Quote Originally Posted by ross View Post
Quote Originally Posted by TitoFan View Post
He may retire with dignity, but the last memory of fans will be his pathetic showing against Fury.

IMO, Fury succeeded in unmasking what I always knew lay beneath the surface of his imposing physique and power..... an exasperating reluctance to engage, when that meant putting his brittle chin in even the slightest danger.
Im not so sure it was worring about his brittle chin as just gettng caught and outpointed. He knows hes not going to deal with Tyson Furys ability once in punching range.

Consider this. Wlad has all kinds of sparring. He has used Wilder and Joshua among others. Hes certainly not aftaid to face big punchers or he wouldnt entertain them for his training. We have also never heard any rumours of sparring partners knocking Wladimir out or even dropping him. In fact there is a rumour Wilder got knocked out by Wlad. Also, James Ali Bashir said he had to talk to Joshua to open up or he will just get a beating and be no good to Wlad. Joshua was intimidated.


Ok I want to make sure we're not arguing this because you feel that by knocking Wlad I'm in some way discrediting Fury.

I'm in NO way discrediting Fury nor his victory over Wlad. He did something nobody else had done in decades. But I can't let Wlad skate by blameless on this one. I have nothing against Wlad personally, but I've always HATED his reign. IMO, ever since those early career KO losses, Wlad has never been the same. Let's say a good premise for boxing is "safety first". After all, it's the art of hitting without getting hit. But with Wlad it's safety first, second, third, fourth, etc., etc., ad nauseaum. Wlad saw a guy in front of him who #1 was bigger than him, and #2..... was not scared of him. Fury was cautious, but not scared. I would venture that 80 to 90 percent of Wlad's victims over the years have been either outsized, scared, or both. Wlad has had waaaaay too many fights with precious little action from either side. It has dulled our senses, because for many years we were accustomed to the Tysons, the Holmes, the Holyfields. Lennox Lewis could pull a stinker once in awhile (see: Lewis-Tua). But he'd come back with a great fight. Part of his charm was his vulnerability when he got lazy. But he came back to avenge his losses. Wlad, on the other hand, can take a perfectly appetizing matchup (see: Povetkin), and turn it into a foul-filled affair just because he was deathly afraid of getting tagged. The Sultan fight was another insult to his fans. That type of fight became the norm. It turned people away from HW boxing. People like to say HW has fewer fans because Wlad isn't American. That's B.S. HW has fewer fans because people became anesthetized by watching Wlad's boring fight one after another after another after another.

I was cheering like hell for Fury to knock Wlad out or at least down. It didn't happen, because Fury was extra cautious himself. I don't blame him. He didn't want to give Wlad a gift on a silver platter. But frankly I would've preferred a knockout a la Corrie Sanders or Ross Purity.