Klitschko's trainer finally admits: Wladimir has lost a step, he's fighting on his last will

Only takes one big punch on Brunos chin, we all know what happens after that.

I meant Joshua

 

41 year old man who's been pro for 20+ years losing a step... Who would have thought?

 

What is the real Wlad?

Unfortunately - or fortunately if you think he was always lucky to be in such a weak era for the heavyweight division - he never had any real threats during his best years as champs to properly serve as a barometer for where he stands in the all time rankings.

Now he's at an age when nearly every heavyweight in history has been totally shot at world level and he's taking on one of his biggest ever challengers in a big punching youthful fellow gold medalist who's entering their athletic prime.

It's a big ask and if he pulls it off he deserves a ton of credit as he's doing something amazing if he beats such a heavily hyped guy at 41. It doesn't seem such an achievement as he was so dominant for so long whilst aging but heavyweights struggle at his age but it'll be one for the books no doubt.

 

Boxing is littered with former champs who at the time were believed to be after a last big payday.
Danny Green gave a believed over the hill Antonio Tarver 1.5 million to fight . AT refused to workout
in public and take his shirt off. These lead to rumours he was in poor shape . However AT picked
DG apart and after AT admitted he had worked feverishly before the fight before coming to Australia.
Sugar Ray Leonard worked out for a year before fighting Hagler. SRL had many unoffical fights behind
close doors. SRL though had lured Hagler into believing he was after a big payday. SRL lured Hagler
into false sense of security.
AJ is too professional for these mind games but if Klitschko turns up for a last hurrah it could
be very intriging fight.

 

Nobody who'd followed his career and saw his last two fights could deduce much else than Wlad is on the slide. Doesn't mean he can't wreck Joshua though.

 

I only see Vlad fighting perhaps three more times: AJ, Wilder and perhaps Fury if fury comes back this year

 

He seemed preoccupied during the Fury fight and couldn't get back into it

 

It's been over 2 years since we've seen the Wladimir we think of when we think of Wladimir.

 

Dude's trying to make Wladimir sound like a cripple to psych people out then he ends up knocking Joshua out in two rounds worse than Pulev.

 

Wlad is toast then.

 

Wlad gon' get ****ed up.

I don't rate Joshua particularly highly, but Wlad is clearly shot.

He was shot when he faced Jennings, and he was 39 then. He'll be 41 and he'll have been inactive for like 1.5 years.

I worry for his health honestly.

 

Everyone has seen that, and at Wlad's age that's only natural. If he hadn't been on the slide at that age, then people should really get worried.
Even at the Pulev fight, Wlad looked really relieved that he stayed down. The nature of the fight had a lot to do with it, but he might have felt it too back then.
Now he's even older and mostly due to Fury's doing inactive as well.
Did we see 37 year old Ali vs Fury, and are we going to see the 38 year old version against Joshua?

 

pretty sure wlad can still pack a punch
all he needs to do is connect it to joshua's chin

 

Pretty much my immediate thoughts too - the same has undoubtedly happened to Mayweather - Father Time is undefeated for a reason. That said, there's no reason why it can't be a competitive fight still. Klitschko has the guile and know-how to still cause AJ problems, it's just whether he can let his hands go and take a shot well that are the question marks.

 

Wlad has clearly been on the slide for a while and with him coming off a long layoff on top of that it's really hard to tell what he'll have left against Joshua. It's similar to Hopkins-Smith, hard to make a call because there's no way of knowing what the older fighter has left.

I think Wlad has enough left to beat Joshua. Experience and styles will be what gives Wlad the advantage here.

Experience is obvious, Wlad has more ko's then Joshua has rounds so there's a huge advantage there.

I also think Joshua is a fairly stationary fighter which means Wlad will have a much better chance of controlling the fight. Fury gave a lot more movement which gave Wlad a lot of trouble and Joshua doesn't fight like that.

It's a toss up fight to me and I'd lean towards Wlad despite his age and inactivity but I also thought Hopkins would get the job done against Smith so I'm not going to be surprised if Joshua beats Wlad.