The most impressive thing to me about tonight's fight was that it was Rahman, and not Klitschko, initiating the clinches and fighting tentatively. Wlad wanted to get down to business, and wasn't overwrought about Rahman's (admittedly non-existent) right hand. Wlad looked big and strong, calm and collected. He dominated Rahman, much as his brother rececntly did with the similarly-overmatched Sam Peter. * Let me make my official (at least pending a future weigh-in revision) prediction for a Wlad-Haye fight right now: This content is protected . Wlad is simply much too large, too long and too good for the smaller Haye and when Wladimir sends the weak-chinned, smack-talking Brit to Mike Tyson's "Bolivion" during that proposed match, the Haye Hype Machine will be finished once and for all, similar to what occurred to Sam Peter after he was dismantled by Vitali Klitschko. Haye has virtually no shot against either Klitschko, and I hope he is paid well for the beating he is going to soon be absorbing against one or the other of the dominant HW brothers.
He fought well. The only thing I would say about him is if he threw more hooks, some bodywork (yes I know this might involve taking a risk...) or an uppercut...it would make the whole thing a little bit more interesting. It's not as if he is incapable of doing this. Can't fault his performances and domination though.
Good post :good Wlad is less risk-averse than he used to be, but still no free swinger like a Barrett or Haye. At least he's gotten better that way, though. :thumbsup
well..to be fair it was a decent step down from iggy and thompson who are top 10 hws imo. Rahman was top 20 coming in. so wlad did what he needed to and looked calm and focused. he gave rahman no chance to catch him with a lucky punch. very solid performance against an outgunned opponent. it's pretty clear wlad looks better against orthodox boxers for the simple fact he can land his jab at will which allows him to get into sync. wlad looks extremely focused now.
Very well said. :good When I first saw Haye-Barrett, I actually thought Haye might have a shot. Then I watched it again and saw how Haye was on the canvas (Round 2, I think) from a blow to the top of the head in a clinch and forced to sit on the ropes to avoid shots from Barrett (Round 3) and realized I was kidding myself. Coupled with how massive Wlad looks right now and how much more dominant and comfortable he appears these days, I think Haye has almost no chance whatsoever. Anything Wlad hits Haye with will hurt him, and with his height and reach advantages, combined with Haye's poor defense and footwork, Wlad being able to land shots shouldn't be an issue. Haye will have to try to land on Wlad extremely quickly and hope he can hit and not be hit. I don't think it's going to happen, and I think Haye will be left crumpled on the canvas/protected by the referee in fairly short order.
I did not see any improvements from Wlad in this fight. Of course, he's pretty darned good already, so its okay. I'd like to see a bit of close range fighting in the future. If Wlad starts learning to fight on the inside instead of using the grab, he'll be practically unstoppable in the current division. It would be cool if he starts sneaking the uppercut in like Lewis was great at doing. I definately think Wlad would have to be favoured against Haye; but it should be a great shoot-out style fight. Haye will make it that.
Rahman has not nearly the speed that Haye has. Wlad looked a little shaky in rd2 of the fight today. I saw some openings on Wlad today that concerned me and a faster fighter may be able to exploit that. Don't get me wrong, Rahman WAS a great fighter back in the day but he is a shell of him former self. To me, Vitali looked pretty unstoppable against Peter. Even though Wlad dominated today, I saw openings in his defense that concerned me. I didn't see these openings in Vitali's last fight.
Good post :good I think Wlad is getting more of his confidence back as he gets further aways from the TKO's he suffered and is letting his hands go more and is not as worried about his chin. This is the improvement I see. He really didn't grab much in this fight, even though Rahman has the right hand that felled Lewis. You're right, I hope Wlad can become better at infighting and it would be good if he could incorporate an uppercut into that close-fighting game, IMO.
Good to see my favourite HW do a job on a decent late replacement. Wlad's resume really is easily the best at HW....he's willing to fight pretty much anyone bar his brother. As for Haye, I think that will be a great fight and someone will be stopped! (Haye) However, I'd like the former Undisputed CW champ to prove his credentials a bit more than he has done at HW....just so the victory has more meaning for Wlad when it comes. Very pleased overall though.
