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

[Mr. Invincible]

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.

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.

[Mr. Invincible]

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA

OMG,thank you,you hilarious fool.

Haye ****ed up thompson in sparring practice.you idiot!.omg.genius.

First off, if Haye says he ****** up somebody in sparring, it holds no value. Secondly, styles make fights. You should get some common sense before responding to anything I write I'm afraid. You just sounded very uneducated.

[Spray_resistant]

Thompson put up the best effort, everyone else barely even tried and was easily beaten.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[nomadman]

I think this thread deserves a bump.