What Percent Of Wlad's Prime Did Joshua Fight?

[-Hyperion-]

All this Wlad nostalgia happening is laughable.....AJ was beating him silly until he got overexcited....once he got his second wind, he regained control of the fight and stopped him. Wlad could never deal witha big opponent who can touch him consistently because he has no real ring skill and no chin, he's just big with reach and power/strength and feasted on out of shape losers(which is all that was available to be fair to him).....Aj really inst all that skilled but he's actually got the ability and guts to punch with you...which Wlad never had,hed rather stay away from fear of getting Corrie'd again. And AJ has enough reach and speed to land consistently even if Wlad stays at his preferred range(where he is no danger against midgets and slow fatsos but explosive long guys can reach you there)

[All in]

It's deceptive because he has a sense of urgency we've rarely ever seen from him so it leads you to believe he's still got it. But, his punch quality was horrible compared to what he was doing in his prime. Jab had nothing on it, left hook was pushed, accuracy was poor, leaping into punches, etc. I'd say he was mentally refreshed, 100%, just as good as he ever was. Stamina and fitness was also damn good. But, his boxing ability was around 65%. And you can't say that was all AJ because AJ didn't move much.

Agree. Mentally he was at the top of his game. He willed himself to a level he physically doesn't have anymore. Almost like Kobe' s last game.

[rr00676]

wasnt wlad in his prime the 3 other times he was ko'd?

[hugh grant]

A guy who has 6

A guy with 60+ fights isn't prime. When did he win Olympic gold 1996 that's 16 years before josh

[Jimmy 23]

80 %......

[hugh grant]

Hard to put a % on it... but let's put it this way I'm pretty sure a few years ago he'd have stopped this version of AJ.

On the contrary if wlad fought a different fight he would have stopped Josh.
He thought Josh was finished in 6 the round. He didn't know Josh had another gear

[Scipio2009]

Wladimir Klitschko wasn't the super prime Klitschko, but I think the scope of the fight (and the circumstances that led to the fight) put Wladimir Klitschko into a space where he fought "beyond himself".

85%-90% of the prime Klistchko would be pretty spot on, imo; what he lost in sheer ability, he made up for in finding something of that sheer grit that his brother had.

[HarvardBlue]

I disagree, I think you can't say that he is in his prime at age 41 with nearly a 2 year layoff. I also think younger Klitschko would've definitely gotten off the floor, as you have more pride as the champion vs the challenger. Younger Klitschko was also much more accurate and precise with his punches and not as afraid to throw them.Regardless, I also don't think that the Klitschko who fought Joshua was a shadow of himself either.

What I mean is he still has a lot of fight in him. You can still perform at a high level at 41 years old if you train consistently and maintain the right diet. In a few years all that goes will out the window because his body will go into steady decline regardless.

On the other hand, Klitschko's problem has never been his chin it's his heart. When the going gets tough he looks for a way out. It's been like that his whole career. He really hasn't faced any adversity since the first Peter fight. He was more than game on Saturday but at certain point he regressed to his old self and gave Joshua a chance to end the fight.

[Outwest Exp 355]

I would've said 70 but the 17 month layoff brought it to 60.

[Scipio2009]

Hard to put a % on it... but let's put it this way I'm pretty sure a few years ago he'd have stopped this version of AJ.

I don't think so; if Klitschko had got blasted with those shots from the 5th round, i'm not sure he would've had the fortitude to bite down and work through the turmoil.

The Klitschko who fought Samuel Peter the first time, would've got throttled by Anthony Joshua.