Why do people think fury beats a prime Wlad?

Yep. the one word that describes it.:deal

 

Because Vladimir never fought a tall heavyweight that can box.

 

He dethroned an active, seemingly impregnable ATG, so I don't see why it would be a "crazy" thought. Debatable, but not crazy. Everyone is talking about how Wlad is declined now that he's lost, but there were fairly few signs of it at the time. He fought poorly by his standards against Jennings, but that was about the only real sign and most attributed it to matchup problems.

Personally, I'm 50/50 whether any version of Wlad beats Fury. I think Fury at least troubles Wlad at any stage, especially after obtaining Steward and becoming more cautious. I can see the younger, more reckless Wlad beating Fury but its no sure bet. Fury's dimensions and speed pose natural problems for Wlad. Wach was the only half decent opponent Wlad ever had who was taller than him, and lets face it, Wach had good power and great chin, but was a walking punching bag, he could never pose any threat to steal rounds from Wlad. Fury would always win rounds over Wlad, the only question is can Wlad stop Fury.

 

Wladimir was 39 years old when he lost to Fury, get a clue, the man's reflexes and willingness to push the trigger was barely lingering.

 

Fury may well be better than people, including myself, gave him credit for. Wlad has definitely declined, but he's still a top, powerful heavyweight. Fury might be one of those guys that fights to the talent of the opposition. Still, prime Wlad > Fury. I think the rematch will prove that.

 

Tony Thompson.

 

Because of the styles of the two men. Yes, age played a factor, but the game plan of Fury played an even bigger factor.

Fury and his team noticed that Wlad's output decreases against fighters who offer a moving, awkward target (Haye, Jennings, Ibragimov), so they devised a plan of constant moving and a herky-jerky style to stop Wlad being able to read and time Fury. Because of this movement, Wlad couldn't get his jab off as he only throws against a stationary target.

It has been known for some time how to beat Wlad. It's not rocket science; take his jab away like Fury did if you can match Wlad for height and athleticism, or if you are smaller, Tyson, Frazieresque upper body movement to get inside of Wlad's jab. Fury had the size, the smarts and the ability to fight the right fight needed to beat Wlad.

Does this make Fury better than Wlad overall? Will Fury have a long succesful career like Wlad? Who knows? Possibly not. But, that still doesn't mean that Fury doesn't have the measure of Wlad. That he is possibly Wlad's boogeyman. He just has the style, regardless of age, to beat the style that Wlad has fought in for the past ten years. For Wlad to win in the rematch he doesn't need a time machine. He needs a new style of fighting.

 

I was very, very surprised that he could even beat current Wlad, but then again, that version of Wlad we saw in the ring that night would probably have been beaten by almost every top 10 HW out there.

 

Thank you for your in-depth ****ysis, OP

 

Very true

 

Prime Wlad had a mammoth struggle with Tony Thompson who was molasses like in his movement and had a knee injury to make matters even worse.
That slowed him down even more than his usual turtle paced self.

Thompson did not have fast hands either , yet he tagged Wlad with left hand counters every round.
If an old , slow , smaller and lesser skillled Thompson could have that sort of success , then the logical out come against Fury would be the same as it was last year.

Just look at the state of his face , mauling his opponent as per usual. Grappeling doesn't work of Fury.

http://cdn2.spiegel.de/images/image-373669-galleryV9-vgja-373669.jpg

 

Fury beat the Wlad who had just destroyed Pulev - who was the #1 rated HW Contender.

The #1

 

Many boxers are at their best when they are older. Hopkins for example. Older Wlad for me is far better than the younger Wlad. When Fury beat him he was in the middle of one of the best runs of his career and that was not far from the best version of Wlad.

 

Oh I know how sore you get Robney when the Brit fighters do well, go and have a glass of water and calm yourself down.