How boxing savvy are you?

I'm not very boxing savy JG...but Wlad backs up in straight lines quite a bit when pressed. He doesn't slide off to either the left or right enough.

 

His fight with Tony Thompson is coming on HBO right now, J. I'll see if I can see something.

 

Klitschko has a tendency to lean back from punches due to his immense size advantage. Smaller fighters will often take one step and try to unleash a power shot, but Klitschko's height requires an opponent to take the extra step and exploit the giant Ukrainian's defensive liability.

 

I know he's using his jab like a friggin' curb feeler. Is that only because he's in with a southpaw?

 

It caught my attention that when Thompson put a lot of pressure on him during round 1-4, Wlad looked uncomfortable... like a crocodile fighting on land.

However, it should be noted that Thompson had to ship a lot of big right hands to obtain that goal and despite his strong chin (never down before), he wasn't as keen on coming in as he used to be after round 4 or 5. At that moment Wlad got into his usual rhythm of controlling the distance, jab, jab, right hand, and the fight was over right there and then.

Fatigue could also have played a role in that. I don't remember Wlad ever throwing a low blow, elbow, headbutt or whatever, but he is very rough/dirty in the clinches, leaning down on opponents, shoving them around, etc. Thompson commented on how physically strong Klitschko was and how this tired him. Pretty amazing considering Thompson is no small guy himself, at 6'6" 251lbs.


I didn't give Povetkin, who seems to be his next mandatory opponent, much of a chance before. But after last night and knowing that the Russian threw 71 punches a round in combination while pressing the attack against Chambers, one can only conclude his chances might not be that bad after all. He can't afford to take the amount of punches that Thompson did, however. And there will be a larger size difference which means he'll have a harder time controlling the clinches and tiring out there.

 

He cant infight.

If he comes up against sombody with similar firepower to himself who can like Lennox Lewis he will be in deep trouble.

He often ties up oponents in the clinches but he himself would be quite vulnerable to this tactic if he had an oponent in trouble. Nobody seems to make this calculation however.

Basicaly he has big deficiencies but nobody is good enough to exploit them at the moment.

The biggest threat to him at the moment is David Haye who is not only powerfull but also fast. If anybody is going to repeat what Sanders did to him it is most likley Haye. I also think that Povetkin will pose some problems. I give him a chance.

 

You are on to something here.

Fighters who pull back are always suceptible to hooks and upercuts which they cant time corectly. Also an inteligent feinter will make sombody pay for using this tactic but there are verry few at heavyweight.

 

Straight lines, unsurprisingly, are definitely a no-no against Wlad. It's like Foreman's old adage of "you never follow a puncher", once Wlad is comfortable with his range he'll happily wing that right in time and again.

I think you need to be very focused on attacking Wlad's body. His height means that, unless you're a big chap yourself, it's tough to catch his head at range. Thompson was actually able to do it every so often but a) isn't big enough of a puncher to wobble Wlad and b) didn't do it enough.

Wlad has very little inside game but he does have the height and weight to just clamp down on you. Diving into clinches and then looking to score with short shots to the ribs ain't gonna do it on its own...it's that middle distance that will be the most important area to win, where there's risk of his uppercuts coming at you but you'll be able to get best leverage on hooks to his torso.

Puritty and Brewster basically outlasted him (I think Wlad had a bit of a panic attack in the Brewster fight as well), while Sanders had that combination of southpaw stance, speed and power that he hadn't really had to handle before. Marching in there thinking that you just need a big punch and that's it is a fool's errand, and one that accounted for several of Lewis's victims over the years. You have to have that plan and commit to it 100%. You also need to make a point of getting mentally on top of Wladimir early on, before he gets his shots untracked and while he's still cold.

Thompson seemed like he was waiting to counterpunch for too much of the fight, and only attacked the body with short hooks when he was in the clinch. He committed to neither plan 100%, and arguably neither was right in the first place. He threw only a handful of flurries in the entire fight because he was worried about the shots coming his way, even though it's just that tactic that will stop Wlad getting too many clean shots off.

