Steward to Klit after the 11the v Ibragimov - "If you win a decision, it's not good"

Wlad was stalking Iggy, pressing the action, and pushing the pace of the fight.... and dominating. Iggy has to actually do something for their to be a fight. Wlad can't be asked to drape himself over Iggy in order to try and please the fans? Wlad usually has a pleasing fight for the fans every time out. He can't be asked to throw his career up in the air by abandoning all sense of ring smarts and fighting like a fool just because his opponent isn't willing to fight.

 

I have already been over this with you and RUSKULL, look at Peter's competition, Toney- never been knocked out in his career, which spans over 70 fights, been down only a couple times, Peter was the only man to actually hurt him in the ring, something these champion Heavyweights couldnt do, Holyfield, Ruiz, and Rahman. Mccline has a good chin, thats why it took the highly offensive 02 version of Wlad 10 or 11 rounds to take him out, and it was more from Mccline's lack of stamina than Wlads punches, plus Peter had only 9 days to prepare for that fight, which left him no time to work with a sparring partner that mirrored Mccline's size and fighting style.

Peter gave everyone the knockout they wanted to see when he destroyed Maskaev, Vitali's next.

 

I'm not putting all the blame on Wlad. Iggy should get more blame. But I believe Steward was encouraging Wlad to open up the best he could (and he could've done so w/o "draping" himself and "risking his career" or whatever else you wrote) or at least try to. Wald basically admitted himself after the fight he should've pushed it a little more. Boxing is an entertainment business so a smart fighter does consider what the fans think. I agree that you don't seriously risk your health to please fans but that in no way was the case in that fight.

 

So to be clear... I have already answered this a million times. Of course Manny would love to see a knockout, and of course he wants Wlad to be as active as possible. At the end of the day, Wlad is the one in the ring fighting, and can feel what is comfortable and what is not comfortable. I think that Manny was almost forced to act that way, due to the double standard that people have towards Wlad, as if he can't only dominate his opponent... he has to win every fight by brutal knockout. I am sure that he wanted Wlad to be as active and alert as possible so if the opporunity to knock his opponent arises, Wlad will take full advantage. However, that opportunity obviously never presented itself. After the fight Manny was just fine with the win.... and it's on to the next fight. What's the big deal? Have you never seen a fight go to a decision before?

 

The man went the distance against Robert Hawkins for god's sake. And you have the nerve to downgrade Wlad for going the distance against the undefeated, WBO Champion Sultan Ibragimov?:-( Just like Peter has gone the distance with Shufford and McCline. Two guys that Wlad knocked out. I think that you are barking up the wrong tree with this argument.

 

This isn't the old days where people will pay to see heavyweights fight just because they're heavyweights.

Manny knows it's a business too...he was trying to get Wlad to protect the business portion (a KO of course).

 

Peter stopped a shot 39 year old who didn't fight in 2007 and who was recovering from back injuries. Maskaev had been knocked out five times before.

Ibragimov was 32, had three succcessful fights last year, and was healthy. Ibragimov had not only never been stopped, he was undefeated.

Wlad stopped his previous four opponents, and all of them were younger and had fewer losses than Maskaev. Sam Peter has never defeated a prime top 25 heavyweight. He did fight one once, but lost.

 

Like Wlad never had a bad night when he was in his mid 20's? I remember him getting knocked out by a fighter in purrity that had only a couple more wins than losses, or a journeymen in Sanders knocking him from pillar to post, I dont think Peter's decision wins compare to what Wlad experienced when he was that age, does it?

 

Toney was top 25, and so was Maskaev, and I'm pretty sure Mccline was as well. Iggy has no real impressive wins, his best are against a 45 yearold Holyfield and I guy that needs a inhaler in his corner between rounds, in Briggs. Iggy also a had a draw with a journeymen in Ray Austin, where he was floored and almost knocked out from what I seen, anyone could be undefeated if they fight the right oppenents, look at what happend to Brock, the guy got beat by an overweight Chambers, who threw nearly as many punches as Wlad did against Iggy. How cares what a guy's record is, it's who they fought that matters, look at Valuev, he was what 45-46 and 0 before he lost to Chagaev, but if you look at who he fought you could see why he had the record he did.

 

Of course Manny takes the media and the public into consideration. Everyone does. If he didn't.... why would he have cared either way? A win is a win and you move on. Wlad is exciting and impressive in just about all of his fights, and nobody can expect him to knock everyone out. Sometimes it just never presents itself. Which is why there is no man in history who has fought at the top level and retired with a 100% knockout ratio.

I think that Manny is almost desperate to get the public to recognize Wlad as the only real Champion in the division. He knows that Wlad going the distance isn't going to go over well with the fickle American boxing fans. Had Wlad knocked Sultan out with one of those rights that he landed

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, then people would all be happy and talk about what a great knockout, and performance it was. That's just the way it is.

Personally, I was half disgusted with the way that Manny was talking to him. It is awful advice to tell a fighter who is completely dominating and winning to basically throw caution to the wind and try to impress the fans. The only sort of boxers who have to do that are the kind that can't win impressively without doing that. Given Wlad's track record... he wins in impressive fashion without having to fight like he lacks skills and control.

 

I think that he used the word "Prime".:good

 

German fans were none to pleased with the way he faced off against Brewster, I seem to remember some boos.

Guess they suck too huh?