Which recent opponent gave the best effort at trying to beat Wlad?

Ok, regardless of what you thought of the opposition, which fighter of late do you think gave the best, most honest effort at trying to dethrone Wlad? Who trained the hardest? Who fought the best opponents as preparation? Who gave the gutsiest effort in the ring? To help here are Wlad's last ten opponents, their weights with corresponding height, their performance and their last two opponents prior to the fight: Samuel Peter: 241lbs, 6 feet 2, KO 10, Nagy Aguilera, Gabe Brown Eddie Chambers: 209lbs, 6 feet 1, KO 12, Alexander Dimitrenko, Samuel Peter Ruslan Chagaev: 224lbs, 6 feet 1, RTD 9, Carl Drummond, Matt Skelton Hasim Rahman: 253lbs, 6 feet 2, TKO 7, James Toney (NC), Zuri Lawrence Tony Thompson: 247lbs 6 feet 5, KO 11, Cliff Couser, Luan Krasniqi Sultan Ibragimov: 219lbs 6 feet 2, UD 12, Evander Holyfield, Shannon Briggs Lamon Brewster: 228 lbs 6 feet 2, RTD 6, Sergei Lyakhovich (loss), Luan Krasniqi Ray Austin: 247lbs 6 feet 6, KO 2, Sultan Ibragimov (draw), Jeremy Bates Calvin Brock: 224lbs 6 feet 2, TKO 7, Timur Ibragimov, Zuri Lawrence Chris Byrd: 213lbs 6 feet, TKO 7, DaVarryl Williamson, Jameel McCline I've made the earliest fight the Byrd rematch since this is more or less where the modern Wlad found his groove. (it's also the limit of my poll options)

Comments (17)

nomadman

I think this thread deserves a bump.

14y ago

nomadman

Both did decent and I never thought Wlad would lose either fight but if one fustrated Wlad more, I have to say it was Thompson because of the jab. Nobody stops Wlads jab and he managed to. But that was a very spot on explanation of why it happened aside from not mentioning Thompson's skills and southpaw stance. The last opponent I can really recall thinking might beat Wlad was Peter in the first fight. But I definitely agree that Thompson frustrated Wlad the most. Why I'm not entirely sure. His height helped, though Wlad's beaten big guys before like McCline and Austin without really breaking a sweat. I think that, although slow and lacking in power, Thompson just seems to know when to throw shots and how to keep the pressure on at all times. He's a pretty underrated fighter and one of the tricker guys to beat in the heavyweight division, despite his lack of any outstanding quality.

15y ago

nomadman

Thompson put up the best effort, everyone else barely even tried and was easily beaten. I thought Peter and Chambers tried quite hard in the early rounds. Peter was bobbing and weaving like a chunky Frazier, throwing hard hooks to Wlad's chin, one of which landed flush in the first. Chambers was landing crisp counter hooks over Wlad's jab and trying to rough him up in the clinch with the bodyslams. Both guys also got stung fairly early and entered survival mode, which seems to be a pretty common reaction from most of Wlad's opponents given his accuracy and power.

15y ago

nomadman

Chambers really? i would pick chagaev cause he tried it every round and after his corner realised chagaev has no chance they pulled him out! But he really did work! Chambers tried also but he gave up and was a punching bag on the ropes for quite some time and just wanted to last the distance against the monster! I thought Chagaev's performance was extremely disappointing. He just stood in front of Wlad, taking punches to the face and gloves for nine rounds doing little to nothing to try to work his way inside Wlad's guard. After the Valuev fight I'd have at least expected him to, if not emulate the performance, have shown a little more effectiveness in landing shots against Wlad than previous opponents had been able to. The quittage on the stool just capped off the non-performance for me.

15y ago

Hayehammer

15y ago

Steak

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA OMG,thank you,you hilarious fool. Haye ****ed up thompson in sparring practice.you idiot!.omg.genius. lies. Its more likely Thompson embarressed Haye in sparring, and it was hushed up.

15y ago

nomadman

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA OMG,thank you,you hilarious fool. Haye ****ed up thompson in sparring practice.you idiot!.omg.genius. Trust you to lower the tone, twatface.

15y ago

dvb

Thompson by far. He had actually out landed Wlad , which is unheard of. He was also the first since Sanders to neutralize Wlads jab. He deserves another shot in my opinion. Maybe @ Haye. Will never happen because Haye would never take that risky of a fight. HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA OMG,thank you,you hilarious fool. Haye ****ed up thompson in sparring practice.you idiot!.omg.genius.

15y ago

nomadman

Thompson by far. He had actually out landed Wlad , which is unheard of. He was also the first since Sanders to neutralize Wlads jab. He deserves another shot in my opinion. Maybe @ Haye. Will never happen because Haye would never take that risky of a fight. Thompson did the best in the ring and his workrate and lack of a height disadvantage actually forced Wlad to fight more like a conventional fighter. He opened up a hell of a lot more on Thompson than he normally does. Still I wouldn't say Thompson troubled him at any stage. Brock actually cut Wlad and was doing well on the cards up until the stoppage.

15y ago

nomadman

I'm having a hard time finding one that gave an effort. Admittedly Wlad's skills are partly to blame, but looking at the list I wonder how some of them got a title shot at that stage in their career. The only two opponents in that list whom I'd say were definitely unworthy of shots at the time Wlad fought them were Austin and Rahman, though Rahman was a last minute replacement. You could say Brewster didn't deserve the fight after coming off a loss to Lyakhovich, but given that it was a revenge match it made sense. Similar situation with Peter who gave Wlad his last hard competitive fight.

15y ago

jone6617

If Tony the tiger had even a little bit of punching power he would have KO'd Wlad, he made him look foolish. He did the best, that fight showed how vulnerable he is to a counter puncher with speed and power, Thompson has neither, but his defense and movement put him in position to land the shot needed.

15y ago

_Shawn

I picked chambers. Not that he looked like he was a threat at any moment, but he definately came in prepared to win, regardless of his physical limitations. This, dude might not have been big enough to pull it off, and he might not have had the power, but he went in with a plan, and he tried his ass off all night.

15y ago

tyger

I'm having a hard time finding one that gave an effort. Admittedly Wlad's skills are partly to blame, but looking at the list I wonder how some of them got a title shot at that stage in their career.

15y ago

nomadman

Brock and Thompson are both pretty good choices. They both fought to win, and even won their fair share of rounds. I myself voted Chambers since, whilst he didn't do exceptionally well in the actual fight, fought some very stiff competition prior to it, and clearly trained pretty hard coming in at a trim 209lbs both for this and the Dimi fight before it. Also seemed to have a clear gameplan regarding Wlad's clinches and seemed genuinely gutted in the post fight interview.

15y ago

Jack_Napier

Brock he won 2 or 3 rounds and landed a few times

15y ago

THe_TRiNiTY

I wen't with Calvin Brock. Brock didn't really do **** and you could even argue that Thompson did a bit more. However, I never felt that the fight could end at any point in time in favor of Tony, so it's hard to make that case. Brock could atleast punch like a Heavyweight, if nothing else. Still, none of them did exceptionally well. Ibragimov lasted and did SOME damage, I suppose. Nonetheless, he was still clearly dominated.

15y ago

Steak

Tony Thompson Tony Thompson Tony Thompson Tony Thompson Tony Thompson outlanded and outjabbed Wladimir. too bad he cant punch his way out of a paper bag.

15y ago