Is Wladimir over the hill

All of this. :rasta

 

i think he's a little over the hill but he should have enough to beat haye if david doesn't back out. vitali is the one who i think has aged in the ring as of late. get someone with some movement in there and vitali could have some trouble. with that said, adamek doesn't have much of a chance vs vitali. i think he'll eat the jab all night.

 

It's extremely hard to say! :think

Haye has to fight like a "Tyson", but lacks the great chin, superb headmovement, spectacular combinations, & more importantly lacks the savage mindset of "kill or be killed" in the ring. So his chances depend on if he realises that he must start furiously fast & rush for the KO, unless he wants to be slowly "jab, jab, grab" to a late painful stoppage.

If he starts fast with a killer mentality, then i give him a 55% chance to destroy Wlad. The 45% chance of losing is being caught on the way in with a big punch. If Haye is tentative tries to pot-shot, then i give him a 10% chance of getting a decision, minus a 9% penalty for being in Germany.

 

I dont think Wlad will fold up early and I think thats a bad gameplan for Haye. Wlad is confident, his grappling skills have gotten better and he will be looking to put a hurtin on Haye.

Haye has to box smart and try and catch Wlad off a counter and then put the gas pedal down and pressure him. He wont be able to just rush in like those guys did in the past, Wlad has learned how to deal with that.

 

I agree with you on what Haye needs to do.
I rate his chances of succeeding at that a fair bit lower than you do.

 

As far as being over the hill is concernded,I think a lotof people underestimate the role of a healthy lifestyle. Many boxers are over the hill from too many wars plus the habit of gaining weight and then going through grueling training camps. The Klitschkos took such good care of themselves year round and fight smart. I believe Wlad can stay in his physical prime another two years easily.

 

I think Haye will take the fight to Wlad and Wlad will be to concerned with not catching the big one,Wlad has been tagged before so i think he will be gun shy,he is not good up close and that is where Haye will will catch him....Wlad has always fought the fight he wants to keeping it long and coming over big with the right and i don't think David will let him and will wobble him with a heavy right and put him away....

 

Haye needs to do all that at the earliest opportunity, and make those opportunities happen early.
It's not so much "rushing in" as finding or creating openings straight away. And follow up any success with the pressure as you describe.
Because no one has shown how to "box smart" and wait patiently against Wlad can do anything other than play into Wlad's hands - and better boxers than Haye have tried.
Wlad's the type of fighter whose monotonous work creeps over an opponent and mesmerizes him (in his dull thudding way)
Haye needs to nail him with something hard very early on and upset the rhythm right away.

It's a tall order.

 

Right. Crusier's rocked Haye. I remember when a blown up cruiser rocked Harrison, and I thought to myself, no way he will be able to hold up to highly ranked heavies in their prime or near primes.

I'm not sure if I would compare Haye to Hide outside of bother were punchers. Hide is rather aggressive. Haye to me has been overly cautious in matches where he should have won easy.

 

I don't think over the hill is an appropriate description. I do think that Wlad is out of what would be considered his absolute physical prime, but he does seem to have aged very well. I would agree with the Lewis comparrison that came up earlier in the thread as well. Wlad seems to fight very smart and has found a way to maximize his physical advantages for maximum results....I almost see him as B. Hop of a few years ago, whos mental tougness, preperation and ring smarts allows him to minimize an opponents opportunities while doing enough to win without being spectacular in the process. Wlad might be at his mental prime, whereby he is able to camoflouge any physical deteriotion to the point that no one around right now has been able to exploit it.

I would love for haye to win, just to bring some much needed excitement to the Hw division....but I think his chances are slim to none.

 

I hadn't given it any thought until reading some of these comments, but I guess it is unlikely he's at his absolute physical prime. But like Philly says, maybe he's masked some deterioration with his style and how well he executes it.

 

:good

 

I dunno. Most athletes would hit their picks around late 20's - early 30's, but then you've got guys like Floyd and Sergio.

Either way this seems like a petty excuse to undermine Haye's possible win.

 

NOPE
In his prime right now

 

Vlad is in his prime right now. The haters are using wishful thinking............