thought about wlad

one thing i still dont understand about wlad, he has fought many good quality heavy weights, never went down, sanders destroys him and now he cant stay on his feet. is this all psychological? yes it is all psychological.

It's a mental issue for Wlad, just like as you said Tyson. Tyson was a maniac going into a fight! And if the intimidation worked and his opponent was too scared to do anything but avoid being hit, he would be KOed in a matter of moments. If you take the intimidation factor away from Tyson, he had no clue how to handle it and would fold up against a fighter that is skilled enough to take advantage. Golota was another one, tremendous chin, great ability, mentally disabled!!! he would come into a fight in the middle of a panic attack and unless his opponent was completely overmatched, he would do anything to get the hell out of the ring! Wlad's case is not as extreme as a Tyson or a Golota. He proved that even though he was in a little trouble, he knew enough to hold on a last the round! but I think his occasional awkwardness is mostly due to his reaction to panic situations! You cannot teach someone to have mental toughness like Ward and/or Gatti for example who while out on their feet can still pull out an offensive rally from their gut!

Wlad's chin is not the big problem...it's his mind that is the big problem. Mike Tyson could physically take a punch, but seemed to not handle it well, mentally. You would see him discouraged, & his ferocity level dropped. Wlad looks like he panics when he's tagged with a decent punch. He unravels.

sanders, brewster and peter are some big punchers, there's really no shame in being knockdowned by them... most heavey's would go down from big shots by those guys...

In his career he was never hit the way he was against Sanders. He even said that in the post fight conference. His opponents feared him and were reluctant to trade with him. Sanders had nothing to lose so he saw the opening and attacked Wlad. I knew that Wlad's balance was not very good while watching his fight against Mercer. His feet looked out of sync but he peppered Mercer with his offense. But I remember speaking with a buddy of mine and we discussed his balance and we both were not impressed.

IMO he needs bigger legs to support hes big tall frame like even before hes hit it looks like his knee's are buckling

Sanders has one hell of a left hand. Brewster has good power in both hands. All the Peter knockdowns were pushoffs, rabbit punches, or being off balance. He has a better chin then people give him credit for.