Compared to how Wilder did against Fury, Wlad's performance was underrated. Even though he lost, Fury was barely able to land anything on Wlad, maybe Wlad could've KO'd Fury if he went for it.
No, Wlad's performance was bad that night. Both he and Vitali agree on that. Also, Fury's game plan was by far not the same in the Wilder rematch as in the Wlad fight, which is why you can't really credit Wlad for Fury not having landed anything solid. That night should not diminish Wlad's achievements, but let's leave it to that: he had a bad night and a poor performance resulted.
Wlad would always struggle against Fury IMO. He fights using his height, and when he doesn't have his height, the game changes, it's like he's new to boxing again. That's because the entire experience is new to him, he's never had to fight taller guys.
Only landed one significant punch int eh fight--right hand in the 9th. Rarely let the right hand go. Looked confused. Face busted up. Tried some roughhousing late out of desperation. Fury just had him puzzled.
Wlad did the best he could. Fury would always be a style nightmare for Wlad. A bigger guy with faster hands, lighter on his feet and an understanding of angles. Wlad is out of his depth against Fury. Wlad is a case of an excellent fighter with a low ring IQ. He has his one all purpose game plan, but has never shown any ability to adapt mid-fight.
Wlad was old the reflexes had slowed and Fury messed with his rhythm and timing all night. Wlad’s left hook which had been awesome in his youth was slow by this point and easily blocked or slipped. However Wlad started to figure out Fury in the 12th and had his best round. I would of loved to see the rematch Wlad desperately wanted. I think he had good shot to win back belt.
Wlad was coming off one of, if not the worst title defence of his reign against Bryant Jennings where he couldn’t pull the trigger on his right hand. He was exactly the same against Fury, only difference was Tyson was light years ahead of Jennings in skill and mobility. I think he had lost motivation, underestimated Fury and was enduring horrendous personal problems during camp. Had the rematch taken place, I believe we would have seen a much better Klitschko and a much better fight.
skip to 2mins This content is protected You prob right given his mindset at the time. but I have given up writing Fury off!
Wlad was shot before that fight, he wasn't boxing on instinct anymore and couldn't pull the trigger on punches. His mind wasn't on fighting anymore. I mean you can hypothetical all you want about Fury and Wlad if Wlad was younger, but who the **** knows. Wlad could be an enigma sometimes about how he'd fight someone.
I don't think Wlad could have KO'd him because he did go for it in the last two rounds and couldn't land enough. He couldn't land throughout because of Fury's defence, he'd never faced someone so elusive. I do think his performance was better than people think, because if you listen to Fury afterwards, he mentions how difficult it was to hit Wlad clean. Fury himself was made to look clumsy at times because Wlad was very hard to attack. Fury was making assaults but kept hitting arms and shoulders or air. All you have to do is watch the fight before with Hammer to see that Fury was landing almost at will there and can string a lot of accurate punches together if his opponent lets him, even while boxing and moving. So Wlad is definitely very difficult to deal with. People prefer the narrative Wlad was just crap that night, which is quite remarkable considering he'd been on point for about 10 years straight. The truth is that Fury wasn't 100% if you listen to the stories of how much weight he lost for that fight and the fact he realised he hadn't done the weight properly and had lost too much muscle.
