Wlad is back to his pre-Sander's level

Agree. He seems to be more confident with each fight. He's running the show, now, and he knows it.

 

Serious confidence and conditioning I saw tonight, he could have fought the way he did as active as he was and sharp for 20 rounds without getting tired. Awesome performance.

 

@grouch i agree this is the best vlad ever, and i doubt that anyone besides lewis could beat him

 

golota would trouble wlad thats how bad chagaev was

 

Yeah right, the only time Chagaev pressured him/flurried him, Wlad looked all goofy and backed up awkwardly.

Wlad is far from the ultra confident days of pre-steward, he was a murderer then, who had killer instinct. He is now an ultra-cautious fighter with great defense and a more effective style that protects almost anyone from getting to his weak chin. The last man to do it was Peter, and he looked terrible that night if anyone cares to watch it on youtube.

 

This is all true. Wlad has also patented a wierd blocking stance after he misses and is off balance now. He brings his right across his face, leans back and swats or pushes backward with his left. *shitty description*

You can see him do this after he misses a straight right (which is rare). He can also push away his opponents punches because they're so damn weak. The man is not getting hit again by anything solid. Very effective defense and meovement he showed.

But I would love to have Pre-Steward Wlad back. Today shattered my hopes of him turning up again. :-( The guy was a machine.

 

Good post, but Wlad is a better fighter now and I really could only see Vitali giving him any problems at this point in the ring.

It sure has been awhile since Wlad has fought anyone even close to as strong as him in the ring, when your 6'0, 6'1 like Iggy, Bryd, Brewster, and Chagaev, who are all under 230, it's hard to out strength someone who is 6 inches taller than you and is naturally strong as ****. Even Peter had moments where it was evident that Wlad was stronger than him, though only him and Sanders were able to put up a good fight in the strength department. Wlad would be dumb to try and bat down these guys best punches, he would probably get his arm broken.

 

Tonight he was so manuverable...side stepping out of danger, not backing up all teh time.
Yep, and smart enough to clinch and do it well with mimimum time nor fuss. Expert clinching.

 

I think Wlad has more confidence in his overall ability than ever before. His performance tonight was superb, kept proper distance, anticpated Chagaev's movements and disrupted his flow with the jab flawlessly, and landed hard combinations at every possible opening. He knows he doesn't need to bomb his opponents out early because he can outbox and punish them for 20 rounds if need be. He is very relaxed in the ring and doesn't dispense energy needlessly.
Tonight he was nearly technically perfect and proved that he is worthy to share the ring with any of the greatest HW's in history, win or lose.