely won it on a couple of punches that were landed as Fury was lifting up his trunks.. You're telling me that this fired up Wlad , one that would have won the rematch , couldn't even hurt Fury as he was reaching around to lift up his trunks?!
Anyway , most of Wlads activity in that round was holding.. He knew what he had to do , which was get close enough to land , but when he got inside all he did was reach out and grab Fury around the arms and waist.

WK simply did not have the punch variety or punch out-put to ever beat Fury.

 

He will never ever beat him, not in a million years.

 

I don’t think people truly appreciate how much a person is physically past their prime at 39 years of age.

 

He was vastly better against AJ for 2 reasons:

1. He had everything to gain and nothing to lose.

2. AJ was a much easier fight for him stylistically.

 

True. But I think any prime version of Wlad would have fought Tyson in the exact same way.