Wlads h2h rank drops

Sanders dropped his belt, cashed out against Vitali for more money and retired.

Vitali filtered nothing, you really think Adamek, King Pin, Chisora, and Arreola were kryponite to Wlad during his reign.

 

Fury was like a poor man's version of Ali that night with less speed and power. Wlad just couldn't deal with so much lateral movement and confusion like switching to southpaw like Fury was throwing at him. Great defense by Fury, something that doesn't get mentioned. And to make matters worse, Fury has some great stamina for a guy his size he was the one moving throughout the entire fight yet it was Wlad who looked gassed out. Seriously Wlad would be in big trouble going 15 rounds against fighters he couldn't ko. I think Wlad was easily a top 10 h2h monster, but I'll wait for the rematch to come to a conclusion. It's not like Wlad was handicapped like Maravilla was.

 

It doesn't diminish his greatness at all but it does bring up relevant questions about his h2h ability.

 

Yep.

 

It does.

It brings up very clear considerations that pertain to his need to control rhythm and tempo.

So, what if he faces other very good-great fighters who can force him to fight against the grain. The highest of greats and can fight to the beat of their own drum and have the resourcefulness to deal with challenges that directly undermine their core strengths.

Wladimir has a strong script and usually he's good enough to not have his script torn up. When it's torn up, what does he do against other legendary heavyweights?

That's the question.

 

Precisely.

I'd say that makes him an ATG magician, but I'm certain that too will be debunked. That means that pretending to be an ATG magician by pretending to be an ATG boxer was, in and of itself, an illusion.

It's all quite meta.

 

Wladimir has demonstrated for many years a level of discipline, professionalism and work ethic that has rarely been witnessed in a heavyweight, and for that he has my respect. Never-the-less, the fact that Tyson Fury was able to nullify much of Wladimir's boxing style by his 'quick hands and lateral movement' suggests that those fighters who were considerably faster would have exploited the very same weakness but to a much greater extent. I doubt Wladimir's age is much a contributing factor here - he simply met an opponent who understood how to beat him. Ali would have done exactly the same, as would Larry Holmes and Lennox Lewis in addition to several others. Ultimately Wladimir has proved to be a good but limited fighter and as the old adage states: speed kills - and Ali was the fastest of them all.

 

David Haye had top 5 handspeed all-time for a heavyweight.

 

As was Byrd.

Speed plus superior reach would be a problem for any fighter.

But I don't think Fury is faster than prime Wlad, who I think was top 5 in that department at heavy.

 

Another worthless thread atsch Wladimir is competing at 40 years of age in the heavyweight division, a division where the shelf life of an athlete is not long enough. Also Tyson Fury is a 6'7 tall, talented boxer who is also 26 years old, he himself can defeat any of your Yank heroes of the past, they will be at a severe disadvantage with the Gypsy warrior :hi:

 

That is a moot point, however, it is important to remember that handspeed alone would be insufficient to nullify somebody of Wladimir's size...lateral movement, feinting, back peddaling...all of these coupled with fast hands would I believe have the effect of demoralising a larger more cumbersome opponent.

 

You just described Byrd. And Haye actually did move and feint well. Wlad was just faster than.

And I'm fine with favoring these guys over a 39 year old slowed down Wlad.

 

It isn't moot at all. David Haye had all of those assets in ways that were far better than Fury. It's a complicated problem that's partly Fury being big and awkward and partly Wlad being faded.

 

I guess age only matters when it is your favorite boxers losing right? Hopkins lost because of age, Roy Jones lost because of age, Lennox Lewis was getting outboxed by Vitali because of age, etc etc, the list is endless