Will Wlad

[tsmithy50]

Be rated higher than Lennox Lewis in say 30 years?

[dominik]

Be rated higher than Lennox Lewis in say 30 years?

No. wlad will be rated top 10 all time but Lennox beat better fighters and probably is top 3 all time.

Best wins:
Lennox
1. Holyfield
2. Vitali

wlad
1. Haye
2. pulev? Povetkin?

pretty easy for me

[montrealsuper]

Very close. In a fight fight series they split with a draw. Impossible to say who would win Lewis or Wlad at their best. Wlad has more power (according to Phil Jackson and Ray Mercer) but Lewis had more creativity and agility.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Impossible to say who would win Lewis or Wlad at their best.

Actually it's pretty easy to say. Lewis would have crushed Wlad.

There, that really was easy.

[lillywhite14]

Wlad carries the power to stop Lewis but Lewis probably takes him apart. I envisage one of those nights where Lennox turned up ready to rock n roll, Golota and Grant style. Lewis, on form, did everything better and was sturdier than Wlad, by a distance.

[ReggieDiggs]

He's still got some story to write obviously, but with what the expectations will be imho (he'll get some more title fight wins, he'll get ko'd again, he'll retire) I don't think I'd personally ever have him above Lennox.

It does tend to be a reality that once you're retired your rep gets enhanced so 30 years from now who knows. Floyd might be the new Sugar Ray Robinson by then if he does retired undefeated & if Wlad gets another couple years of title defenses in he might be the new Joe Louis.

[man]

only late in his career wlad became a
real contender for lewis.

it's lewis for me and always will be. it
rhymes, you see?

[Oiky]

i hope not. would be ridicolous.

[koolkc107]

Lewis decisively beat the better brother.

[Dancin' Dan]

Decisively? Really?! Lennox v Vitali was a Great War. With really no winner. Did you ever see it? Wlad still has a way to go to catch Lennox but They both share long dominance. Be interesting to see Wlad take out the Furys and Wilders of the world to close out. Although the big fight against a future star would be against Joshua. My pick as the next great heavy.

[unfairlane]

Lewis decisively beat the better brother.

really? when?

[lillywhite14]

Decisively? Really?! Lennox v Vitali was a Great War. With really no winner. Did you ever see it? Wlad still has a way to go to catch Lennox but They both share long dominance. Be interesting to see Wlad take out the Furys and Wilders of the world to close out. Although the big fight against a future star would be against Joshua. My pick as the next great heavy.

There was two winners of that fight. Lennox, who actually won it despite being old and fat and Vitali who proved he wasn't a throw in the towel merchant that many thought he was at the time ( due to the Byrd fight ) and wanted to fight until he was permanently blind that night.

It was a decent ending for Vitali. Lewis was starting to take over and getting knocked down/out ( which was coming ) by the old Lennox wouldn't have done Vitai any favours.

[drunkenpiper36]

Not likely. But its not out of the question. While Lewis beat better opposition it was hardly by what I'd call a landslide, and Wlad has the longer stay at the top. Both fighters suffered losses to lesser men whom they shouldn't have.

[Batley18]

No, but that isn't necessarily his fault.

Wlad hasn't had the opportunity to fight the same quality of opponent. That being said, Wlad wouldn't have fought anywhere near as many fights if he was going up against the like of Holyfield, Tyson, Ruddock etc.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Not likely. But its not out of the question. While Lewis beat better opposition it was hardly by what I'd call a landslide, and Wlad has the longer stay at the top. Both fighters suffered losses to lesser men whom they shouldn't have.

It was by a landslide.

[drunkenpiper36]

Not likely. But its not out of the question. While Lewis beat better opposition it was hardly by what I'd call a landslide, and Wlad has the longer stay at the top. Both fighters suffered losses to lesser men whom they shouldn't have.

It was by a landslide.

I'll agree that it was better.

[Bard of Boxrec]

By a landslide.

[The Great John L]

Not likely. But its not out of the question. While Lewis beat better opposition it was hardly by what I'd call a landslide, and Wlad has the longer stay at the top. Both fighters suffered losses to lesser men whom they shouldn't have.

Maybe not a landslide, but certainly Lennox’s opposition was noticeably better. And Lennox defeated both of his loses in rematches, while Wlad never fought rematches with his conquerors.

[IKSRTFO]

Be rated higher than Lennox Lewis in say 30 years?

Wasn’t Larry Holmes ranked much higher than Lennox Lewis in Ring Magazine’s “Top 20 fighters since WWII” October 2014 issue… with the calibre of opponents faced by the Easton Assassin not being fit to carry the Brit’s jockstrap?

The problem with Lennox, is that he didn’t have a rival and many of his big name opponents were fought at the wrong stage of their careers (i.e. not at their prime - either too early or late). The US audience didn’t really take to the Brit until long after he’d retired.

Wladimir is a really popular figure in Europe, but less so in the States… and the different territories will view the legacies of both fighters differently.

Therefore, we can’t predict how certain fighters will be perceived throughout the course of history.

Put it this way, the late Arturo Gatti has been inducted into the Hall-of-Fame, but the likes of Julian Jackson, Chris Eubank and Genaro Hernandez hasn’t.

Wladmir doesn't have a rival period. And it has more to do with the currently weak state of the HW than his skills which he does have.

[Sklar]

Probably not. Whilst I firmly believe that Wlad, like Lennox, could've beaten any other heavyweight in history on his night, Lennox has a stronger looking resume.

[Blodhemn]

Depends how much longer he reigns. If he breaks records, then he will be, without a question.

[pound per pound]

Be rated higher than Lennox Lewis in say 30 years?

No. wlad will be rated top 10 all time but Lennox beat better fighters and probably is top 3 all time.

Best wins:
Lennox
1. Holyfield
2. Vitali

wlad
1. Haye
2. pulev? Povetkin?

pretty easy for me

OR

Holyfield was past it for Lewis, and many felt Vitail in the lead 4-2 deserved a re-match. Lewis balked.

Wlad has more title defenses. Wlad 1-0 vs Rhaman. Lewis 1-1 vs Rhaman.

Time will tell.

[Batley18]

Be rated higher than Lennox Lewis in say 30 years?

No. wlad will be rated top 10 all time but Lennox beat better fighters and probably is top 3 all time.

Best wins:
Lennox
1. Holyfield
2. Vitali

wlad
1. Haye
2. pulev? Povetkin?

pretty easy for me

OR

Holyfield was past it for Lewis, and many felt Vitail in the lead 4-2 deserved a re-match. Lewis balked.

Wlad has more title defenses. Wlad 1-0 vs Rhaman. Lewis 1-1 vs Rhaman.

Time will tell.

Using a record against a previous fighter is terrible justification of a point. It is like saying that just because a fighter lost to another, the winner is better.

Douglas > Tyson

[pound per pound]

Using a record against a previous fighter is terrible justification of a point. It is like saying that just because a fighter lost to another, the winner is better.

Douglas > Tyson

I think common opponents means something.

Holyfield for example not only beat Tyson, he also beat Douglas. Yet some rate Tyson higher than Holyfield.

[SenorPipino]

Wlad is feasting on a terribly weak heavyweight, rather embarrasing division.
Since the decline of the elite American heavy in the early 2000s, Klit has easily been able to fatten up his record and probable future legacy at the expense of dull, talent deprived Euro heavies.

Lewis reigned when being a heavyweight contender meant something.
The Brit will always be considered by boxing historians as the far superior champion.