The Last Stand Of Dr. Steelhammer: Will AJ's Great Leap Forward Be A Bridge Too Far?

TheyDontBoxNoMore7 · Apr 30, 2017

wlad did fine his career and his chin was suspect. This is the case for all HW. Pretty much everyone is Amir Khan in the HW division. You're grasping at straws trying to save face for your bias.

TheyDontBoxNoMore7 · Apr 30, 2017

Also why didn't Povetkin KO Wlad if he had power? Some of you are ****ing idiots and should really be removed from this board.

drenlou · Apr 30, 2017

Celestial gold said: ↑

I feel for your mother she must struggle living with herself after dropping you on that stupid head of yours
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Staminakills · Apr 30, 2017

CST80 said: ↑

This Old Dog Doesn't Need New Tricks
After a few early bumps in the road, Wlad has seen it all and beaten almost all who came before him, no stylistic riddle or puzzling style was too problematic for him to decode, in fact he won almost every round of every fight he's had in the last 14 years. And the guys he's beaten have all brought far more intangibles to the table than Anthony Joshua, the truth is Povetkin, Haye, Chagaev, Pulev, Ibragimov, Chambers, Thompson, Jennings, Byrd, Peter and maybe even Brock all have styles that are either equal to or far more complex than Joshua's. There's nothing that Joshua can stylistically present to Wlad, that he hasn't had to deal with before. In fact it wouldn't be a stretch to say that everyone I just mentioned easily go 18-0 through AJ record, and in some cases like with Povetkin and Haye, probably 18-0 18 KO's. Oh and one other guy, Wlad would also go 18-0 18 KO's, and they'd all be seen as pathetic soft touch cherry pick victories.

While most seem to be under the impression that AJ is some kind of brilliant prodigy that's as skilled as Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield combined, well... they're sadly mistaken. Just what exactly does he do all that well? He's flat footed, he has little to no head movement, he has no left hook, his jab while not pithy, its far from impressive, he's an okay combination puncher, but one has to open themselves up to a counter to land more than a one two, his speed isn't blistering. He's decent at everything but far from great.

Often times I see posters that imply his skill level has improved greatly since his days as an amateur and that his struggles in the Olympics are a thing of the past. But here's the reality, since turning pro, no one he's been in the ring with are even close to the level of Abdusalamov, Savon, Nistor or Cammerelle, all of whom hold wins or should hold wins over him. Its not that he's graduated to the next level, he hasn't, he's still on the same level, maybe a step or two below, after all, one of his best wins as a pro is a guy who didn't come close to making it to the finals in 2012. His style is more pro friendly, but he hasn't improved nearly as much as people seem to think, he looks great, because we have never actually had to see him be pushed or presented with obstacles, and make no mistake, Wlad will present him with more obstacles than his previous 18 opponents combined.

Let's start with dismissing the fallacy that Wlad is a shot fighter, he's not, don't get your hopes up. He looked spectacular dispatching the overly eager Pulev, yet a mere 6 months and a year later he looked thoroughly average against Jennings and Fury. So here came the nonstop flow of Wlad is shot, he's lost it, Wlad's power is gone, Wlad can't get his shots off, Wlad is scared to pull the trigger, yadda yadda yadda, while none of that could be further from the truth. Wlad didn't get old overnight, he just ran headlong into two bad styles back to back, one that made him look average, and one that made him lose, its a simple as that. Since hooking up with Steward after being KO'd 2 times, and again once after, Wlad has been a safety first fighter, as in he will not go looking for a KO, if it happens it happens, but he will never again get wild and put himself in harm's way, he learned those early lessons well. Jennings knew that, so he came to survive and not to win, and he did everything in the book to make Wlad look bad, shelling up, spoiling, smothering, holding, lateral movement, but he didn't actually throw enough punches to attempt a win. So if someone wants to survive against Wlad like Haye and Jennings, they have a chance, but if you come to win like Pulev, in all likelihood, you won't survive.

Wlad couldn't get his punches off against Fury, in fact he rarely let his hands go, but that had nothing to do with his age or because he's "past it", it was because Fury is a constantly retreating counter puncher who was giving Wlad nothing but lateral movement, and flicking out his incredibly long jab to keep Wlad at bay. Wlad isn't fluid and graceful with the ability to let his hands go while coming forward like Golovkin and Kovalev, he needs to set his feet to let his hands go, and Fury wasn't having any of that was he? Fury controlled the distance and range brilliantly, presenting Wlad with a riddle he hadn't encountered, a slick, fleet footed, fast, awkward, huge 6'9 counter puncher with excellent defense, which AJ is not.

