When has Wlad taken a flush shot and survived? (Post video clips)

[TitoFan]

All boxers take punches in a fight but Wlad has perfected his style so that he does not get hit cleanly which is the name of the game. It is for the opponent to test Wlad’s chin and if they can not get to it and expose it then that is their fault and not Walds.

"Style" being the operative word here.
In Wlad's case, "style" is synonymous with "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges."

[Beanz]

I don't know what to think about this. Wlad is guilty of not finishing people off when it is well within his capability to do so and can often look flustered when rushed. In the Wach fight round 5 he looks at first glance to be flustered and backed up but when you watch the slow motion replay he avoids every punch and Wach only manages to catch him with his forearm. In the Haye fight despite peoples weird memories, Haye was gun shy but he did throw a handful of bombs at him in the early and late rounds but Wlad was able to either step back or use his skills to avoid a flush shot landing. He is a big guy who is hard to tag but he does look like a panicked Rabbit at times because he is wary of his chin. That does not mean he is glass jawed but a decent heavyweight with some pop could knock him out if they landed flush with a big bomb, but then that is true of nearly anyone in that class. For a big man he has fast hands and landing that flush shot is harder than it looks. It is also equally true that if he had more confidence in his own chin he could use those fast hands to knock most guys out in the first couple of rounds something he does not regularly do.

[TitoFan]

Let's compare Wlad with Lennox. Lewis was also a cautious fighter. By no means was he as reckless as a Mike Tyson, who would jump the opponent like a wild animal. (And as reckless and exciting as Mike was, he didn't just ignore defense. He used head movement as he came in for the kill). But Lennox was a more offensive-minded fighter than Wlad. Lennox would engage when he had to, or when he needed to get the guy out of there. I don't recall the same look of confused fear on Lennox's face as I've seen on Wlad when a flurry comes his way (which is extremely, extremely rare). Lennox's worst fight (that I saw) from a cautious standpoint was David Tua. Had Lennox fought more fights like that, I would've never watched. And Lewis got knocked out, also. It's not like he never tasted what that felt like. But he came back and avenged each knockout loss. Wlad seems to have been permanently affected by those early career knockouts and now will go to any lengths necessary to protect his chin. The funny thing is... most of his opponents come into the fight scared shitless as well. It makes for excrutiatingly boring boxing. Which in turn is why Wlad gets dumped on so much. He protects his fragile chin to an extreme... and his opponents make no sign of wanting to reach for that chin.

[DavilaJones]

All boxers take punches in a fight but Wlad has perfected his style so that he does not get hit cleanly which is the name of the game. It is for the opponent to test Wlad’s chin and if they can not get to it and expose it then that is their fault and not Walds.

"Style" being the operative word here.
In Wlad's case, "style" is synonymous with "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges."

and kudos to him for making his opponents look silly round after round. Look I like a war in the ring as much as the next guy but heck I love boxing too. Wlad boxes very well, he's not silky smooth but he's purposeful.

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

In the fight against Chagaev Chagaev didn't hear the end-of-the-round bell (7th round) and managed to hit Klitschko (who already lowered his defense) with a full blast punch ("His best punch of the fight") and Klitschko hardly felt it.

Also in the fight against Tony Thompson Tony managed to hit him several times without any effect. Haye and Wach landed flush too.

Please stop reading for 5 seconds and actually think about the statement "Wladimir Klitschko is a multiple beltholder at SHW for years and has a glass jaw! This is so ridiculous if you think about it. NOBODY IN THE WORLD could be such a dominant world champion with a lack of chin.

This is IMPOSSIBLE. He would be exposed every couple of fights...

Aside from the 3 early losses Wlad WON the fights where he was knocked down: vs Sam Peter (Wlad won that fight), vs Davaryl Williamson (Wlad won that fight), vs Steve Pannell (Wlad won that fight).

In fact he performed so convincingly that NO ONE wants to see a rematch against ·Davaryl Williamson or ·Steve Pannell. The knock downs in the Williamson and Pannell fights are so irrelevant that haters and fans may not even know they happened..

Whatever you might think about his knockdowns and knockouts, in the meanwhile Wlad gave a rematch to Sam Peter and to Lamon Brewster. The rematches were very one-sided.

You have to allow boxers to LEARN.
There is something called PROGRESS.
You have to have a tolerance for PROCESSES.

[Beanflicker]

Wlad was tagged several times by David Haye and took his power well.

[TigerFan]

In the fight against Chagaev Chagaev didn't hear the end-of-the-round bell (7th round) and managed to hit Klitschko (who already lowered his defense) with a full blast punch ("His best punch of the fight") and Klitschko hardly felt it..

This. First thing that sprung to mind when I read the thread title.

Here' the video - Shortly after 33:30

[Rantcatrat]

All boxers take punches in a fight but Wlad has perfected his style so that he does not get hit cleanly which is the name of the game. It is for the opponent to test Wlad’s chin and if they can not get to it and expose it then that is their fault and not Walds.

"Style" being the operative word here.
In Wlad's case, "style" is synonymous with "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges."

Isn't it a bit of a double standard to describe Wlad's defense as "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges," yet describe other defensive fighters as having great defense?

