Should Wlad have used the rope-a-dope vs. AJ?

He should have used the shoulder roll, and when AJ hit him, shook his head and gone "uh-uh".

 

No.wlad had the left hand blinding aj all fight and he was letting the right go as well which aj had to have respect for,when Joshua got inside the jab is when he bulldozed wlad,if he sat on the ropes it'd be suicide,Joshua's inside game and combos are better than wlads and he's far more calculated than foreman was.

 

No everytime that AJ got inside and starting throwing (the 5th and 11th) Wlad was on the floor.

Wlads footwork was too slow to stay away from AJ on the inside for the whole fight and he was caught on the inside, and AJ is extremely effective even with only 3-5 second to let rip.

 

Rope a dope only works when the ref won't stop the fight on you.

Also, and I can't overemphasise this enough, if there is one guy that might well hit harder than Foreman and who would be a very bad idea to let tee off on you, it's Joshua.

The dope would be the guy on the rope ...

 

Why would he use the rope adope when even clinching Joshua would be very bad? That uppercut would land very quickly using that tactic and that fight wouldnt have seen rnd 3.

 

No.

First, that's not the way he fights. You can't change your style completely at the age of 41.

Second, Joshua is too powerful and Wlad doesn't have an Ali-grade chin.

Third, I can't believe I bothered to respond in seriousness, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?

 

That would be bad idea. I mean, if Wlad laid on the ropes, he'd become an easy target for AJ

 

Ali was outfighting Foreman off the ropes even before Foreman tired. He was landing the cleaner shots.

I don't know if it would've worked for Wald, I doubt he was as good at fighting off the ropes as Ali. He was used to controlling the fight at distance in the middle of the ring.

 

Wlad 's footwork at 41 and 18 months out was light years better than AJ, AJ had youth on his side which imo ground out the victory.

 

No that would've been a stupid strategy which would've seen him stopped early rounds.

 

Light years??LOL

How do you figure that when AJ out boxed Wlad through 1-5. Flooring him in the 5th and landing very decent body shots in the rounds prior -foot work sets up body shots. His foot work was good , but wasn't light years better in any way.

 

You say that as if you have never over stated a point and that's funny.

 

No.

He should have used Jack Cates gameplan against Reggie Hammond in their brawl.

Or Steve Davis gameplan against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 97 Masters.

 

You need a granite chin and reflexes to apply that strategy...attributes that Wlad does not posses.