This man is 6'6" tall, he is 240 lbs of lean muscle, he is very quick for his size and he has KO power in both hands, he has a powerful sledgehammer right hand and a very quick and heavy left hand hook..
Yet this guy comes out with a safety first style which includes using a long, fast powerful jab to keep his opponents under his control and at bay.. but that's it.. he doesn't use the jab to set up potential one-punch KO's in the early rounds, he jabs the smaller, weaker opponent around the ring for 8 boring rounds before he builds enough nerve to throw the right hand with meaning..
the only thing i respect about Wlad is in the professional manner he goes about preparing for fights, he also comes into the ring in tip top condition without an ounce of fat on his muscular physique,
but FFS when will see this guy come out with aggression? why doesn't this guy have a mean streak like Vitali and throw powerful combo's with the intention of taking his opponents head off from the first round? instead of throwing double and triple jabs how about doubling the jab and throwing in a heavy left hook followed by a sledgehammer right hand?
a Sultan Ibragimov, Tony Thompson or a faded over the hill Rahman shouldn't even be able to go 4 rounds with this guy let alone 7-8 rounds
A Heavyweight champion is supposed to be mean and feared by all
People often underrate Wlad. That guy is one of the best heavyweaights from the last 20 years. I have him in the top 10 ATG heavyweight form the 90's till the 00's. If his chin wasn't so bad he would be a very exciting heavyweaight. The heavyweight division would be a real excitinbg one to watch.
It's not exactly been a golden decade for HWs though
Wlad is extremley skilled and heavy handed, but he is really boring to watch now.
But, I can't think of many other HW's I would rather watch right now. The whole division is boring.
have same question. I want tosee mean version of Wlad, boxing beautiful & excitement, but doubt that will ever happen.
If you want excitement from a Klit, just watch Vitali. You won't and can't really expect excitement from Wlad... unfortunately. Having said that, he's skilled and just does the job effectively but not entertainingly. German fans love it though so it works for his fan base.
Watch his pre-Sanders fights and there you'll see aggression aplenty. Hell, in the Puritty fight I had him winning every round until he gassed out in the 10th. He was bangin the shit out of him, too! Punch after punch after punch (ironically, almost identical to the Haye-Thompson fight).
Completely different to the man we see today. Ah well.
He has been knocked out by lesser men. So he changed his style and wins easily without putting himself in harms way. It is what it is.
And it is intelligent.
Wlad won olympic gold. He is a boxer with brain.
A guy like Wlad could/should be able to bring attention back the heavyweight division - he has the height, physique, speed and power to capture the casual fans imagination, but he's not smashing contenders with his wrecking ball like heavy hands, he's content on moving around like a ballerina and jabbing the audience to sleep
Steward's first fight with Klitschko was the first Brewster fight, Klitschko was letting his hands go in that one until he got stopped/collapsed. After that he became safety first.
When did Manny Steward take over as his trainer? Manny teaches his fighters to fight tall and defensive? i know that earlier on in his career he would let his hands go, but now he fights like a scared cat, frightened of his own shadow..
yeah, he has been stopped a couple of times, but this is boxing, you have to stop your opponent as early as possible so he doesn't have the chance to stop you, you
have to be mean and go for the KO at all times, where is the killer instinct? Vitali has it,
He hasn't been the same since the Brewster loss, he used to let his hands go way more before he lost that fight. Since that fight, he's been much more conservative with his punches.