Hmm, I could babble on but I'd like to see what others think.

 

Schmeling "zaw zumting" in the technically well-schooled Louis. Had Max been in his heyday now, he'd see enough problems in Wlad's style to compose a zymphony of attacks. Where to begin...?

1. Let's start with psychology. Corrie Sanders saw fit to bestow upons Wlad an almost pathological fear of getting hit/hurt. Pressure him, or even posture as if you are going to attack him and see the panic in his eyes and watch him either clinch or jump away like a giant hare. Feint him and stutter the attacks and if he clinches, rip some up the middle. If he jumps back, be ready to step in with overhands.

2. Thompson, a southpaw, was landing straight lefts well over the first 2 or 3 rounds. Wlad has a vicious, though readable right cross. What do you do when you have a great right and your facing a southpaw. You move to your left, keeping your left foot outside of his right foot -and lace him with right crosses because he is naturally in range of that shot. What does Wlad do? He moves to his right! If you are a southpaw with a good shot, fight him for free and take his titles.

3. Wlad leaves his left jab extended. This is not a Hearns' move which blinded the guy just enough to throw a right, no, in Wlad's case, it's defensive. When he leaves the right out there, there are options:
* throw a hook to the ribs. Hard.
* throw an uppercut just behind his extended elbow.

4. Wlad doesn't follow up. He throws the right and then looks at it like a painter inspecting a half-finished canvas. Slip the right on the outside and come back with counter left hook, followed by a right hand, followed by a left hook to the liver, another right hand, then a hook and angle off of him. Wlad panics under hard combinations and only seeks to get away, there is no defense and he has no idea how to remain composed and counter such an attack... he gets nervy and out of position. So keep doing it and he will fold.

5. Wlad is an outside fighter with 2 shots you have to watch for. Actually 1 and a 1/2 because his jab is often pawing nonsense. This is a testimony to his unwillingness to commit unless he is safe. So make him feel unsafe --small package after he extends a shot and come in with short, hard punches to the body and to the head. He will be out of position and off balance as soon as you land one or two...

...There's a sample of ways to beat Wlad.

 

It's probably quite sad that I immediately thought of the pro-wrestling move (a roll-up for a quick 3 count) when you said that...that certainly would surprise Wladimir!

All excellent points. The first, about psychology, is particularly key.

I would add another one I missed out...uppercuts! I can't remember anyone (recently at least) trying them much against Wlad. Not winging them from the outside like a damn fool, but attacking up the middle when you're up close. That kind of sneaky head-popping uppercut guys like Tyson and Bowe used to do so well.

 

I know this intuitively seems to be the gameplan against someone of Wlad's style, but i just don't see it. Several fighters have hit him there repeatedly, and i'm not talking about pitter patter punches during clinches, but nothing happened.

Brewster went to the body, Brock did, Thompson did, Peter did for a while..Sultan tried.

A few reasons why it's not advisable to go to the body against him:


-His chin is much weaker than his stomach. Once you go over 200 pounds, chin doesn't really improve much, but the ability to take a bodyshot does seem to increase. Valuev is as good as impervious to bodypunches. Well, he's impervious to headshots as well, so maybe that's a bad example. But bodyshots are proportional to size much more so than chin. He's like a 200 pound fighter with a 10 pound natural protective cup around his waisteline.

-Against a fighter who fights tall, and is very tall, who uses footwork to stay on the outside and ties you up on the inside, it's very hard to reach the body. Fighters naturally have a tendency to lean forward a bit, especially the ones that work on the outside. This makes the body harder to reach.

-When you do hit him with a good liver shot, you're on the inside so you will inevitably be tied up almost immediatly, allowing him to recover where necessary. If you hit him good enough on the chin, his legs will buckle, his balance will weaken, i.e. you will be able to follow up or score a knockdown.

 

That's hardly a fair comparison though.

It's like saying: make an ant 100 pounds heavier and a few foot bigger and i'd pick him over a mountain lion. Bigger guys are always weaker, relatively to their weight than smaller guys are.