Lennox's arsenal and overall boxing compare to WK

Think you are either a blind hater or a victem of nostalgia, watch footage and compare them and you will see how wrong you are on some of your points.
Especially on the excitement bit, people forget how much Lennox would take **** for being boring. (usually for the exact same reason Wlad did)
The pre Steward Wlad was more exciting than Lewis ever was tbh (although the Steward version is vastly superior)

I think what sets Wlad and Vitali apart is that they generally dont even drop single rounds vs limited opposition where Lewis would.

That said Lewis was more versatile and able to make things more physical than Wlad.

 

But still one thing that you always need to know when you are comparing two heavyweights of diffrent eras. The reson Wladimir and Vitali looks so unbeatable and good is beacuse they are fighting bums compared to the other eras. Seriously they are great boxers but no way near Lewis, Tyson, Holmes, Ali, George foreman and so on.

Okey they are "small" heavyweights but they are DEDICATED heavyweights much like himself. The reson why the Heavyweight division is like it is isn't just only beacuse Wladimir and Vitali "make" them look so bad it's beacuse they are really bad. I mean none of these guys trains like the true great ones did or even top 10 HWs from 10-15 years ago.

For example I don't think a prime Wladimir would have handeld David tua the way Lewis did. And lewis would pretty much KO everyone Wlad has fought.

Lennox lewis is better in every single way.

 

Lewis had more pure concussive power in his right hand than Wlad. Wlad, however, has a much better left hook.

 

Good point on the tua fight:good

I feel a good way to compare fights in sone cases is by seeing how they do against each others resumes. I wouldn't pick anyone from wlad's side that would beat Lewis, however I couldn't picture wlad beating all of Lewis resume

 

In no particular order....

1. Wlad has better balance, and it isn't even close. Lewis would literally trip over his own feet on a regular basis. That was one of Manny Steward's biggest hurdles with Lewis was to try to keep him steady on his feet. Lennox was very uncoordinated... where Wlad is extremely coordinated and has GREAT footwork. Especially for a man his size.

2. Power in both hands. You are absolutely crazy if you think that Lewis had more power in both hands. Wlad has scored several one punch knockouts with his left and his right. His knockout ratio is WAY higher, and all you have to do is listen to Manny Steward who trained them... Jameel McCline who was Lewis' long time sparring partner, or Phil Jackson who fought them both. All of them say that Wlad hits much harder. There is absolutely NOTHING to back up a theory that Lewis hits harder.

3. Better resume? Are you being serious right now? Wlad has had a much longer title reign, and has fought ALL of the top fighters in the world outside of his own brother, who are willing to fight him. Of course, he can only fight one at a time, but he is lining then up and knocking them out. Lewis on the other hand... managed to go through 90's without ever fighting any of the top 5 best heavyweights of his own era while they were in their prime. He didn't fight Bowe, Moorer, Foreman (not prime, but a champ), Holyfield, or Tyson while they were all in their prime lighting up the boxing world. Lewis was content to play in the backround until all of those stars burnt out... then fought an older, worn down Holyfield and a completely washed up Tyson. Where is this great resume? Lewis was never even considered a true Champ until he fought Holyfield and beat him. During his "great title reign"... Lewis fought Michael Grant, Frans Botha, David Tua, was knocked out by Rahman, knocked out Rahman, then fought Tyson, Vitali and retired. That's a better resume? That's crazy.

4. Uppercut. I give Lewis that... of course he used his uppercut in much better fashion that Wlad uses his. Although Wlad has used his lately and has had very good success with it. Lewis definitely had a better uppercut.

5. Lewis had better killer instinct? How so? His knockout ratio certainly doesn't support that. Once again... we are basing this off of a horribly biased opinion. Wlad has a higher knockout ratio than Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Joe Frazier, Ali, Holyfield, Sonny Liston, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Ernie Shavers, ect... Hell, Wlad's knockout ratio is just about equal to George Forman. Wlad's sits at 83.33% while Foreman's sits at 83.95%. Yet... people pretend like Wald doesn't finish fights and doesn't have killer intinct. Meanwhile... you try and say that Lennox Lewis... who was ciritzed his ENTIRE career for being extremely boring, lacking killer instinct, ect... outside of a just a few fights against Ruddock, Grant, and Golota.... and Lewis' knockout ratio stands at 72.73%. Yet... somehow you can sit and claim that he has more killer instinct. Completely unfounded. Lewis' average fight length was 5.1 rounds per fight. Wlad's is 4.8 rounds per fight. Now that is even more amazing considering the fact that Wlad has fought 16 more times than Lewis.

