Quote Originally Posted by El Kabong View Post
rjjtszyu, I doubt he'll go 100% back to that style because obviously Manny has taught him some really necessary things which he'll continue to use, but hopefully more sparingly like the clinching and the leaning. But the fact is Wlad is mentally and psychologically in top form and Manny knows Wlad can fight like he used to given the state of the division and the state of Wlad's game.

TysonBruno, there are no more Lamon Brewster's, there are no more Corrie Sanders' and Wlad is a much smarter fighter right now...when you look at this heavyweight division there aren't "challenges" there are just questions and they are mainly about Wlad's opponents ie "Can _____ land the big punch?" or "Can ____ withstand the firepower?". Manny has already gotten Wlad to lessen the clinching and hell vs Sam Peter SAM was the one clinching half the fight and Manny told Wlad to break the clinch and let his hands go and that ended the fight. The clinching and leaning is nothing new though, Ali did it, Lewis did it...hell Lewis hooked Michael Grant behind the head and shot uppercuts at him until he went down. It's nothing new and it's just something fighters have to get through. Most of the guys Wlad fights allow themselves to be tied up.

Now I've said it will be extremely difficult for Chicken Little to win back American fans, but it's going to be even more difficult for Wladimir but I do believe that is another reason why Manny wants Wlad to switch his style up to the way Wlad used to fight because Wlad won't get full credit for how good he is unless he's good in America too. The good news is there is time to do it, the bad news is there aren't that many fights where he can do it infront of a large American audiance...seeing fights on ESPN is one thing but being on HBO and getting back to being more active and varied in his attack will help out immensely.

Man, that Mercer fight is different to look at isn't it? Wlad was all over Ray, he even hooked to the body several times! It would be nice for him to recover more of that, it would be good for boxing it would be GREAT for the Chicken Little fight (providing it happens)
Now this is a good post. And I agree, watching the Mercer fight was like watching someone else. He was relentless and his left hook lead was as effective as his jab is now but obviously more risky. Then again it was far better to watch (especially for an armchair boxing fan) and taking that extra risk could be the key to getting HW boxing interesting again especially for when the Haye fight does develop.

On the other hand Mercer was old and very slow and was basically a very slow moving heavy bag, who showed little glimpses of a man who used to be able to bob and weave but everytime he tried the motion it was like he just couldn't do it anymore. That is not Wlads fault and he could only beat who was put in font of him but at that stage Mercer was tailor made for Wlad to look very good against. Again though I wish he had fought like that vs Peter the other week though because again Peters bobbing and weaving was so slow Wlad could have really opened up on him and got the job done within 3 or 4 rounds IMO.

I'm not getting into why I think Haye has one hell of a chance of beating Wlad again because I've gone over it time and time again, but If your right and Wlad does go back to more of his old style of fighting then it is a fight, as a boxing fan, that I will really look forward to seeing!!