Lets be real: Wlad looked slow and done

Wk schools wilder and oarker still withiut question

 

Imo, that was the best performance I've ever seen from Wlad. He employed every viable trick in his bag. He boxed and brawled and gave angles and set traps. Had he fought that way his entire career, I would have been a huge fan. Props top both men for the best heavyweight Championship fight I've seen since, TKO6? Maybe. Can't think of a more recent one off the top of my head.

 

Spot on.ive hated wk's reign and style and slagged him to the hilt.was amazed he had that in him.if he fought his whole career that way he would have been on hbo or ppv every fight in the states

 

Protectionay fan maybe ?
Wilder didn't step up I see
But at least he is calling out the modified lhw hold me back bellew

 

Yeah he did against Fury. It was good to see he was motivated and not gun shy. Love the reversal btw. People were amped watching his media workout about how fast he was and how good he looked. He looked good in the fight as well. Just lost. You guys are now trying to poo poo AJ's win but you same idiots hyped up what Fury did which was trash compared to last night.

Is AJ the new Floyd?

 

From Wlad's point of view, whats the point for a rematch. He took a lot of punishment in this fight, the most since the Peter fight. He's 10 years older now. Each punch could be the one drop in the bucket that means the difference between totally healthy and being punch drunk à la James Toney.

It would suck if an educated man like him spoke like a drunkard, slurring his words at the age of 50 just because of some rematch. He should retire IMO. No shame in retiring after he went out on his shield and showed tons of heart and had AJ in massive trouble.

 

I didn't see a lot of 1 2's from Klitschko. That is what he needed to do in round 6. He should have thrown Caution to the wind. He was fearful of being countered by Joshua

 

He was rocking that "Shane Mosley 2011-beyond" flick jab and that was pretty much it, same as the Jennings and Fury fights.

When you see Wladimir fight somebody with skills his size or bigger, his flaws are multiplied heavily. His back leg bent at the knee heavy, constant nervous bouncing, bending his neck and head down to fight even smaller, etc.

I thought Klitschko was dead in the 5th, I thought Joshua was dead in the 6th and 7th, and by the end of the 9th I thought Klitschko was dead again. Each man had the script playing out perfectly for their route to victory to happen. Honestly didn't see "Joshua late KO" as a likely option.

 

He avoided shots real well. But not with head movement from the neck, not side to side. He was bending at the lower back to lean backward, straight backward, to avoid the shots. And his only going straight backward to avoid shots is what got him clipped repeatedlyl That's body movement, not head movement. And to do that, you can see his knee craned all awkward the whole fight and Wladimir "fighting small," something that should never ever happen... Poor physical strategy although it kept him out of danger for the first few rounds, although completely giving all of them away.

 

wlads reflexes have slowed quite a bit, leaving him to completely rely on his timing. he looked just as slow to react against fury, but fury kept a lot of ring between them so wlad just refused to commit and leave himself completely exposed, which made him look like he couldnt pull the trigger. anthony did not feint much so wlad was able to time his attacks with more frequency, which made him look better than he did vs fury, but still too slow to recover.
when prime wlad would miss a punch, he could quickly get into a defensive position to protect from counter attacks, todays wlad cant react as quick, leaving himself exposed to counters for longer periods of time, and thus taking punishment.

 

I'm not sure what the OP was watching but thats the best I've seen Wlad look well for ages..

 

Right. Maybe Wlad was 70% of what he once was. I don't think he hits as hard as he used to either, as he lost velocity on his punches. Accuracy wise, he was off several times.

What he proved at age 41, is he had plenty of heart and guts in a tough fight and nothing close to a glass chin.

He was just so good, and took the easy road for victory in his prime, most often winning via knockout.

Props to Joshua, and I wonder how much of the home crowd advantage inspired him on when he was in a bad way.

 

Right, not saying this was prime Wlad. But by the same token it's almost certainly not prime Joshua, either. Put it this way, 41 year old Wlad would probably knock out the 23 year old Wlad.

 

well he wasnt landing some punches he would have five years ago but he was still pretty dangerous, he was moving well until late in the fight. this wasn't Holmes Tyson, Wlad was a real danger in there but he didn't have quite enough left to finish the job or at least survive the fight on his feet. its a respectable win

 

its unreal at people here trying to say a 41 year old is in thier prime. Tyson, Ali, Joe Louis etc were all in thier prime in thier 20's or early 30's only.