I think it was the haircut. He just looked like a fragile boy that's mum couldn't pay for a haircut, which gave sanders the motivation to knock Wlad the **** out. As soon as he got it cut he sorted his game out
If by improvement you mean fighting cautiously as ****, protecting his paper mache chin and jabbing bums for 12 rounds, then yes- he has improved.
Not as much as people would have you believe, a lot of it is to do with the level of competition being so weak.
:rofl:rofl:rofl On a serious note, I think knockout artist has it spot on. There have been improvements but not as big as some fans may suggest.
I have never thought about this, but once you see the truth it's hard not to recognize it. ESB is not as useless as some posters claim. It's irrefutable that Wlad only lost to Brewster after the haircut, and that seemed like a fluke loss anyway.
yeah, I agree. The only guy who was half decent was Sam Peter in the 1st fight. He was very limited skill wise, but he tried hard and Knocked Wlad down once or twice legitimately (1 or 2 kd's were rabbit punches)
Sanders was not ****, but not very good either. If Wlad had not improved since then I figure Haye would have sparked him. Hayes and Booths gameplan was to flatten Wlad the same way.
It's a shame he was too scared to give it a go really. It's not like he didn't have the power to KTFO of Wlad :-(
haye was a blown up CW who still gave Wlad problems. Every time a half decent HW with some power shows up, Wlad ends up on the canvas.
He was at his physical prime no doubt at 26 most people are at there physical prime. But boxing isn't just about physical attributes such as speed, strength and reflexes. Wlad may not be physically as good as he once was during his physical prime, but his improvements as a boxer more than makes up for any loss in physical ability. Wlad would beat any version of Sanders now.
Fight was a disappointing chess game, obviously. But sure as hell he gave it a go. Wlad had Haye outboxed. In a way he was the one who should have gone for the KO.