wladimir proves heart ...

[man]

... unlike the rest of the heavyweight division.
sorry for repeating myself, but it is so rare these
days. much credit to wlad for that!

during the years i have been following only a
handful of people come to mind who took on
anyone anytime. wlad, froch, pac, delahoya
are the ones that i am very sure of.

the list of the others is waaay longer. all these
career aware movers with their well managed
"0s". you are responsible for the decline of the
sport, you and the the alphabets that don't
deserve the name "sanctioning" body anymore.

i figure my own interest is substantially in
decline. i am just tired of all these cowards
and their nut huggers who let their sweethearts
get away with every excuse.

and yes ... i know i am repeating myself.

[Kalan]

handful of people come to mind who took on
anyone anytime. wlad, froch, pac, delahoya
are the ones that i am very sure of.

I'm not sure of them... Wladimir fought everybody, I agree. He's not afraid to lose fights like so many are. His ego isn't wrapped up in beating everybody. But Froch ducked Triple-G after talking big.. Pacquiao ducked Terence Crawford twice -- and Pac never fought the top Welterweights, Brook, Thurman, Porter, and now Spence - because they'd kill him... Pac fought light hitters and non-boxers Rios, Bradley, Algieri, and now Vargas was the latest over-matched opponent of his...

De La Hoya flat-out ducked a unification fight with Winky Wright when they were both 154-pound champions.. He fought Yory Boy Campas instead which was the pits.. Very few top fighters weren't afraid to lose a fight and would fight anybody.. Wlad was one of the few.. How long it took Bowe, Tyson, and Holyfield to fight Lewis -- more than 10 years after those fights should have been made.

[sharpei_louis]

I think Froch ducking Triple G and Pac ducking Crawford are a little exaggerated.

[tiny_acres]

handful of people come to mind who took on
anyone anytime. wlad, froch, pac, delahoya
are the ones that i am very sure of.

I'm not sure of them... Wladimir fought everybody, I agree. He's not afraid to lose fights like so many are. His ego isn't wrapped up in beating everybody. But Froch ducked Triple-G after talking big.. Pacquiao ducked Terence Crawford twice -- and Pac never fought the top Welterweights, Brook, Thurman, Porter, and now Spence - because they'd kill him... Pac fought light hitters and non-boxers Rios, Bradley, Algieri, and now Vargas was the latest over-matched opponent of his...

De La Hoya flat-out ducked a unification fight with Winky Wright when they were both 154-pound champions.. He fought Yory Boy Campas instead which was the pits.. Very few top fighters weren't afraid to lose a fight and would fight anybody.. Wlad was one of the few.. How long it took Bowe, Tyson, and Holyfield to fight Lewis -- more than 10 years after those fights should have been made.

One of the few times I agree with you

[Kalan]

Wow. That's about 5 issues so that's really astounding.

[Boxing Writer]

handful of people come to mind who took on
anyone anytime. wlad, froch, pac, delahoya
are the ones that i am very sure of.

I'm not sure of them... Wladimir fought everybody, I agree. He's not afraid to lose fights like so many are. His ego isn't wrapped up in beating everybody. But Froch ducked Triple-G after talking big.. Pacquiao ducked Terence Crawford twice -- and Pac never fought the top Welterweights, Brook, Thurman, Porter, and now Spence - because they'd kill him... Pac fought light hitters and non-boxers Rios, Bradley, Algieri, and now Vargas was the latest over-matched opponent of his...

De La Hoya flat-out ducked a unification fight with Winky Wright when they were both 154-pound champions.. He fought Yory Boy Campas instead which was the pits.. Very few top fighters weren't afraid to lose a fight and would fight anybody.. Wlad was one of the few.. How long it took Bowe, Tyson, and Holyfield to fight Lewis -- more than 10 years after those fights should have been made.

I disagree about Holyfield and Pacquiao. Holyfield agreed to fight Lewis in 1994 and that fight would go ahead had he beaten Moorer - http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/16/sport ... later.html

As for Pacquiao, he fought everybody when he was in his prime, including much bigger guys. He wasn't afraid of anyone. He fought guys who beat him, he fought Marquez, who was a stylistic nightmare for him, 4 times! Now he is well past his prime, so I can understand why he doesn't want to fight guys like Spence or Crawford. And, unlike Froch who is constantly saying he would beat GGG but doesn't want to fight him, Manny isn't saying he would beat those guys.

