Is Wladimir on the slide/shot?

[The Gambler1981]

I don't think he is fading... well much at least, I think if someone rushes at him like a bull in a china shop he would always react in a similar way, because that is the Steward way in the absolute extreme.

I would have liked to see Povetkin work more on the way in, work more on the inside, work more in the clinch, foul Wlad back when it is clear the ref is doing nothing and the main one get inside but don't go too far in

[Dr.Eisenfaust]

I think its quite evident Wladimir is slipping with age, but that does not mean there's a smaller gap in competition, I can see him going strong for 5 more years if he is allowed to clinch as seen in a few nights ago.

When he didn't clinch his jab was on Povetkin's face. Povetkin is still an amazing fighter but he is, without mentioning his inside game, an inferior boxer to Wladimir. Wladimir found the distance to land the shots he wanted to land. Most of the time he saw Povetkin's punches coming.

The problem with Wlad is that, contrary to his ( I think) superior brother, he doesn't want to fight fire with fire. He still has a nice uppercut that he may use. He didn't use his jab as a tool to control the distance and connect some combos at all.

[Frank Ducketts]

Forgetting it was a stinker and sure he 'dominated' but I can't get over how awful he looked.

Ignoring the hugging and such did anybody else think hes seemingly aged badly overnight?
His feet was all over the place. I'm not one who thinks hes robotic, I think he moves exceptionally well for a guy of his size & is pretty light on his feet.
He looked slow and sluggish despite weighing in less than he usually does.
He barely threw his right hand at all! He fought the whole fight one handed.
His shots didn't appear to have much snap

It leaves me believing this generation of HWs is even worse than people think.
Jab, clinch, jab, clinch after this has happened 50 times you'd of thought a guy would of worked a way around it, right? Or tried to at least

The key to beating Wladimir IMO is somebody explosive with good head movement, a mid-range combination puncher. I legitimately believe that despite being a cruiserweight that Rakhim Chahkhiev would knock Wladimir out. I think he brutalises him. Absolutely destroys him in shockingly one sided fashion.

Hes not going to plod inside & let Wlad lean on him. Hes not going to stay on the end of Wlads jab and invite that right hand.
Rakhim has questionable stamina but did you see how quickly Wladimir faded when being forced out of his comfort zone? Rakhims style is reminiscent of Sanders. I feel Wlads still the same fighter hes just had nobody in there capable of exploiting his weaknesses.

Where was the overhand right from Povetkin?

I always did feel just about everyone was harsh of Wladimir but on that performance despite winning just about every round I now have a very hard time seeing him hanging with the best HWs.

Its harsh as hes at the end of his career, hes aging and its inevitable but he is not as good as I thought he was. He had no answers but to grab & lean.

Ok, you want honesty. Yes he is on the decline. Where was the jab? Why all of the hugging and clinching? When you get older you know that you're going to take some shots. You get better in other areas.

Wlad doesn't commit to the body and his jab is not landing like it used to. Look what he resorted to doing to win against a guy who wanted to get inside. He looked old. He looked like a bully, and not the guy some have said ranks up there with the top 10.

[Jloro]

His clinching skills are diminishing. He could probably fight off a bear though with jabs so I'm sure he will be fine until he is 50 unless he fights Wilder