Which heavyweight challenger was worse?

[PainfromUkraine]

I'm confused as to the true point of this thread - is this meant to attack Wlad or rather the current practices of the sanctioning bodies who rank guys like these high enough to get title shots? Although Wlad perhaps should or could THEORETICALLY have fought better guys than these, it's more the fault of the sanctioning bodies...i mean to have Leapai to be no.1 of ANY ranking?? Too easy to get ranked these days...too much politics...Wlad had to fight some 'bums' to stay busy while the bigger fights materialise. To be fair, he could have beat Fury or Wilder like Wach back in 2012, and Fury might not have come back and he'd be written off as a bum...this way at least fights can build up till they materialise.

Hopefully Wlad fights some more exciting guys now, which i'm sure he will, but also hope sanctioning bodies fix up.

[LacedUp]

Quick update on rankings:

Alex Leapai is ranked #26 by boxrec. or just two spaces above Antonio Tarver.

Pianeta is ranked #22.

Wach is nowhere to be found, but maybe that's due to the steriod thing or whatever,

[LacedUp]

I'm confused as to the true point of this thread - is this meant to attack Wlad or rather the current practices of the sanctioning bodies who rank guys like these high enough to get title shots? Although Wlad perhaps should or could THEORETICALLY have fought better guys than these, it's more the fault of the sanctioning bodies...i mean to have Leapai to be no.1 of ANY ranking?? Too easy to get ranked these days...too much politics...Wlad had to fight some 'bums' to stay busy while the bigger fights materialise. To be fair, he could have beat Fury or Wilder like Wach back in 2012, and Fury might not have come back and he'd be written off as a bum...this way at least fights can build up till they materialise.

Hopefully Wlad fights some more exciting guys now, which i'm sure he will, but also hope sanctioning bodies fix up.

To discuss which 'contender' was worse?

[PainfromUkraine]

The point of this thread is to discuss how Wlad is fighting the worst opposition consistently in modern heavyweight history.

It's also to discuss the current *****ty state of the division as well as to discuss whether or not other guys could be fighting him and what it takes for them to get in the ring with Wlad or for Wlad to get in the ring with them.

You see, I don't praise fighters after beating truck drivers in world title fights.

Don't think anyone is praising him on the actual competitor he beats, simply the fashion in which he beats them. Any praise regarding the Leapai fight is down to him putting on a relatively entertaining, dominant performance with lots of good offence and much less holding. Of course, it's going to be easier to do that v a 'truck driver'. V Pianeta he did what he had to do, dominated, outclassed and KO'd a tough but limited guy. And in Wach found a human roided up statue and threw bombs all night in a relatively exciting fight v a bigger guy for once.

I'm not going to get into a discussion as to why he's fought these guys...i'm sure 1 or 2 could be gimmes but I also know regardless of smack talk from challengers like Fury, they weren't stepping up to fight back then. Wlad did what he had to do and kept busy, convincingly beating anyone available...taking a few 0s, and having a few unfortunate stinkers.

All I am saying is, it's as much the fault of this division in general in terms of the contenders mainly wanting a payday, and sanctioning bodies ranking bums too high, and this whole problem of padding records to get these fights.

I say again, blame cannot really be placed on one particular thing here. However, I am confident the next fights will be the end of this little **** run we've been on. I'm hoping.

[PainfromUkraine]

To discuss which 'contender' was worse?

I think it's been proven most contenders right now are all equally **** compared to Wlad so it's a pretty mute point...and they might not even be neccessarily bad in general, but right now compared to Wlad they are...how do you even define the criteria - 1 was a limited guy who kept walking into punches hoping for the best till he got KO'd, the 2nd was a limited tall guy with a roided up chin, and the 3rd was a midget 'truck driver' who should never have been there but was a mandatory.

2 of those fights were voluntaries when no-one else was available or willing (as far as I know, and at least they had 0s)

Leapai was a mandatory, and would be disrespectful to the division to vacate for not fighting a guy like that...especially with no-one else really a MUST HAVE fight for this slot.

Mormeck was awful.

[LacedUp]

Don't think anyone is praising him on the actual competitor he beats, simply the fashion in which he beats them. Any praise regarding the Leapai fight is down to him putting on a relatively entertaining, dominant performance with lots of good offence and much less holding. Of course, it's going to be easier to do that v a 'truck driver'. V Pianeta he did what he had to do, dominated, outclassed and KO'd a tough but limited guy. And in Wach found a human roided up statue and threw bombs all night in a relatively exciting fight v a bigger guy for once.

I'm not going to get into a discussion as to why he's fought these guys...i'm sure 1 or 2 could be gimmes but I also know regardless of smack talk from challengers like Fury, they weren't stepping up to fight back then. Wlad did what he had to do and kept busy, convincingly beating anyone available...taking a few 0s, and having a few unfortunate stinkers.

All I am saying is, it's as much the fault of this division in general in terms of the contenders mainly wanting a payday, and sanctioning bodies ranking bums too high, and this whole problem of padding records to get these fights.

I say again, blame cannot really be placed on one particular thing here. However, I am confident the next fights will be the end of this little **** run we've been on. I'm hoping.

I'm not putting the blame entirely on Wlad. I know that these other contenders aren't exactly queuing up to face Wlad, which is a big shame.

But regardless for all of that, no excuse can be made for him to to fight the likes of Pianeta and Mormeck. It was pathetic. Even Manny Steward said it was pathetic.

Only God knows how Wlad can motivate himself for those kinds of fights.

Hopefully Wlad will soon announce that he's going to try and force his way into a WBC title shot or try and get some of the top 10 guys in the ring.

And ffs, let's hope it's not TT.

[LacedUp]

I think it's been proven most contenders right now are all equally **** compared to Wlad so it's a pretty mute point...and they might not even be neccessarily bad in general, but right now compared to Wlad they are...how do you even define the criteria - 1 was a limited guy who kept walking into punches hoping for the best till he got KO'd, the 2nd was a limited tall guy with a roided up chin, and the 3rd was a midget 'truck driver' who should never have been there but was a mandatory.

2 of those fights were voluntaries when no-one else was available or willing (as far as I know, and at least they had 0s)

Leapai was a mandatory, and would be disrespectful to the division to vacate for not fighting a guy like that...especially with no-one else really a MUST HAVE fight for this slot.

Mormeck was awful.

I don't think you can say that Fury, Pulev, Wilder are **** because Wlad beat Povetkin or Leapai or Pianeta.

I don't think that's right.

[PainfromUkraine]

I don't think you can say that Fury, Pulev, Wilder are **** because Wlad beat Povetkin or Leapai or Pianeta.

I don't think that's right.

Do you REALLY believe that those guys could beat him though? They are decent...don't get me wrong...but i'm sure i've seen you posting that Wlad would shutout or stop Pulev...if you are getting shutout or stopped you're not great - no? And Fury...don't rate him but we will see...Wilder is unproven.

Let's say Wlad beat all these guys convincingly...I can guarantee a lot of people here will call them garbage/bums.

Also, I don't rate Povetkin at all...but I think even that win is a better one than any of those other three have on their resume ATM.

[Dean_Razorback]

nothing worse than molli.

[PainfromUkraine]

nothing worse than molli.

Still can't believe Wlad used to have that entrance music