Sam Peter is clearly B Level.

He's a B- level fighter with highly apparent flaws and succeptabilities. But take a look at the heavyweight division: they all fit this description.

 

Wlads physical skills are A level, no doubt, but everytime he gets in the ring with a aggresive fighter, he ends up on his back or goes into a panic attack and clinches, his physical skills are a A+, but his mental ability is at C- level, and thats being generous. I'm not asking Wlad to be a slugger, but at least step up and not be afraid to mix it up a little, even Lewis went punch for punch with big hitters like Bruno, Vitali, and Mercer, when he had to get the job done, do you think Wlad could do the same?

 

And while his power may very well be overrated, his toughness and heart are underrated. The guy is young and strong, plus he'll always be involved in fun fights with good fighters...yet he gets so much **** from fans.

 

Eh, so the guy can't take a hard punch that well, and doesn't like to (few people do). That's supposed to detract from his abilities and automatically inhibit ranking his skills at the appropriate level? Not every heavyweight has to be a willing punching bag, and that's way too much pressure to put on one guy, to say he HAS to mix it up to get respect, just because the HW division sucks right now. He's only responsible for his own actions and performance, not that of the other hundreds of guys active over 200 right now! And while you may not like his aversion to taking a clean hit, you have to set that aside and be able to objectively acknowledge his ability to get the job done in the meantime and give credit there where it's due. If anything you should be lauding his championship instincts for identifying a hole in his armor and doing all he can to patch it by rendering his chin a non-issue.

 

Actually it has.
He did lose a few times in championship-fights by knockouts now did he?

This time he's putting a good streak,..but his earlier runs were stopped before so I wouldn't call him dominating the whole division (let him unify some more and defend the undisputed title and then i'll call it dominating like Tyson, Lewis etc did. They unified the title to an undisputed champion and succesfully defended it while cleaning up the division. That's what i call dominating. Klitschko is still in the very early phase of that process. He made a first good step though)

 

He could open up a little more, but looking at this from his perspective, he takes little punishment and can easily win fights on the jab alone. It sucks for us, but for him, it's smart.

I'd say Wladimir is an A level fighter

 

I didnt say it has, but you must look at the competition as well. It's like putting a prime Barry Bonds in the minor leagues, of course he's going to hit close to a 100 homeruns, and have at least a 350 average, but look at who's pitching to him. Im not saying Wlad sucks or that, but take a good look who he's beating, guys with limmited skills and power, like I said a couple months back, put him in the era of good Heavyweights in the 90's, he would struggle to even get a blet, and there's no way in hell he's dominating in that time period.

 

After getting brutally knocked out by Corrie Sanders he fought two bums (Moli anyone?) after which he got knocked out again by Brewster.
After that he got knocked down again against DaVarryl Williamson (remember him? The TOS who went 12 horrible rounds with Chris Byrd) but won a close decision.
After which he fought another nobody and then started his good streak again with fighting Peter.

I wouldn't call that bouncing back easily. That was a tough road for Wlad to return to the top and I don't think he would recall that as easy (nor as very impressive). Now Lewis bouncing back after the knockout against Rahman...that was what I would call impressive and easy.

 

He is ATG physically, but mentally he is weak at the championship level, I cant personally put a fighter at an A level who doesnt show well rounded ability, that means physically and mentally strong, until Wlad proves he can take a punch, I refuse to regard him as an A level fighter.

 

What if he never needs to show that mental strength? What if he even fights some hard punchers with the ability to hurt him (I guess Chagaev and Valuev would be the closest thing right now?...and yeah Peter would have to be up there as a relative hard-hitter in the current scene) and outclassed them to the point where they never landed flush on him? He HAS to take risks that compromise his ability to win fights for you to rate him higher?

 

Wladimir is clearly A level & you are clearly a tool...................:deal :thumbsup