Will Wlad get his respect years from now?

I think he's already a little overrated. It's even been implied he is at or near GOAT status, and he just didn't have that kind of career.

 

I think Wlad will age well in terms of respect.
Probably more than he gets in casual conversation s now.
Boxing fan's tend to do this thing where they judge fighters too much in the moment, then soften over time when emotions fade and context settles in.
Tho I'm not a big fan of his, I do respect his long title reign.

 

He was by far the best of his era. Not even close.

As to the question - he's rated higher now than he was 10 years ago. We'll see after the next 10 years if his stock raises as Lewis' did.

 

He should. Numbers are there (both title defenses and length of reign). Eye test checks out most of the time, too.

 

By a small minority of posters maybe. Most people on this forum probably him somewhere in that 7-16 range.

 

Wlad gets more respect than he deserves. Vitali gets a lot of love on this forum because, even though like his brother he doesn’t have the best resume, he fought like a warrior. Wlad had all the ingredients of being a gladiator. He was 6'6, had an 81-inch reach, was muscular, had good footwork, powerful, but all he did was jab and clinch.For example, he beat Povetkin (by far his best win), a guy who is less experienced, weaker, less powerful, and only 6'2" with a 75 inch reach, by clinching him and pressing all of his body weight on Povetkin (he initiated clinches over 180 times and landed only 139 punches). Boxing is 90% entertainment. This forum finds too much joy in saying, for example, Dubois is trash and overrated, but at a certain point, who cares? Ali and Tyson are overrated, but who cares. I would rather have an overrated, flawed fighter like Dubois than another Wlad 23 title defense be damned.

 

But why would you want both? Wilder, for all his faults, was right in ducking Wlad.

 

He was so good that he extinguished a very talented era.

He's a lot closer to being that GOAT than he is to being the 10th greatest heavy of all time.

 

I think he will. He was either at or near the top of the division for an incredibly long time and had a ton of world title fights.