[caldo2025]

... unlike the rest of the heavyweight division.
sorry for repeating myself, but it is so rare these
days. much credit to wlad for that!

during the years i have been following only a
handful of people come to mind who took on
anyone anytime. wlad, froch, pac, delahoya
are the ones that i am very sure of.

the list of the others is waaay longer. all these
career aware movers with their well managed
"0s". you are responsible for the decline of the
sport, you and the the alphabets that don't
deserve the name "sanctioning" body anymore.

i figure my own interest is substantially in
decline. i am just tired of all these cowards
and their nut huggers who let their sweethearts
get away with every excuse.

and yes ... i know i am repeating myself.

Wlad doesn't belong anywhere near the boxers that you name above. In fact, Wlad and Floyd deserve most of the blame for the sad state of Boxing right now. Wlad has been THE WORST lineal Heavyweight Champion in the last 30 plus years. I'm not talking about his skills or ability, i'm talking about the way that he conducted himself while owning the most treasured championship in all of sports. He failed in promoting the sport and opted to fight in obscurity for years where a large portion of his bouts were not even televised in the US or UK, the sports mainstream audience.

This opinion has NOTHING to do with his ability or the poor talent that happened to be present within the division during his reign. Boxing's success has always been directly tied to the success of the heavyweight division and the sports embassador as world champion. Since Wlad lost the belt, you see the excitement starting to build again as if the noose was loosened and allowing the blood to flow again. Once Anthony Joshua gets the win and the belts, you will see the difference. You will see life come back to this sport slowly and surely once we have a non robotic champion that is inspiring and has a better understanding of the need to entertain the fans first and foremost. I can't wait.

[Lackeos]

But Froch ducked Triple-G after talking big.. Pacquiao ducked Terence Crawford twice -- and Pac never fought the top Welterweights, Brook, Thurman, Porter, and now Spence - because they'd kill him

Wow, no. You really are completely uninformed about boxing.

[man]

Wlad has been THE WORST lineal Heavyweight Champion in the last 30 plus years. I'm not talking about his skills or ability, i'm talking about the way that he conducted himself while owning the most treasured championship in all of sports. He failed in promoting the sport and opted to fight in obscurity for years where a large portion of his bouts were not even televised in the US or UK, the sports mainstream audience.

This opinion has NOTHING to do with his ability or the poor talent that happened to be present within the division during his reign. Boxing's success has always been directly tied to the success of the heavyweight division and the sports embassador as world champion. Since Wlad lost the belt, you see the excitement starting to build again as if the noose was loosened and allowing the blood to flow again. Once Anthony Joshua gets the win and the belts, you will see the difference. You will see life come back to this sport slowly and surely once we have a non robotic champion that is inspiring and has a better understanding of the need to entertain the fans first and foremost. I can't wait.

well, it was wlad's style and wlad's style
only that made american media lose all
interest in him and the championship.
plus there was no american contender,
which did play a role IMO.

as for joshua: totally agree, he has the
potential to excite and a clash of him
and wilder can make headlines all over
including america.

[man]

I'm not sure of them... Wladimir fought everybody, I agree. He's not afraid to lose fights like so many are. His ego isn't wrapped up in beating everybody. But Froch ducked Triple-G after talking big.. Pacquiao ducked Terence Crawford twice -- and Pac never fought the top Welterweights, Brook, Thurman, Porter, and now Spence - because they'd kill him... Pac fought light hitters and non-boxers Rios, Bradley, Algieri, and now Vargas was the latest over-matched opponent of his...

De La Hoya flat-out ducked a unification fight with Winky Wright when they were both 154-pound champions.. He fought Yory Boy Campas instead which was the pits.. Very few top fighters weren't afraid to lose a fight and would fight anybody.. Wlad was one of the few.

prime pac, froch and DLH were famous
for taking on challenges. indisputable
to me. pac taking it easier on his way
out or froch talking shit out of retirement,
seems you need to be biased to make these
outweigh their overall records.

[Freedom2013]

Wlad has always had a lot of heart.

He came back after tough KO losses to become dominant HW champion, and he always fought the best who were available and willing to face him.

[Badhusker]

Wlad showed nothing in his last fight.