Who's the Smallest-Ever Fighter You'd Pick to Beat Current Wlad 6+ Times Outta 10?

Dont get me wrong, i understand your point.

But, it is hard to say. Wlad was very, very impressive, up to the Sanders win, in fact he had become the standout challenger for Lennox, and people forget sometimes, that Lennox' plan was always Tyson II, the Klitchskos and then retirement. The Sanders loss really came from nowhere, so did the Brewster loss and even originally the Purity loss. All were fights where Wlad could be expected to win easily, and to be honest, i cant see any of those fighters winning a rematch against any of the versions of Wlad.

the thinking nowadays, is that Wlad has such a long reach and good clinch that it is impossible for smaller boxers to get inside and land. In fact, since Brewster no one has been able to barely reach him. With due respect, this is a combination of his style, but also his great class. He is well ahead of his competition, in far better shape and he simply wares them out. I rewatched Sanders the other day. When he was hurt, he tried to jab sanders and use his reach, and he tried to clinch when Sanders got in close. He simply couldnt. I havent watched Peter I in ages, but if i recall correctly, when he was hit in this fight, he had the same problems keeping Peter off him and he just managed to survive. NO one has really caught him since them, but which big hitters has he faced in his own class?

And i should point out, it isn t that i think he cant beat big punchers or that he drops to his knees with every punch thrown, because he has probably beaten more behemoths than anyone else. My thoughts are that when a fighter lands crisply and cleanly on him, he has trouble keeping them at bay with his jab and clinch. His prime style means that he will get hit less often and it hasnt happened in a while (are there any examples of it happening since Peter?) but if it does happen, i tend to think that he will have the same problems that he always had.

The other thing which i do tend to challenge you on, is his cleaning out of the division. He has cleaned all but his clear no 1 challenger would be more correct. In cleaning his divsion, he has skipped: a. Beating the previous champion (due to retirement and also pre prime Wlad losing) and b. Facing his no 1 challenger (and arguably another previous champion). I really do think it is hard to clean your division out without doing these two things. And this is taking nothing away from Wlad, who I do like and who i actually think is proving that some of the old school training, tactics and style would still be successful today. It is actually quite amazing that the most active heavyweight in the world pretty much seems to be the world champion! It is supposed to work the other way.

 

Acknowledged on the Vitali point. Wlad has cleaned out all the division except his bro.

Peter hit him with some good shots in the second bout including a clean unblocked right out of a break and Wlad didn't flinch. So, I would say he has developed, mentally if nothing else.