Will Wlad fight Pulev like he did Povetkin and make it an extremely crappy affair?

If you come with a crouchy style like Povetkin or Haye, attempting to get under Wlad with punches it's going to mean clinches. Watch Lewis Tua and you see exactly the same, but the Lion was not slagged or called a cheat. This fight won't be like that at all, I expect no more clinches than is normal for a top hw fight. Wlad will win by late tko or points.

 

That's one take on it.

The other is he has no inside game. Fighters who don't try and get close he can simply out box from range as they allow him the space and distance to get his shots off.

When faced against a fighter who wants to be in mid and close range, he doesn't have the tools or willingness to fight at this distance and so is forced to clinch, making it an ugly fight.

In reality it's a smart tactic. It may not be entertaining but it works. A boring win is better than an entertaining loss.

 

If thats what he has to do to win , so be it, but don't go claiming he's some all time great.
Because no basic 1-2 headhunter who can't do anything else will ever be an ATG boxer.

 

None of that overrides the fact that he's the 2nd longest reigning HW champion of all time, has the second most defenses, hasn't lost in 10 years. You can hate him all you want, but you can't deny his greatness... :deal

 

Thats only judged on the strength of the era and the era is garbage. Yet he still fights in a pathetic and disgraceful manner. He's too limited to be an ATG.

His run is nothing but a stat on paper. You can look at that stat on boxrec and claim he's an ATG by never even seeing him box.

Greatness is a lot more then that and he doesn't have it. Never will.

 

It's been a while since Wladimir has been in a competitive match, but he is capable of being exciting, in my opinion. And while some of the things he does frustrates me as a fan, I also appreciate much of what he does.

 

Most likely yes. If it works, there's no reason for him to dump that style.

 

Probably. Like I've said before, it's going to be a typical Wlad performance. His fans like it, his detractors don't. For me, he can look exceptional but he is terribly frustrating to watch.

 

Yes because Mayweather has never used stifling, illegal tactics to win a fight!

 

"too limited to be an ATG" but the stats say otherwise, if he's so bad than he wouldn't have ruled the division for long.. Apparently the HW division has sucked from the beginning of time, you can find news clipping going back nearly a century(probably even longer) about the HW landscape being a barren waste. But greats are rated on how they performed in their own eras, they shouldn't be compared to eras they weren't parts of.

Are you going to take your rose-tinted goggles off and talk about Ali, Johnson, Holyfield, and Tyson fouling? No, of course not.... According to you, Wlad is the dirtiest fighter in history, even though we know that isn't the case. Face it, Wlad is an ATG and to deny it is just plain dumb.

 

His era is garbage is what people say. There are still heavyweights, men dedicating their lives to beating him. He's been on top for a decade now, in the game for longer; no matter the 'era' a champion is a champion. He can fight how he wants, who is to tell him to change what is working? Call him boring, call him a bad fighter, all of this behind a keyboard. He is still 100x the man any of us will be. He's worked harder and been more dedicated than any of us will. Coming back from two blackout KOs must be scary as hell. Respect.

 

The ref should be telling him because what he does is illegal, he should have been DQ'd by the 4th round against Povetkin. The last time Wlad was involved in a fight against a bad style match-up, officiated by an impartial ref who didn't allow him to cheat, was the first Brewster fight and we all saw what happened there.

 

Simply answer:
Pulev will not let that happen.

 

We witnessed one of the most bizarre things in boxing history, a perfectly fit world class fighter completely loses all of his energy, and is stopped purely on exhaustion. (probably due to adrenaline dump) What does that have to do with Brewster??? Wlad was kicking his ass, he did absolutely nothing. He lucked out if anything..... Had nothing to with the fight being a bad style match-up, or an impartial ref.

 

What time the weigh-in starts ?