The post Lewis and pre Joshua/Fury era

Wlad was on or nearing his last legs when he beat Povetkin. That may not make it OK that he got away w/ clinching so much in that fight, but his performance isn't emblematic of his whole career or an entire decade-long time frame.

 

It was a distinctly poor era, in which a giant athlete had to cultivate an extreme, safety-first strategy due to very real concerns about his demonstrable fragility. That this was exhibited within a very shallow talent pool, amongst what were often physically over-matched opponents (and considerably so, in most cases), made it all the worse.

It made for what was, in the main, a succession of laborious spectacles.

A careful and conservative approach might have been understandable - But Wlad's 'Jab and Grab' antics became a strategic imperative, pretty much from the outset of Manny Steward's tenure (or very soon after it began). This strategy, at times, was taken to absurd degrees. The Povetkin debacle is a case in point - and an utter disgrace.

Vitali K, as a supporting act during his 2008-2012 return, didn't help matters much. He merely became the ****-filter for Wlad and has a relatively poor resume to show for it. My only concern during Vitali's second title run was that he might not have really meant it, after he'd declared that Charr was his last fight.

So, yeah - all in all - it was very bad - perhaps dire. The upside of this unfortunate period was that some good fights were seen in the lower divisions, which gained popularity through the more intrepid careers of the smaller fighters.

 

During the period in question, it is precisely so.

 

Extremely weak apart from a few select names. Most prior champions would've easily made it to the top 3 range in that era without much struggle.

 

A weak era with a mediocre champion and subpar competition. Wlad's long reign is the best proof of how weak that era was.

I longed for somebody, anybody to end Wlad's boring reign.... and then came Fury FFS.

Thus careful what you wish for.

 

Fury, at least, has been entertaining.

 

I think its over-hated a bit while it was def a weaker era then the 90s I feel a lot of that hate comes because there were no decent Americans/British heavyweights who people could connect with and because it was an era with two domaint champs and eras with dominant champs tend to be considered weaker then those without one. Though were some good fighters in that era that I think are underrated today like Poverkin, Haye, Byrd, Chagaev etc so overall while not the strongest era I think it was overblown how bad it really was.

 

There were some good talents but much of it was a very boring and non climactic era in heavyweight boxing. You saw about 3 or 4 waves of contenders and alpha champs who were supposed to be “ the next best thing “ which never materialized

 

Bingo.
A dominant champ always tends to get undersold as being in a weak era. Whether it was Louis’s bum of the month club, or Holmes living in Ali’s shadow as a “boring” champ. Casuals always misread the moment. Anyway Wlad ruling for 12 years is basically two eras not one. 18 consecutive title defenses and something like 25 title fights is almost unheard of today. In any weight class. Case in point what was Tyson’s era 87-90. Lewis era 97-03 Bowe’s era 92-93 and so forth.. I did find Wlad boring both in the ring and out (although he was a classy champion) but he was clearly a level above the field. And his opposition was not that bad sure when you make 18 consecutive title defenses you’ll have a couple of clunkers but Byrd, Haye, Povetkin could fight as could the E. Europeans that started to dominate the field like Chagaev, Ibrigamov.
He was a dominant champion. He deserves a lot of credit for that, it’s not easy to pick yourself up from the losses the way he did (ask any fighter) and carve out such a legacy. He always came in top shape and was good enough mentally and physically to run the roost for well over 10 years.

 

Why didn’t they become “the next best thing” because Wlad stood in the way

 

Side tangent, but Chris Byrd kinda reminds me of a weaker Jimmy Young.

 

And none of them did much after losing to Wlad either. Povetkin remained a pretty good fighter for a while. It just wasn’t a great era

 

Povetkin was probably the best out there, after Wlad. It's just a shame Wlad had to make such a pig's ear out of their contest.

 

A respect the fact that Wlad was a great fighter by virtue of his longevity at the top. But I didn’t enjoy watching him fight. His style was very uninspiring.