Is Wladimir over the hill

No he's probably at his best mentally and physically

 

Not yet. Wlad keeps himself in great shape, and really has not had too many fights where he has taken a beating. His speed, skills, defense, movement and such still appear to be the same as 32. The injuries sustained have not been major.

 

if haye manages to spring a shock win then you will hear loads of people say wlad was past his best

 

I give Haye a real shot, he needs to come in like Dempsey ,plenty of lateral movement then, weaving in and out with big shots,if he can do this I think Wlad will be disconcerted and his game plan willl fall apart,if he cannot establish the jab, and his comfort zone of distance he will lose, he's fragile mentallly imo.Give him momentum and he wins.
Haye must land something big early in the fight, if he does, he takes all the confidence out of the big man ,and gives him a hiding,imo.
He has to fight exactly the opposite fight he did against Valuev, to assume the Leonard role , in the first Hearns fight.

 

Yes they will ,but that is the nature of fans ,and the nature of the sport.

I see no signs that Wlad has deteriorated,but its a long time since he was in a real fight.
I'm betting Haye ,and by stoppage. I might have egg on my face the next morning ,but that's my pick.

 

Wlad is Peak physically, mentally & technically.

 

I agree, but Haye doesn't fight like that. That is not his mentality at all, he has been a very cautious fighter at heavyweight, against far less dangerous fighters than Wlad.

 

Haye looked hesitant vs. Audley Harrison in round one. The round was void in action, and if possible should have been scored 9 to 9. In the 2nd round Harrison was a joke.

Haye was chicken vs. Valuev as well until the final round. Blind Patriotism might prevent many from seeing that Haye has some chin and stamina problems, which is why he fights safety first vs much older and slower opponents. To complicate problems, his defense is very average.

If Haye makes it into the ring this time, I predict he goes down by the first hard right hand or hook Wlad lands. Haye might beat the count. If he does, his confidence will go to pieces and barring a lottery type of punch he's on his way out. I just hope the KO is a good shot, and not a glancing blow type. That is up to Haye punch resistance.

I believe Haye has a glass jaw, and more cut problems than one would assume. A washed up Barret floored Haye unofficially, and Haye was cut early in round one vs. a mediocre alphabet cruiser champ in Maccarinelli.

 

LOL, I wish there were 10,000 like you willing to wager. In fact I will wager you avatar rights for 3 months. The winner picks the loser's avatar for three monts as long as its boxing related? Deal? :deal

I predict Wlad wins easy, and Haye who is already talking about retirement quickly gets relegated to just another hyped British heavyweight who can't take a punch.

 

Three KO losses in as many fights as Wlad has at heavy is not that bad. Many more famous champions have more KO losses than that, and in my opinion my less punchers than Sanders or Brewster.

I do not think Wlad has taken a beating in comparison to what a normal fighter goes through. A quick KO loss to Sanders, and a bad round and a half round vs. Brewster, and maybe 3 rough rounds vs Peter. Those matches happened years ago, and is pretty much the last time Wlad has been hit hard. Thompson landed some, but he's not a puncher.

 

Haye does have some stamina problems and fades after the early rounds, he still carries his power late though. I don't see the evidence that Haye has a poor chin, in his first loss he punched himself out and was stopped on his feet exhausted if I remember rightly. He fought aggressively against Barret/Mormeck so left himself open and off balance and Mormeck was pretty damn good and both were impressive stoppages. Against Haye said he broke his hand early against Valuev, either way Valuev is a giant so I don't blame his tactics. As for the Maccarinelli blow out I don't know how anyone can criticise that performance it was dynamite against a similar sized fighter to Wlad, as was the Gurov performance. Haye does really well against men that are Wlad's size

As for Haye being put down early, that's unlikely because Wlad/Steward plan to fight technically behind a jab and not fight aggressively

He's trying to work on head movement in training by the looks of it but a leopard can't change his spots too much, Haye will fight his usual fight, radar defensive shoulder roll with his usual attack. I agree if he's aggressive and makes Wlad back up, Wlad will be very confused because he isn't very comfortable backing up. COunterpunching isn't necessarily a bad idea either though, he needs to perfect his right hand counter over the jab, to disrupt the jab, something he's very good on and something and he needs to get his own jab going to take Wlad's away somewhat

 

Obviously I'm talking height, Mac wasn't a weight cutter from recollection, Gurov was 6'6 too