Wlad was never better

[Weltschmerz]

A bit like master B-hop?

Man, even without clinching, I couldn't stand watching Hopkins vs Kovalev. Such a negative style.

[yoz]

Let's not talk up Pulev too much. Povetkin would crush him, too.

Not sure why people are grumbling. Wlad is cleaning out a new crop of a contenders, and, in the process, cementing his place in boxing history.

[Chris Bauermeis]

Let's not talk up Pulev too much. Povetkin would crush him, too.

Not sure why people are grumbling. Wlad is cleaning out a new crop of a contenders, and, in the process, cementing his place in boxing history.

In other words he's crushing a new crop of tomato cans.

That trash has no place in boxing history.

[M Bison]

Man, even without clinching, I couldn't stand watching Hopkins vs Kovalev. Such a negative style.

I think Bhop utilizes more spoiling tactics than Wladimir.
Kovalev would likely have KOed Bhop if all Hopkins was trying to do was clinch, those subtle little sneaky moves he does like putting his head down too low so the referee comes in and breaks the action up and just in general making the fight extremely slow.

Overall though I have slowly came to acceptance that some rough house tactics have to be used, the clinching wasn't half that bad as some made it out to be.

[Weltschmerz]

In other words he's crushing a new crop of tomato cans.

That trash has no place in boxing history.

It has - however you like it or not. Vladimir is cementing his ATG status.

[beez721]

I honestly can't see how anyone could make a solid case for today's Wlad being on the same level as the one that fought Chagaev, Peter in both fights or Haye.

He's slower on his feet, punch stats have diminished slightly and punch variation isn't the same.

He's obviously still clearly the best, but I think he looked a bit better a few years ago. Especially his footwork.

I suspect it's because Steward used to train it like a maniac.

I thought he looked a lot more easy to hit in his last couple fights. pulev did land a couple clean left rights that may have really did wlad in had he more power. he is almost 39 yrs old so unless he's another Hopkins he is going to continue to slide

[beez721]

Wlad grabbed Pulev literally every time he got tagged.



Imagine if every fighter did that, the sport wouldn't be worth watching but Wlad just gets away with it.

damn,,,wlad was rocked a bit more than I thought when I first watched it. he walked right into that jab. he also walked into a couple clean right hands in that last round before he caught pulev. I think hes going be in a lot of danger when he faces a bigger puncher. his defense isn't what it used to be

[#1Assassin]

idk..

tony weeks put a stop to his excessive clinching early. as a result he had to rely more on his punches to keep pulev off of him and we saw more of his exceptional offensive arsenal than we are accustomed to. in that regard i agree.

but we also saw just how flawed his defense is and how much he depends on clinching to defend himself. idk if his legs arent what they used to be but he seemed to struggle a bit to keep pulev away at times, maybe not having the same threat of coming too close and being tied up played a factor also.

once in punching range we saw how easy wlad is to hit, his height, reach and holding really is the only D hes got. he hardly uses his gloves, arms or head movement for defense at all. he seems in distress literally every time he gets hit with anything too.

[beez721]

idk..

tony weeks put a stop to his excessive clinching early. as a result he had to rely more on his punches to keep pulev off of him and we saw more of his exceptional offensive arsenal than we are accustomed to. in that regard i agree.

but we also saw just how flawed his defense is and how much he depends on clinching to defend himself. idk if his legs arent what they used to be but he seemed to struggle a bit to keep pulev away at times, maybe not having the same threat of coming too close and being tied up played a factor also.

once in punching range we saw how easy wlad is to hit, his height, reach and holding really is the only D hes got. he hardly uses his gloves, arms or head movement for defense at all. he seems in distress literally every time he gets hit with anything.

yea,,,I watched the fight again and wlad did look much more vulnerable. he was never a defensive genious but I don't recall him ever looking that easy to hit in the last 10 yrs than that night. luckily pulev wasn't a bigger puncher and wlad was able to crank that hook. as much as Im a wlad fan I think he's going to get knocked off soon. hopefully he wont stick around too long. you can see he's starting to regress defensively

[bojangles1987]

idk..

tony weeks put a stop to his excessive clinching early. as a result he had to rely more on his punches to keep pulev off of him and we saw more of his exceptional offensive arsenal than we are accustomed to. in that regard i agree.

but we also saw just how flawed his defense is and how much he depends on clinching to defend himself. idk if his legs arent what they used to be but he seemed to struggle a bit to keep pulev away at times, maybe not having the same threat of coming too close and being tied up played a factor also.

once in punching range we saw how easy wlad is to hit, his height, reach and holding really is the only D hes got. he hardly uses his gloves, arms or head movement for defense at all. he seems in distress literally every time he gets hit with anything too.

Why do people keep saying Wlad wasn't clinching as much? He was clinching every bit as much as always, whenever Pulev got anywhere within arm's reach.