The closest we got to seeing wladmir step outside his comfort zone and fight fast, slick boxers were byrd, chambers, and fury. Unfortunately, byrd had zero power and gave up a lot in the size and strength department. Fury fought a wladmir who was well past his prime and was utterly confused by such a big man who could move well and box. I think emmanuel stewart did a fine job fine tuning wlads style, but if were being honest it was designed for dealing with slow, plodding, chubby sluggers and muscle bound pressure fighters. With the average guy being over 230 lbs and matches becoming sloppy maul-and-clinch fests, he probably never saw a slick outboxer type emerging to challenge wladmir. Buster Mathis steps out a time machine and takes on wladmir in three scenarios: -pre emmanuel stewart -with stewart -the most recent era (fury/joshua fights)
It depends. Wlad's slow pace could end up working against him against Mathis. Mathis had a solid chin and did well against tall slow fighters. What Mathis was weak against was workrate that lighter athletic fighters would bring. If Mathis shows up between 225 to 240 he most likely knocks Wlad out, but if it's a 250+ Mathis Wlad outpoints him.
Wlad would still have a fair reach advantage. Interesting concept but i think Wlad would be too good. Pre Stewart would be the best scenario for Buster. I'd favor Wlad but Buster wouldn't be without hope. I think the other two versions should be too good. Buster's best shot imo would be early. He had quick hands and a sneaky right hand and also slipped punches pretty well. This content is protected
is this jnr or snr? Snr was dangerous, would be on to stop wladdie. Jnr would get outhustled by Wlad over 12. This is against prime wlad, early 30s, none other counts.
This seems like a pretty accurate breakdown. Frazier and even Ali had Mathis badly hurt in tbe late rounds due to him carrying too much blubbet and running out of energy. An in shape mathis might outhustle him, but expecting him to be in shape is like asking holyfield to avoid brawling--probably wont happen! 8/10, i expect wlad to lose the early rounds confused by mathis' slipperyness and fast hands, maybe even gets dropped at some point, but eventually mathis starts wheezing around the 9th and wlad lands too many right hands and has him stumbling. Probably doesnt last too much longer after that, especially if wlad goes to the body.