The point of boxing is to hit and not be hit. If Wlad hasn't been hit flush in 8 years, doesn't that just mean he is very effective at his craft? He's not ever in grand ole' toss ups, like Golovkin, but he works with his strengths and minimizes his weaknesses, as good as anyone in the ring today.

[Rantcatrat]

@THE PHILOSOPHER - there can't really be a debate that as far as chins of heavyweight champions go, Wlad's isn't anywhere near the top of the list.

[TysonBomb]

Wladiqueer is afraid of anything going near his chin

A featherweight could smash "the glass" if he got a clean power shot in

[Vendettos]

Watch from 2:35, Wlad gets tagged because he tries to paw Wachs hands away and Wach just comes through the middle.

Wlad Struggles, but survives. Wach is a decent puncher being 7(7)-0-0 in his last 7 fights before this, so not a bad feat.

[Beanz]

Here is Haye fighting like a "coward" and nonetheless catching Wlad. Check out 0:50. Wlad is not easy to blow over and yes Haye nuts taste nice, like petuli oil. If he had kept his Afro he would be one bad MoFo.

[TitoFan]

All boxers take punches in a fight but Wlad has perfected his style so that he does not get hit cleanly which is the name of the game. It is for the opponent to test Wlad’s chin and if they can not get to it and expose it then that is their fault and not Walds.

"Style" being the operative word here.
In Wlad's case, "style" is synonymous with "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges."

Isn't it a bit of a double standard to describe Wlad's defense as "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges," yet describe other defensive fighters as having great defense?

The point of boxing is to hit and not be hit. If Wlad hasn't been hit flush in 8 years, doesn't that just mean he is very effective at his craft? He's not ever in grand ole' toss ups, like Golovkin, but he works with his strengths and minimizes his weaknesses, as good as anyone in the ring today.

@Rantcatrat, there's a fine line between being a defensive genius, and being downright scared of getting your chin touched. Defensive geniuses evade or block punches, and many times come right back with a counterpunch. There's a purpose behind the defense. You can see it in the boxer's body language. Let's go down a few weight divisions. Whitaker and Benitez were defensive wizards (much as Floyd is also). They artfully dodged the opponents' shots, but never looked scared or out of control. Their opponents weren't scared of them either, so most of the time they were on the offensive.

Wlad, maybe because he's been KO'ed several times, fights like he's deathly afraid of getting that chin tagged. He makes fights boring, because he's unwilling to pull the trigger when the opponent is there to be had. Exhibit A: the Sultan fight. That was possibly the worst HW fight in the history of boxing. Sultan unwilling to throw meaningful shots at Wlad... and Wlad pawing at Sultan, wary of the left hand. All frigging 12 rounds long. The very few times Wlad does get tagged, he seems out of control. His eyes widen as if to say: "Oh no... here we go again."

So no... I don't think it's a double standard at all. IMO, of course.

[TitoFan]

BTW, I've yet to see a video clip of Wlad getting hit flush and surviving to regain control of a fight.
Could it be because it's never happened?

[Rantcatrat]

All boxers take punches in a fight but Wlad has perfected his style so that he does not get hit cleanly which is the name of the game. It is for the opponent to test Wlad’s chin and if they can not get to it and expose it then that is their fault and not Walds.

"Style" being the operative word here.
In Wlad's case, "style" is synonymous with "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges."

Isn't it a bit of a double standard to describe Wlad's defense as "petrified avoidance of meaningful exchanges," yet describe other defensive fighters as having great defense?

The point of boxing is to hit and not be hit. If Wlad hasn't been hit flush in 8 years, doesn't that just mean he is very effective at his craft? He's not ever in grand ole' toss ups, like Golovkin, but he works with his strengths and minimizes his weaknesses, as good as anyone in the ring today.

@Rantcatrat, there's a fine line between being a defensive genius, and being downright scared of getting your chin touched. Defensive geniuses evade or block punches, and many times come right back with a counterpunch. There's a purpose behind the defense. You can see it in the boxer's body language. Let's go down a few weight divisions. Whitaker and Benitez were defensive wizards (much as Floyd is also). They artfully dodged the opponents' shots, but never looked scared or out of control. Their opponents weren't scared of them either, so most of the time they were on the offensive.

Wlad, maybe because he's been KO'ed several times, fights like he's deathly afraid of getting that chin tagged. He makes fights boring, because he's unwilling to pull the trigger when the opponent is there to be had. Exhibit A: the Sultan fight. That was possibly the worst HW fight in the history of boxing. Sultan unwilling to throw meaningful shots at Wlad... and Wlad pawing at Sultan, wary of the left hand. All frigging 12 rounds long. The very few times Wlad does get tagged, he seems out of control. His eyes widen as if to say: "Oh no... here we go again."

So no... I don't think it's a double standard at all. IMO, of course.

There is a difference in the method of defense. I agree there is more skill involved with Locche's, Benvenuti's, or Floyd's defense. But, at its most elemental, defense means avoiding attack. The motivation behind both is to avoid punches. Both have the same result. Do you think Floyd's defense is for a different purpose? Wlad uses his natural advantages, length and reach, as his defense.

The point is that it is EFFECTIVE. Few have been able to penetrate it in 8 years.

As you saw in my other post, my friend, Wlad isn't going to win any "chin" contests. He also can't fight on the inside if you want to criticize him. But, he's developed a style that is damn effective, albeit boring at times.