Do you Wlad of today would have beaten Corrie Sanders?

[Tedkidlewis]

HBO played down Sanders badly. They were all about how he hadn't fought but a couple of rounds in the last couple years and was seeing a sports psychologist.

I guess they forgot about how dangerous he was in the Rahman fight early.

Wlad was an aggressive fighter earlier in his career but he didn't look that great in the McCline fight before.
He looked tentative at times in that fight. He came out exactly the same way against Sanders who proceeded to light him up like a christmas tree.

That Rahman fight is an overlooked classic HW fight. These days people see Rahman as a joke but he was a very talented fighter. His fights against Sanders, Tua and Lewis proved that. Unfortunately he didn't like training too much and seems like he had a lot of stuff going on outside of the ring.

[jreckoning]

That Rahman fight is an overlooked classic HW fight. These days people see Rahman as a joke but he was a very talented fighter. His fights against Sanders, Tua and Lewis proved that. Unfortunately he didn't like training too much and seems like he had a lot of stuff going on outside of the ring.

Rahman used to do that soft jab than really hard jab thing. And he had a right hand full of poison back in the day.
I swear he lost power in his right further on down the line, even as far back as the Monte Barrett fight.

[A-Wolf]

I watched the first fight again the other night. Sanders catches Wlad at some point again. He had the size and power to step to Wlad, wouldn't have been an easy guy to hold either.

^^^^^^^^^^

[dan_cov]

I think sometimes people seem to think of the Sanders defeat as a one punch freak occurrence, truth is it was an absolute masterclass on how to beat a guy like Wladimir. I remember watching that fight live and thinking Wlad would never beat a guy like Sanders. Great moment in boxing, I miss Sanders great dude and died a hero too.

Great post and thoroughly agree I've heard so many almost make out like it was a lucky punch when it wasn't at all.
Perfect gameplan, punch perfect that night.

[Elroy1]

Sanders was always trouble for anyone in the first three rounds.

Wlad survives that he wins.

I haven't seen anyone Wlad has fought since with fast hands who also hit hard.

Keep in mind when Sanders got ko'ed by the body punch he was already 42.

He wanted the Wlad rematch ever since he lost to Vitali in 2004.

Team Klitschko ran for the hills back then.

Untrue.

Sanders dropped his belt so he could purposely avoid the rematch with Wlaidmir so he could instead fight Vitali Klitschko and try to become the first and only man to have beaten both Klitschko's.

After the Vitali fight, Sanders became irrelevant and I don't think he ever pursued another credible opponent again, and Wladimir himself was busy getting knocked out by Lamon Brewster. Around this time, Vitali was having shoulder problems too.

Nobody ducked anybody during that whole Sanders affair with the Klitschko's, none of the 3 boxers have ever ducked anybody with any merit.

[jreckoning]

Untrue.

Sanders dropped his belt so he could purposely avoid the rematch with Wlaidmir so he could instead fight Vitali Klitschko and try to become the first and only man to have beaten both Klitschko's.

After the Vitali fight, Sanders became irrelevant and I don't think he ever pursued another credible opponent again, and Wladimir himself was busy getting knocked out by Lamon Brewster. Around this time, Vitali was having shoulder problems too.

Nobody ducked anybody during that whole Sanders affair with the Klitschko's, none of the 3 boxers have ever ducked anybody with any merit.

Sanders said different below


Klitschko starting talking about it again 4 years after the fact.

[Scipio2009]

Sometimes great fighters just come across a guy that has their number, I think that would have been the case with Klitschko-Sanders.

Sanders for me was one of the most underrated HW's of his era. I think his southpaw style would always give Wlad problems. He was a fast starter, threw explosive straight punches and he also was a big guy.
He also had big brother Klitschko in trouble early, but Vitali had the chin and strength, to tire down the South African in a good fight.

Do you think today's Wlad would get the job done or do you think his style would always be wrong for Klitschko?

Pulev wobbled Klistchko with a stiff counter-jab in their fight just recently; if Sanders landed his devastating left, Klistchko drops like the same sack of poo like he did prior.

Whether a ref is going to let Klistchko clinch to death, as is now his expected style, is the only real question.

In a straight up fight, Klistchko gets beat bad, imo

[daggum]

wlad's still terrible. between all the clinching pulev was still hitting him cleanly. without the clinching he's very mediocre and always has been. he has to cheat to be "dominate" its just a joke

[Elroy1]

That Rahman fight is an overlooked classic HW fight. These days people see Rahman as a joke but he was a very talented fighter. His fights against Sanders, Tua and Lewis proved that. Unfortunately he didn't like training too much and seems like he had a lot of stuff going on outside of the ring.

Rahman was a very good fighter and extremely dangerous opponent.

A lot of ppl do underrate Rahman. They are almost always very ******

[Elroy1]

wlad's still terrible. between all the clinching pulev was still hitting him cleanly. without the clinching he's very mediocre and always has been. he has to cheat to be "dominate" its just a joke

Wlad hits Pulev = Pulev was ****, no defence

Pulev hits Wlad = Wlad was ****, without hugging he's no good

Let me correct it for you...

Wlad hits Pulev = Wlad must be good to hit a good opponent like Pulev like that

Pulev hits Wlad = Pulev must be good to hit a good opponent like that.

There you go