Cut the man a break. Beating Byrd in his 14th fight is pretty impressive. When Povetkin hits prime, Wlad will probably be retired.
Povetkin has fought an impressive resume for only 14 fights .. but let's not get carried away. His defense is lousy and he has yet to fight anyone who can really punch. He has defeated an old boxer in Donald .. an old boxer in Byrd. Defeating the winner of Brock v. Chambers would be a MAJOR step up in competition and it would be even more impressive if he didn't do it in his home town ... he stand zero chance of defeating Wlad.
I think after Povetkin has beaten Byrd, the next fight will be easier, regardless of who he faces; Brock or Chambers. Again, I am not too savy on Chambers, but I don't think he's anyting special, from what little I remember of him. Povetkin will probably face Brock, and that'll be a decent fight, but probably a snoozer that Povetkin wins on points.
Hell, i thought povetkin looked damn good. A recently deposed HW champ vs latest Olympic gold medalist on the rise. That's a PPV type fight for me. These are the type of fights that need to happen more often!! I was impressed with Povetkin's accuracy. He really laid the leather on Byrd in the later rounds. That's not easy to do, as byrd is known mainly for his defensive prowess and counter punching and Povetkin seems very accurate with his punches and i do think this fight was heading towards Byrd being Ko'd.
Your judgement is way over-rated, and it cost you 1,000 Vcash, lol ! Your Berrio vs Bute prediction was really bad as well. You are on a roll.
My Berrio vs Bute prediction was that it would be a 12 round UD and Bute would be on his bike the entire time. That came very close to being true. In fact, I won a ton of vcash on the over 9.5 ... My povetkin prediction was similar - Povetkin would win a comfortable UD against Byrd. Again this came close to being true - if Byrd's corner didn't throw in the towel, there is no way the ref would have stopped the fight. Are you trying to tell me that this fight wasn't close to going 12 rounds? Or that Bute wasn't on his bike against Berrio and that Bute/Berrio also wasn't close to going 12 rounds? Correct me if I'm wrong, but both fights were stopped in the 11th. You can **** off now! :hi:
Povetkin won but... It was only his 14th pro fight and defeated two time world Champ not bad. Doesn't seem to have Foreman/Tyson like power tho.. At this point he's only going to get better.
I dont know.It does not matter how well Povetkin fought against Byrd for some posters here,they are still somehow able to find a fly in the ointment. Povetkin dominated Byrd throughout their entire bout winning almost every single round of their encounter. I guess his stamina isnt a question mark either anymore.IMO he is head and shoulders above all the present heavy weights with the exception of Wladimir Klitschko He for sure has a good chance to beat Wlad,but I wouldnt bet much money on POvetkin's victory at this point of time. Fellow heavies like Golota,Peter,Virchis,Brock,Dimitrenko,Chagaev,or Ibragimov cant hold a candle to him. IMO there is no doubt who is the present nr.2 at heavy weight. I for my part would prefer him taking on 2 or 3 more opponents before getting a shot at Wlad's title.
Guys like Povetkin show, that the HW definitely is alive. Sad for americans, that they donßt play any role in it. Might be the reason, why a lot of them say that the HW is soooooo bad. BULLSIHT!
Like he was against Sam Peter right? He's tired in a grand total of two times in 50 fights. He knocked out Brock in the 7th round (even though he was "dead tired after 5-6 rounds as always"), he stopped Brewster in the 6th with a high workrate and no signs of tiring whatsoever and Peter put pressure on him for 12 rounds but couldn't catch him on the ropes on a single occasion in 36 minutes of fighting. Since Steward took over Wlad's training regime (which was not the case in the first Brewster fight), he's made him work much more on stamina rather than weight training and the results have shown. I agree with RDJ that his style has become more boring but you can't deny that it is effective.
You made some good points,chris. However,Wlad's old coach Sdunek still writes all fitness planes for him.He is the one who is responsible -to a certain extense-for Wlad's stamina. Besides it isnt Steward who fights inside a box ring,but Wlad himself. Obviously Wlad needed a new challenge after his loss to Sanders so that he switched his coach,and so far he has fared very well with Steward. On the other hand his brother Vitaly has sticked to Sdunek,and has doen well,too.
It was a good win for Povetkin but overall it seems to me that he does not have the full package yet. Yes, it is his 14 fight but he has huge expirience as amatuer. It is different, yes... I do not know. I do not see him dominaing the HW division at this point. He could win one of the belts, not against Wladimir Klitschko. I do not see him stopping many opponents.