He would have to let his hands go to bash in a face.......that wont happen.
Maybe he is training in "how to clinch and hold a 6'9" opponent "
I bet he does this time. Something was way off on that fight. Thats the fewest punches he has ever thrown. That fight really looked fixed unless wlad turned 90 over night.
He will knock fury out. Mark my words.
If Wlad manages to completely change his style and mentality, aged 40 and KO a much bigger man, I will be very, very impressed. It would undoubtedly be one of boxing's great comeback stories.
So if Fury had never made those comments Wlad would have been content to just, what, make it to the cards? Just like he did last time? He's not fooling anyone with this cheesy crap, and I'm not sure he's even fooling himself. If Wlad truly wants to knock Fury out then, like another poster said, he should do it for his own sense of pride and honour, not to please the PC brigade whom he's shamelessly trying to pander to for publicity purposes.
Whatever his motivations are, i just can't see how he's going to fight any different at 40. He's fought the same way for a long time now, he has a very limited but effective style. Unfortunately he's older now and he just ran into a younger man who is bigger than him and actually has a very good boxing brain that could negate his style.
We hear it all the time, it's like Manny having this "killer instinct" back before every fight, and it never comes. Or Floyd training for a KO and apparently wrecking guys in sparring. Even with all the best intentions of doing that, once that bell goes and there's a real opponent in there looking to win, Wlad's like Floyd's muscle memory will kick in and he'll revert to type into a safety first approach. Wlad is at that age now where his style is what it is, it's too difficult to change anything. It just depends what Fury turns up. If Fury from the first fight or better turns up, he wins.
Wlad has been an excellent champ, but his time has gone now, it happens to all great fighters.
Whatever his motivations are, i just can't see how he's going to fight any different at 40. He's fought the same way for a long time now, he has a very limited but effective style. Unfortunately he's older now and he just ran into a younger man who is bigger than him and actually has a very good boxing brain that could negate his style.
We hear it all the time, it's like Manny having this "killer instinct" back before every fight, and it never comes. Or Floyd training for a KO and apparently wrecking guys in sparring. Even with all the best intentions of doing that, once that bell goes and there's a real opponent in there looking to win, Wlad's like Floyd's muscle memory will kick in and he'll revert to type into a safety first approach. Wlad is at that age now where his style is what it is, it's too difficult to change anything. It just depends what Fury turns up. If Fury from the first fight or better turns up, he wins.
Wlad has been an excellent champ, but his time has gone now, it happens to all great fighters.
It's obvious that Wlad's reflexes were not the same. His style isn't really limited it's just that he could not pull the trigger on his shots anymore. Fury was there to be hit a lot of times but Wlad could not capitalize like he used to.
Every fighter eventually loses it and to have it until almost 40 is pretty good for a HW champ.
Remember, Liston, Marciano, Ali, Louis, Holmes, Tyson and Lewis were long, long done by that age.
It's obvious that Wlad's reflexes were not the same. His style isn't really limited it's just that he could not pull the trigger on his shots anymore. Fury was there to be hit a lot of times but Wlad could not capitalize like he used to.
Every fighter eventually loses it and to have it until almost 40 is pretty good for a HW champ.
Remember, Liston, Marciano, Ali, Louis, Holmes, Tyson and Lewis were long, long done by that age.
Indeed, even at 40 i think he beats almost any other Heavyweight today, i think just Fury's style and size is a stylistic nightmare for Wlad. I like Fury but i'm not going to say he beats any version of Wlad, but it's possible. Prime Wlad would have still had a tough night with Fury win or lose.
Anyway, i still think he's limited though. He has no inside game, doesn't really have much variation in his punches. Or maybe he just become too used to being able to fight safety first and use the jab, clinch and lean, straight right hand and left hook over and over. He was very successful with it that maybe he relied on it far too much and we never got to see what else he could do and now it's probably too late to see it, who knows. It's just like fighters who become so confident in their power that they fight looking for a big shot and neglect their boxing skills. I think Wlad was just successful using a few tools and it stuck.
Need to take the exclamation marks out of this story title. Wladimir never uses those when speaking lol. It's like Ben Stein threatening you, but with a way better punch.
Indeed, even at 40 i think he beats almost any other Heavyweight today, i think just Fury's style and size is a stylistic nightmare for Wlad. I like Fury but i'm not going to say he beats any version of Wlad, but it's possible. Prime Wlad would have still had a tough night with Fury win or lose.
Anyway, i still think he's limited though. He has no inside game, doesn't really have much variation in his punches. Or maybe he just become too used to being able to fight safety first and use the jab, clinch and lean, straight right hand and left hook over and over. He was very successful with it that maybe he relied on it far too much and we never got to see what else he could do and now it's probably too late to see it, who knows. It's just like fighters who become so confident in their power that they fight looking for a big shot and neglect their boxing skills. I think Wlad was just successful using a few tools and it stuck.
Wlad used to be much more well rounded back in the day, but years of fighting in a safety first manner have eroded his other skills to the point where he can only do a few things really well. I understand why he did it and have to say it worked out incredibly well for him, considering his length of time at the top, but it meant that the first time he had to fight outside of his comfort zone he fell apart spectacularly. He's now at the stage where the very thing that made him so successful is likely going to result in his downfall. He can convince himself all he likes that he can knock Tyson out, but it just if he can somehow reprogram himself after years of mental conditioning to never take risks, never get into tearups, etc, then I'll be astounded.
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