Joshua is very good but he looked very beatable

AJ is a beast but he's a late starter to the sport and he is flawed. His size, speed and power make him very formidable but against even the Wlad of three years ago he would've come unstuck. That's not a knock on him because as I say he's a late starter to the sport and he lacks experience and he has holes in his game that need more working on.

As for Wlad, whilst I think he's still one of the best HWs in the world, he's clearly way past his best. His footwork and defence are still excellent, but offensively he just doesn't let his hands go and he can't pull the trigger like he used to. He's also lost some speed and his punch variety is way too limited and predictable. The Wlad I like is the pre Steward one. I love Steward (RIP) but the pre Steward Wlad and to be fair the early Steward one was so much better to watch. In addition to him being faster, way more aggressive and letting his hands go much more freely, there was a lot more variety to his punches.

That Wlad was to quote a fighter at the time (can't remember who it was now) was: ''Hell on wheels''. And he was. He used to hook off the jab as beautifully as any HW I've ever seen. He'd throw that devastating short left uppercut/come hook from the clinch. His jab was like a piston: fast, accurate and very powerful and he'd pump it out endlessly. And he used to throw hellacious right hooks round the side not just left hooks. And his punch technique was textbook, beautiful even.


Tonight's fight was great to watch and both of them deserve credit for the heart and desire they displayed and digging deep and battling back from adversity.