Haye gets screwed in the contract but still takes the fight.VIDEO

[El Kabong]

You cannot fault Wladimir for not having competition....he's tried to fight the toughest guys out there and make the biggest fights and if Wladimir was to KO: Haye, Povetkin, and Arreola back to back to back he still wouldn't get credit.

ono, you put David Haye in vs the guys Wladimir has fought and I can bet you he leaves with more than 2 losses. People use revisionist history when they look back on Sam Peter, Chris Byrd, and Tony Thompson. Sam can still punch and he was "The most dangerous fighter in the heavyweight division" when Wladimir fought him epsecially considering that Wladimir was coming off of 2 KO losses. Chris Byrd was a slick boxer, he is one tough fighter...he schooled a prime David Tua. Tony Thompson was BIGGER than Wladimir and he is a southpaw, he doesn't have great power but being big, awkward, and having a decent workrate he'd be difficult for anyone to beat and he had NEVER been KO'd before Wlad hammered him down.
Sultan Ibragimov was also undefeated when Wlad fought him, and he's a southpaw with pretty quick hands. Wlad has beat more southpaws than most heavyweights ever step in the ring with.

Give the guy a fucking break....the more these Haye fans talk crap about Wlad, the happier I'm going to be when Haye's career is ended by Wladimir.

[ono]

You cannot fault Wladimir for not having competition....he's tried to fight the toughest guys out there and make the biggest fights and if Wladimir was to KO: Haye, Povetkin, and Arreola back to back to back he still wouldn't get credit.

ono, you put David Haye in vs the guys Wladimir has fought and I can bet you he leaves with more than 2 losses. People use revisionist history when they look back on Sam Peter, Chris Byrd, and Tony Thompson. Sam can still punch and he was "The most dangerous fighter in the heavyweight division" when Wladimir fought him epsecially considering that Wladimir was coming off of 2 KO losses. Chris Byrd was a slick boxer, he is one tough fighter...he schooled a prime David Tua. Tony Thompson was BIGGER than Wladimir and he is a southpaw, he doesn't have great power but being big, awkward, and having a decent workrate he'd be difficult for anyone to beat and he had NEVER been KO'd before Wlad hammered him down.
Sultan Ibragimov was also undefeated when Wlad fought him, and he's a southpaw with pretty quick hands. Wlad has beat more southpaws than most heavyweights ever step in the ring with.

Give the guy a fucking break....the more these Haye fans talk crap about Wlad, the happier I'm going to be when Haye's career is ended by Wladimir.

Why are you getting so defensive about him? I'm saying that generally speaking, the competition in the heavyweight division is really really poor. There aren't many who would argue that it is a strong division.

So poor that 'the most dangerous man in the division' got his ears boxed off by a fighter who had been inactive for 3 years.

My point wasn't to discredit Wlad because like you say he has pretty much beaten everybody there is to beat...barring his brother which fair enough is never going to happen. My point was, the heavyweight division is really poor so it will be hard for Wlad to get credit for beating the relatively poor opposition that is put in front of him.

He'll get the sort of credit Hatton gets for beating the likes of Urango, Maussa or Lazcano or the credit that Mayweather got for beating Baldomir or Mitchell or even Judah at that stage. The problem for Wlad is there isn't really any option for him to step up and fight better opposition, whereas there was always somebody elite for Hatton or Mayweather to fight or duck.

In fact the only complaint i'd have about Wlad is sometimes the manner in which he wins leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. Being cuffed down 3 times by 'the most dangerous man in the heavyweight division' or by leaving his hand in the face of Ibragimov for the majority of the stink fest at the garden.

At least David Haye will present him with a new challenge. He's fighting somebody who is supremely confident and actually has skill, speed and power to back up the confidence. Wlad is going to have to think on his feet and be forced to react. Haye isn't going to be looking for a way out like Tony Thompson was. He may get knocked out but he presents a fair deal of danger to Wlad. Once Wlad shows that he isn't going to crumble under pressure and that he can fight at somebody elses pace and still come out with the W then i'm sure he'll gain a lot of peoples respect. My point was, he's not had the chance to do that as of late but against David Haye that chance is there. If he takes, then good luck to him and i'll be first to congratulate him.

[Youngblood]

This is one of the fights this year I am looking forward to. In my top 3. How many people have been able to say that about anything HW in recent times? Not too many, my guess.

[ElTerribleMorales]

This is one of the fights this year I am looking forward to. In my top 3. How many people have been able to say that about anything HW in recent times? Not too many, my guess.

not true....

















...i'm pretty sure that the HW division was pretty high up there on everyones TOP 3 Shittiest Divisions of the past 15 yrs

[El Kabong]

Fair enough ono, but you really can't fault ONLY Wladimir for the fight vs Sultan and the knockdowns vs Sam Peter were from illegal blows....and to be honest that was the fight where everyone started bitching about Wlad holding so much, I guess because #1 He finally learned how to do it and #2 They were all sold on Sam Peter and were frustrated by watching Wladimir fight a smart fight.

Even I have been disappointed in some of Wladimir's wins, like the ones vs Sultan and Rahman, but to hear the average fan's review of the KO over Austin it's like it went the full 12...just LISTEN to the first left hook that lands, it reminds me of what the Hearns-Duran KO sounded like, and Wlad immediately follows with 4 more left hooks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO_sWnawpU4


When Wlad lets his hands go he is a great fighter to watch, but you just can't always expect it in a division where no matter who you are fighting 1 punch could change it....200+ pound full grown men will fucking hurt you when they land clean, no matter who it is throwing the punches...Povetkin got hurt by Eddie damn Chambers! That's how defensive these guys have to be, and Wladimir isn't the type of guy like Tyson or Holyfield who could use their offense as their defense...the jab is a part of his defense but that's about it as far as punches go.

[El Kabong]

Even the Brock KO was pretty nice IMO....whenever you drop an undefeated fighter face first to the canvas with one shot you're doing something impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-75N_8iqB0

[littlebif]

Even the Brock KO was pretty nice IMO....whenever you drop an undefeated fighter face first to the canvas with one shot you're doing something impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-75N_8iqB0

That was a sweet ko.