Quote Originally Posted by Lyle View Post
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.