The thing I respect most about Wlad......

[sunny31]

He is a great fighter. It is unfortunate that he hasn't really had another great heavyweight to rival him (well vitali). I am not sure how he would have matched up against other greats from other era's simply because no matter how much he has improved, against other great fighters you need to be able to take some stick and exchange punches which I think would have got him knocked out against good/great fighters from other era's. He has become a hugely difficult fighter to catch clean, which is a credit to him and Steward, and the recipe to his success. I find it very impressive when fighters recreate themselves and come through adversity in their career.

He is on a great run right now, but I think he is facing the best fighter he has faced on July 2. If he can beat haye I will hold him in much higher esteem.

[GranTorino]

Well, first, those losses weren't back to back. If they had been, I dunno if any fighter would have carried on. But secondly, I don't think the losses that he did suffer affected him the way you and most other people think they did. I've always contested that there was something fishy about that Brewster loss and the way he man handled him the second time around just confirms it.