He would lose to all of them.
I don't see him getting past two or three rounds with the likes of Foreman and Tyson.
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He would lose to all of them.
I don't see him getting past two or three rounds with the likes of Foreman and Tyson.
I'm sure Wlad could hold down Joe even better than Ali used to. Difference is when and if ever Joe landed one of those haymaker, leaping left hooks. Ali proved to have an excellent chin. I don't think Wlad would survive even one of those shots, regardless of how small in comparison Joe was. Remember, Joe did a lot of damage with that hook to some very durable fighters.
He had a great chin for sure, but it wasn't infallible. Lyle had him on the deck flopping around like a fish, of course. Ray Mercer had maybe the best chin in HW history and Wlad rocked, dropped and finished him fairly easily.
Has a lot to do with the speed and accuracy that Wlad throws his punches. Wlad is a different kind of athlete than those guys, it's just a different time.
It's hard to say how Wlad would do as he tailors his fight plan for each opponent. He'll be different weights for fighters that have different styles.
You have some logic there. Foreman often said during his second coming that he attributed his success to his jab. He said he really didn't spend much time developing his jab in his young days and it was his biggest regret. Still, all in all I don't see Wlad beating a prime George.
I think Foreman was just too wild, and never really had to fight a good boxer/puncher in his early career. Frazier was an inside guy, Norton had a great jab but wasn't great defensively. Ron Lyle was solid but would never be confused with a ring general. And of course Foreman got KO'd by Ali.
It's a big difference in athleticism and sport science as well, Foreman was fighting guys 5'9''-6'3'', 199-220lbs. None of those guys could really compare to a 6'6'', 245lb super athlete with world class boxing skills like Wlad. It's apples and oranges.
If you really look at it, Wlad has fought fighters more comparable to Foreman than Foreman has fought comparable to Wlad.
Watching the fight against pulev, it showed me how foreman would have destroyed wlad. Pulev was the first guy in forever that wasn't scared of wlad. He just was outclassed. Wlad took some good shots from pulev. Those same shots from foreman would have changed the fight. Plus, I'm sure that foreman had a better chin than pulev. I think the fight would look similar but once foreman landed, it would be lights out for wlad.
Beanflicker and powerpuncher brought up excellent counter arguments that are both rational. I guess that's what makes these discussions interesting.
Off the top I think Holyfield would have a helluva chance to score the tko. Side to side and jarring combination punching as long as he doesn't stand on the end of the jab and rips off inside hooks when Wlad falls in to hug and maul it out first. Think he'd have Wlads feet, balance crossed over often and take advantage.
Holyfield could fight stupid like against Bowe because he could not get past that jab. Wlad had a great one. If Evander got inside Wlad would hold. Another weakness was Holy field was not a big puncher. The only thing I would say he could do to beat Wlad would be by making it a battle of heart, conditioning and attrition to break Wlad as Brewster did.
Holyfield was actually out jabbing Bowe very early on and started slugging when Bowe opened up inside and hitting on the break. Bowe wasn't a lot of things, but he was a very crisp and capable inside fighter a level above Wlad in the wheel house I believe. Was also the lightest Holyfield ever came in as heavy, and that was just dumb. His combos and resulting power were underrated, Mercer, Tyson, Foreman all iron chins and all seriously hurt and left reeling well enough.
I'm not a big fan of Wlad's, but I have to (grudgingly) give him credit for how effective he has become. I don't think he is as sturdy as Foreman, Tyson, Lewis (although Lewis did suffer two horrific knockouts), Bowe, Evander...etc., but I think his size and athleticism puts him in with any of those guys. Due to the style match up I think Tyson, Lewis and perhaps Bowe on their best nights give him the most problems. Evander hated fighting tall guys who moved and leaned/clutched him, so I don't know how effective he would have been vs. Wlad. I can see Wlad just boxing of the back foot and jabbing Evander and winning the decision. Evander was able to effectively outjab both Bowe and Lewis (2nd fight) during certain periods, so he definitely is a live underdog in my opinion. I think that George is just too slow for Wlad, who would be more mobile and never stand still long enough to let George land the big shot. Frazier is the most interesting match up to me. He had stamina to throw hard and bob n weave all night, and the punch to stop Wlad if he landed a solid hook. Wlad is much taller and very effective at leaning on the other guy and fighting tall, that I don't know if Joe would be able to overcome that. All would be great match ups though.