Quote Originally Posted by SlimTrae View Post
Sad thing about history is how loss(es) makes a fighter look ordinary to those who look back on it- as opposed to living through it.- Cooney is that example of it.

Cooney 6'5 25-0 23 ko's Walking through Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young- he was a massive specimen with a power punch & a chin. Yet Holmes proved his skill level could nullify, height, jab & power. -& when Cooney hurt him to the body, will power pulled him out- thats what he questions about Wlad--even stating Wlad is good technically, but theres more to boxing than skill.

Wlad vs Puritty good example- Wlad is throwing nicely, bustin' through Puritty's guard- - then by round 7-8 Puritty is throwin' wild shit, - Dog fight is on.

He's got little skill, but full of will! Guard up high, Wlad's gas tank- on low..Fool don'e punched himself out..against a 1/2 skill fighter whose will pulled him through, now Wlad is on the canvas...oops Rd11- Wlad is fighting backward, flopping backwards, no inside game-so he's trying to clinch his way outta dog fight. He lost to a determined fighter, not a skilled one.

Same with Sanders: every time Sanders landed- Wlad's instinct was to grab-clinch (total sign) that he can't scrap like a dog to get out of it...he got dropped at the moment he tried to clinch. Cory @ this time is totally squared up- but Wlad's instinct was now was to cover while plodding forward- no balance.

In his deepest moments of his career- Wlad never tried to fight his way out- he clinched & flopped his way out.

Now that he has gained the ability to effectively clinch- he's been able to avoid the dog fight...especially since today's HW's are oversized poodles.

Holmes simply pointed that out.

Holmes proved at the time a 6'5 boxer which was massive, could be whooped....
Gerry Cooney was tough but wins over old Ron Lyle and old Ken Norton and old Jimmy Young did not mean he was ready for Larry Holmes. Cooney was 25-0-0 but he had never been tested by a guy in his prime at the time, he didn't fight Marvis Frazier or Carl Williams, or Renaldo Snipes or Tim Witherspoon...are you kidding me? Sure he could punch but his boxing never got tested the deepest he went into a fight before Holmes was 8 rounds...8!!! And he lasted 13 with Holmes, why so long? Couldn't Larry have ended it sooner


Purrity, for fucks sake Wlad was 22 when that fight happened. He was young, he was beating the fuck out of Ross and just got tired, it happens ESPECIALLY to young fighters and the fact that Wlad could go back to that fight, look at it objectively, and then correct the mistakes THAT is the sign of a true champion! Ross Purrity's manager really dodged a bullet with his fighter's health allowing that fight to continue, but that's how it works sometimes.

Sanders was a power punching southpaw....imagine if Earnie Shavers was a southpaw, would Ali have fought him? Would Holmes have fought him? Sanders didn't help himself by training more on the golf course than he did in the ring, but what a talent. He threw short, quick, precise punches from a southpaw stance and they packed a wallop....Wlad wasn't out cold, Wlad didn't get counted out with his back on the canvas, he got caught, couldn't recover and that's that. He went back, took note of the mistakes he made and hasn't made them sense....that learning process, that ability to cover his flaws, that makes him a great fighter. Since that loss Wladimir has fought a number of southpaws and none have given him trouble...none are the puncher Corrie was (r.i.p) but none have given Wlad trouble.

Mike Tyson did PLENTY of clinching, Ali did PLENTY of clinching....can people not accept that Wladimir is the best heavyweight in the world? It's not by a small margin either he just absolutely tooled the best the division had to offer in Pulev, he just smacked the life out of the guy and with his 3rd best punch too!