But do you know who else is a slick, fleet footed, fast, awkward, huge 6'6 counter puncher with excellent defense, Wladimir Klitschko. Fury out Wladded Wlad, that is all.

Wlad is almost as defensively sound as Mayweather and Ward, only its far more subtle, think about it, how often do you see people land flush on Wlad? its not very often, not even Fury, he protects that glass chin exceptionally well with his shoulder, he rolls with or blocks almost everything. As far as the body goes, most are unwilling to commit to a body attack out of fear of eating a counter, he also utilizes the grab and hold, then maul and wrestle technique of Ward, while not pretty or nearly as good as Ward's, its still effective as hell, and wears opponents down.

Wlad also controls the distance better than any other HW including Fury, aided immeasurably by his hard piston like jab, most are too terrified of getting nailed flush by it to aggressively attempt to get past it. Add to that one of Wlad most overlooked talents is his astonishingly good parrying skills, he's utilizes almost a Muay Thai like stance and hand play constantly tapping his opponents gloves waiting for them to strike, and when they do, his hands are there and waiting, and he calmly taps them to the side deflecting the shot that usually wizzes past his shoulder, while his opponent ends up eating a flush right cross upside their cranium, he also uses his parrying to split his opponents guard allowing him to get inside with relative ease, he taps the straight right up and over the shoulder, taps the jab to the side and boom right down the middle, his opponents almost never see it coming.

As with all one dimensional power punchers, a skilled fighter can easily negate or flat out neutralize that one advantage, and leave their opponent a sitting duck for everything they throw, and I think we can all agree that Wlad is old hat at this, and is the far more skilled of the two. Like McGregor said, precision beats power, well Wlad is probably more powerful and a hell of a lot more precise and timing beats speed, unfortunately for AJ, Wlad has great timing, and maybe even the edge in speed.

AJ has never had to deal with a harder puncher with immaculate timing, great defense, who's skilled at grappling, parrying with excellent control of distance who has a better straight right than he does, and a horrific left hook, that he is open to that's way better than his. Wlad is chinny, but the trick is to land on that chin, its easier said than done, AJ is chinny, and isn't all that hard to land on for unskilled brawlers, so its not hard to imagine one of the most accurate punchers in recent memory landing on it flush repeatedly.

There's a possibility that not only will Wlad beat AJ by KO, but make it look Pulev like easy, and even if his power and speed have left him, there's always Grabimir, which presents another set of problems for AJ if it goes past 7. Joshua still has a hell of a lot to learn and there's a massive possibility that Hearn has made the biggest mistake of his life here by overestimating Wlad's level of shotness and not fully comprehending why he's looked so poor in recent outings, and may end up being taught a brutal lesson on levels. This isn't Airich or Bakhtov we're talking about here. This is the greatest Heavyweight Champion of the modern era with a skillset fighters far more accomplished on every level than Joshua haven't been able to unlock, so why does he think AJ can?

Either this will be the coming out party of all coming out parties for the young lion, and I may be as wrong as humanly possible, or as I suspect, it will be Wlad's brilliant Last Hurrah and the Old Lion goes out in style, still the King Of The Jungle. While all indications may point in one directions, skills pay the bills, and Wlad by a mile is still the most skilled Heavyweight of the last 15 years. AJ has a hell of a grizzled old mountain to climb here, and I have a feeling that Mount Everest will claim another victim.
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I'll admit, this was a pretty good read.

Thank you

Staminakills · Apr 30, 2017

dinovelvet said: ↑

Joshua was was completely reckt before he was knocked down. His body was in no state to take a heavy shot like that. He should have been carried out of the ring. To get back up and slowly work back into the fight was something amazing.
Chins don't come any better than that.
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Finally, something I agree with you 100%. Excellent, I knew you'd eventually come sround

CST80 · Jan 27, 2018

Damn! If Wlad had of just gone all out instead of listening to Vitali, I could have rubbed this thread in people's faces for years.

Mr Icaman · Jan 27, 2018

CST80 said: ↑

Damn! If Wlad had of just gone all out instead of listening to Vitali, I could have rubbed this thread in people's faces for years.
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In all honestly he was rooted and wasn't getting anyone out of there.. He'd been down hard the round before and got a hook in that probs saved him from getting ktfo (that and the fact AJ was rooted too).

They are human and taking a big hit = not 100% period.. Wlad did the best he good given the condition he was in..

Same as the fury fight he couldn't pull the trigger because Fury didn't let him. Fury did his homework and pull off a game plan successfully..

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The Last Stand Of Dr. Steelhammer: Will AJ's Great Leap Forward Be A Bridge Too Far?

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The Last Stand Of Dr. Steelhammer: Will AJ's Great Leap Forward Be A Bridge Too Far?

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