"Wladimir was always a coward at heart" true or false?

[Tony Trick-Pony]

He's a front runner. Not a coward. He fought everyone in his division for years and dominated.

But today is the reason why I can't place him amongst the greatest heavyweights ever. No sense of urgency whatsoever.

I agree. I would have had more respect if he'd went for it and lost instead of not pulling the trigger.

[stuff jones]

Hard to call a heavyweight boxer a coward but he definitely is scared to get hit more than any other heavyweight I've seen.

Even when his game plan wasn't working he refused to mix it up and take a few feather fisted Fury punches to land his own. He was terrified of getting pitterpatted.

[DARKSEID]

I don't know if he's a coward but he's easily the most overrated reigning heavyweight champ I have ever seen. If he can't lean and hold his opponent to death, he can't do a ****ing thing.

The guy got his ass roughed up by bryant ****ing jennings when the ref actually told him to stop leaning and holding for the first time in his career lol

This fight with fury is the first full klitschko fight I have been able to get through without walking out the ****ing room.

the closest I got to finishing a Wlad fight was the haye fight but I left before that one ended too.

[Daddy T]

Of course he's not a coward, is floyd a coward for being safety first? Is David Haye a coward for not going all out for the knockout against wlad? Is Manny pacquiao a coward for not swinging for the fences in the last round of the mayweather fight? Honestly why fans of the sport have to be so insulting towards some fighters that they don't like is beyond me. it's like the vast majority of the forum here just wait around hoping and waiting for the guys they don't like to fail so they can then come out with stuff like this. This place is oftentimes more of a boxing hate forum than place where people come to cheer their fighters on.

What Wlad is, is quite simple. He is limited. What he does he does very well, jab straight right, occasional left hook and clinch. But that's ALL he does or can do. 99% of the time due to various advantages that he has, especially against smaller opponents jab straight right, clinch ... occasional left hook is more than enough. Against Fury, who it turns out has a much wider array of skills combined with greater speed, reach and movement, Wlad's weapons simply didn't work. Unlike somebody like say a Lennox Lewis who would have been able to adjust in such a situation (like the way he adjusted to Vits when he was getting outboxed on the outside and just turned it into a brawl) Wlad does not have the ability to adjust. All he can do is more of the same, maybe with the workrate/intensity increased.

Calling him a coward just mean spirited tbh. He is a limited fighter who worked out how to use that surprisingly limited arsenal to beat a vast array of contenders. BUT when his limitations are shown up ... he has no plan B. He couldn't put pressure on fury/make it a war because he simply didn't know how to.

Celebrate Fury getting a great win. He turned me into a fan, I didn't think he would expose glad like that. But don't belittle his opponent, calling anybody who is willing to step into the ring especially somebody who has been one of the longest reigning heavyweight champs in history a coward is just ludicrous and mean spirited.

[b00g13man]

Calling him a coward is harsh. I've always felt that he wasn't quite "built for the sport".

[Caught Square]

I remember Wlad himself saying 'Vitali was born a fighter, I became a fighter'

coward is a strong word and I wouldn't call him that but he just don't have the same nature as someone like his brother.

[Caught Square]

Hatman is a great Youtube boxing channel btw, he got a bit carried away in this one ( I found it hilarious though) which was understandable but his breakdowns are really good.

[JACK1190]

Not really a coward. Just boring. His reign needed to end and I'm glad Fury ended it. Now the division has a new lease of life!

[Weltschmerz]

Not even going to listen to that.

Vladimir was a great champion.

[Caught Square]

So let me get this straight...

Joe Louis at 39 wasn't past his prime and Rocky Marciano beat the best version of him or are you going to twist your words to suit your criteria?

Ah c'mon it's clearly not the same. If Fury beat a contender version of Wlad who had come out of retirement to pay off taxes he obviously wouldn't get as much credit.