History Repeating Itself if Joshua Meets Klitschko

Nope!

 

The fight is not made yet.

 

The fight is not made yet.

Stylistically Joshua may be better suited to Wlad than Fury was. The problem really is we don't know if the Fury fight was an aberration for Wlad or if the wheels have finally fallen off the wagon.I don't think he had looked that good in his recent fights so I'm inclined to think at least one wheel has come off.
He won't have to worry about movement ,unpredictability and speed from Joshua which is what baffled him with Fury,against that, he will have to worry about Joshua's power The Brit isn't the moderate hitter Fury is,he can dig.
I think the timing may be right for the changing of the guard and with Luis Ortiz now also in the Hearn stable there are some intruiging possibilities out there among the heavies.

 

Pulev would be a sensible fight for Parker at this stage imo.

 

So everybody on the HW scene right now beats Wlad? No , Fury won because he is better than Wlad. No other reason.

2009 Wlad had one fight- a Chaggy who had just been declared medically unfit to meet Valeuv in the rematch. A guy who is the polar opposite to Fury.
2010 he fought Haye and the timid manner in which he performed would have seen him lose the same way had it been Fury in there.
Go back further than that and he was destroyed by Sanders and Brewter , so where is this Wlad that beats Fury?

 

This is an excellent fight and one that could give Wlad a legacy boost, or provide boxing with a clean passing of the torch to Joshua, who looks to be the best out there.

Wlad was slowing down as early as the Jenkins fight in April 2015 and had his worst ring effort vs Fury in November 2015.

Now he's 40. How much does he have left?

I can make cases for both men to win, but I think Wlad is motivated to prove something, and Joshua's stamina, chin, and defense are unproven. His chin in the amateurs was average, and he had trouble with skilled fighters. There is no doubt Joshua is an offensive powerhouse, with the speed edge in this match and he certainly punches hard enough to get the KO/TKO too.

So who wins, I'll take the guy who lands his best or near best first and gets into a rhythm.

 

i got wlad a verry slight fav, but it's one of those fights where both men bring a lot of unknowns.

 

I like both guys. A lot. We see this all the time with the passing of the torch to the younger reflexes. Sentiment is always for the old champion. Then after the fight the result gets dismissed easily. But it very well could be a retirement fight for Wlad.

I can't believe the klitschko camp is taking this guy on. If Manny was there instead of Banks, I don't see him taking this fight and going a different direction. And safer type opponent that can't hit. They have more options to take and here they are taking the toughest path.

Speaking of Banks----anyone else out there like me not all that impressed with his work? A report card grade might be a C. Maybe, using a bell curve grading system. He will have to do an excellant job himself to deal with a guy like Joshua. Much better between rounds.