Is that because he is: - so good now? - he competition is so bad? - his defensive style fits him well? - his size makes difference? any other?
Look at they way he ****ing completely shut out Chagaev. Ruslan didn't land a single punch. I don't care how bad your competition is(Chagaev is actually good), you have to be damn good to do that.
Competition is terrible, bunch of fat couch potatoes. Put him in the 80's and he would get dismissed like the chump he is.
he is a very good fighter. he has fast hands/huge size/good leg movement/good defense./good variety /genuine power in both hands/is good at not letting opponents getting inside /boxes within himself now always controlling the tempo. fighters know what they have to do. but simply cannot stand up to his punches well enough to be willing to walk through the punishment and get there own punches off and as the fight wears on his opponents settle for the loss not willing to risk getting battered to get the own punches off and gradulaly get wore down . a saftey first wlad is a hard fighter to beat for anyone in history.
The competition is a joke. Iggy was said to be the 2nd best heavy in the world, yet his last fight was 2 years ago against Wlad. Wlad barely landed a right hand that whole fight, yet that was the fight that retired sultan. Chagaev was **** when fought Wlad, the disease/injuries left him with nothing, but a shell of his former self. The writting was on the wall. Watch the two fights leading up to his fight with Wlad. He looked terrible against Drummond and Skelton.
he's really good but it also has to do with his comp, alot of his opponents consist of passed their prime journeymen or blown up cruisers. guys who sit there waiting to get hit who wouldnt know the first single, solitary thing about defense or timing. He's a great champ but we've seen what happens when he faces an opponent that can actually fight. he would be the oleg maskaev of the 70's 80's and early 90's.
Do you think his competitors: Byrd, Brewster, Peter, Ibragimov, Chagaev would have no chance to be competitive in 80ties?
He has perfected his safety first style and the division is quite weak. Not his fault though he can't fight in any other division.
rubbish. you had holmes at the beggining and tyson middle to the end. witherspoon IMO was the best of the rest that i can think of the top of my head and he was always fat. holmes was not exactly cut either perhaps pinklon thomas when he was not on drugs was a good 80`s heavy then you had a lot of page/tubbs/coetzee/bey/ type fighters who would need to be boiled to the bone before you would find some lean meat. IMO i think wlad would be favourite v every one of holmes and tysons opponents during the 80`s