After seeing Daniel Dubious knock out Anthony Joshua it made me think of how difficult it is to stay on top in the heavyweight division People will bring up Klitschkos lack of competition but to consistently beat top 10 guys who are B and C level fights is hard at the heavyweight division
Well, for me he's an ATG. 10 years in a row being the champion, only the greatest HW ever (joe louis) did better than him. 10 years are not a joke. If he's not an ATG who is? even with that oposition, that's ridiculous.
Last night hurt Wlad’s standing… A man with power and some ambition made AJ look a total novice and beat him from pillar to post for 5 one-sided rounds. None of us rate AJ as a skilled boxer… hands too low, poor defense, stiff etc And he was up on the cards against Wlad who is meant to be a top boxer that you cannot beat on points. His consistency should be admired albeit against poor opposition. But after last night there’s even more reason to doubt he could beat a lot of the greats
I respectfully disagree. Wlad fought Joshua at age 41 in his final bout. Joshua then losing to Dubois seven years later doesn’t really hurt Wlad’s legacy in any way in my opinion.
Wlad was 41 y/o, hadn't fought in a year and a half, and was obviously way past his prime but, as I said last night, unless you come from the right country or era you're considered in the midst of your prime in your mid-late 30s or into your 40s too Here's a prime Wlad. Look at how fast he looks. Look at that piston jab. Look at the speed of that left hook, two, three in quick succession not the slow telegraphed one AJ was repeatedly able to see coming and duck under This content is protected But Mercer was 41 y/o there Serge. Yes, the same age as Wlad was when he fought AJ, only difference is Mercer took up boxing aged 23, had 70 amateur fights, and 35 pro ones, whereas, Wlad took up boxing aged 14, had 140 amateur fights, and 68 pro ones
Are you being serious? the two fights are almost a decade apart for ****s sake and Wlad was in his 40s.
He is appreciated but he suffered some shocking defeats aswell in his physical prime that look quite bad and are a knock against him. Sanders absolutely obliterated Wladimir easily and he never revenged that loss plus Sanders had an unremarkable career for the most part so that is a bad loss. Wladimir does deserve respect from how he bounced back and had a long reign. But the issue is he could never fight his brother so we never truly found out who was the best. Plus all the boring uneventful fights Wladimir had aswell with his ridiculous clinching especially in the Povetkin fight does hurt his popularity aswell.
That is the reason why I don't rate him that high compared to other top HW's. Wlad had a lot of good points; terrific power, tall, great athlete for his size with quick hands and feet, and a good array of quick, crisp, accurate shots. Unfortunately, due to not having the sturdiest whiskers, he developed an ultra defensive and more predictable style. All things considered, it greatly helped him as he went on to have a long and successful carrer. However, he was greatly helped by being in a weak era that largely consisted of fighters tailor made for him; smaller, slow, flat footed fighters. Whenever anyone gave Wlad anything other than a stationary target, he would often struggle, and his already low work rate would reduce to practically nothing. I believe Wlad would have struggled more in a more competitive era with opposition with a wider variety of styles. Ultimately, he was a good fighter who did what he had to do (beat who was put in front of him), but who was put in front of him was usually not that impressive. Wlad was actually hugely underrated in his prime. It is in retirement where I see him get overrated by many. This is nothing new in sport, though.
I remember 8 or 9 years ago almost everybody was insulting Wlad, saying that he's boring, coward, fraud etc.
Agree 100 percent. Wlad gets a lot of criticism, but he dominated the HW division for a long time and was clearly the best fighter of the era. None of the current top HWs come close. Usyk is the best of them, but he lacks longevity.