This content is protected What happened to this version of AJ? Seems like he used to understand defense at one point.
Nothing to do with AJ, Wlad is a big stiff idiot. Telegraphed midget pusher of a career no surprise Fury didn't drop a round.
Wlad was way past his prime and didn't have the speed he once had against AJ but even at 38 he was catching Pulev constantly with his monstrous left hooks. AJ fight was of course some 2 and half years later but I think AJ did tremendous job avoiding Wlad's left hook all night long. AJ is very good boxer and his ring IQ is underrated as well in my opinion. But he doesn't have the natural defensive reflexes/instincts like Wlad, Lennox and Vitali did (and they still got hit with big punches sometimes). So for him to be that efficient at the defensive end AJ would need to fight with full concentration for every minute and every second of the fight. He did that against Wlad, Parker and Ruiz in rematch. If it's anything less than that he will get hit a lot
His agility was a little surprising that night. I personally found it quite annoying. But for all the people who think age is just a number, like Wlad himself, remember this fight. It showed a fighter called Wlad who was once fast enough to catch prime Haye (on his bike) and another 'slick' cruiser Eddie Chambers, struggle to land on a 6'5 SHW. And it showed a mid 20-ish AJ being pretty quick compared to the current one at 35. The good news is that AJ is going to continue to slow down and that means that more bombs are going to land on his face. Let the post-prime party begin!
AJ's level vs Uysk was underrated honestly he was at a very high level it's just that Uysk negated so many of AJ strength and applied pressure more than Wlad and threw way more in volume across most the 24 rounds (apart from R5 after Wlad was knocked down/R6 when Wlad had AJ in sorts) I think this was probably slightly AJ's best though he fought more fearlessly and didn't tense up as much when getting hit with big shots. Amazing night.
Wlad who fought Haye in 2011 would have easily found AJ He was 41 with close to 70 plus fights as a pro. Imagine if the roles were reversed, and a physically prime Wlad fought a 41 year old Joshua with the same number of fights? AJ would be obliterated This is just age and wear and tear, F all to do with Aj being great. He was just way sharper due to his age
My point is the current version of AJ would have been caught with the left hooks from 41 year old Wlad.
Wlad, like Usyk, was very noticeably faster when he was in his prime but for some strange reason so many think the ageing process only affects certain types of fighters or ones from certain parts of the world even when it's plain to see or isn't for others. I'm not directing this at you and I also agree with the point you're making. Timestamped Ironically, Mercer was the same age here as Wlad was when he fought AJ This content is protected AJ would not have been able to duck left hooks like these or deal with prime Wlad's, speed, power and accuracy but, likewise, the version who fought Dubois would've still been caught with at least some of the left hooks he evaded when he fought AJ
Wlad is seriously underrated and this nonsense of him never being able Fury is exactly that, nonsense I am pretty confident Wlad in his prime could not only beat Fury, but likely stop him and obviously the same goes for Joshua Now Usyk is a different puzzle and I am not certain who wins that fight
"Prime" wlad was an overcautious jab-clincher who was afraid to throw right hands until his opponent was basically gassed out with his hands down. I don't think any version of AJ would ever go down for Wlad like that