6. More exciting to watch? Since when? Because you were a fan of his? Lewis' boring style was always used as the big reason why he was never that popular in the United States... just as they say with Wladimir. Personally... I didn't find either of them to be boring. Lewis was critized after fighting Tua the same way that Wlad was after fighting Ibragimov. Your theory here holds no water either.

7. Better inside fighting game? I would lean toward Lewis with this as well. However, this wasn't a big strength with Lewis. Wlad's short left hook is a great weapon for him on the inside, just as Lewis used the uppercut very well on the inside. I would lean toward Lewis on the inside fighting though. Not close range fighting... but inside meaning shoulder to shoulder.

8. Smarter in the ring. Once again... I have no idea how you guess this. Both of them obviously have high ring IQ's. Yet, Wlad takes far less punches and controls the distance, and pace of the fight, as well as keeping his opponent off balance and reseting the entire fight long. To me.... that would tell me that Wlad was smarter in the ring. Lewis may have been more adaptable... but Wlad really hasn't had to show his adaptablity so that's hard to judge. Since Wlad has been under Steward... he has dominated his opponents and hasn't had an opponent that could force him to fight any different than he wants to.

9. Wlad is definitely faster... and that's not even questionable. I can't believe that you try to pass off "similar hand speed".

10. Better mentality? Really? Lewis never once picked himself up off the canvas from a knockout and was able to continue a fight, let alone picked himself up off of the canvas to WIN the fight. That is the biggest measurement tool used for toughness and heart! Wlad has proven that not only will he get up EVERY TIME that he was put down.... but he can get back up and win! Lewis never showed that.

11. Left hook - Wlad wins hands down. It isn't close... not even remotely.

12. Righthand - Wlad's right hand is definitely a better right hand. He throws his more correct, which is why he takes out more opponents than Lewis did. Wlad's straight right comes staight down the pipe. However, Wlad can also throw over hand rights, ect... Lewis had a great right hand. However, he usually looped it from the side or overtop. He could throw a straight right hand however, it didn't have anywhere near the explosion, speed and impact that Wlad's has. Both have great right hands...Wlad's is better.

13. Defense - Did you forget this little aspect of boxing? Wlad's defense is leagues above Lewis'. Lewis was caught flush on a regular basis... where Wlad goes multiple fights without us ever even seeing him take a flush shot. This is one of the reasons why people incorrectly label him as "boring". It's because they are rooting for him to lose every fight... yet he goes out fight after fight and completely gives them no hope. They hardly even get to see him get hit. Yet, he still manages to take his opponents out faster than all of those greats that I mentioned. That's called superior boxing talent.

That's for starters.....

 

Thats exactly what I thought. Another example is the 2003 Tyson I even think woulde have given Wladimir problems. Don't forget Shannon briggs, Holyfield.

We will never know for sure but I belive Wladimir fails to much on hes biggest nights to become an truly great one. For exaple the stakaes would have been diffrent if he'd knocked David haye out or Ko sultan infront of the American boxing world.

But he still have alot left in the tank and the only one I thought who got an chance at Wlad was Haye and he was completly outboxed.



But I do belive that the other ones under Wlad need to take a hard look at themself in the mirror and decide to get in good shape just look at their bodies and you know who is going to win.

 

You make several excellent points. Although I still think Lennox had greater punching power in his right hand, you are abolutely correct that Wlad has much better handspeed.

Similarly you are correct to point out that Lennox, in his day, was also routinely berated as a boring, safety-first fighter.

 

I prefer to look at the hard facts:
- Wlad - 83% KO ratio
- Lewis - 72% KO ratio
:hi:

 

Wlad exceeds Lewis in every department. Only those blinded by their hatred and folly will disagree.

 

Agreed, though Wlad tends to throw the right hand straighter.

Lewis had a better uppercut and he had a far better inside game. He was also far more adaptable and could really fight fight (rather than just box) if he needed to. He could also hold just as much as Wlad could and use his weight to his advantage (as against Tyson). Whatever people say about his chin it was also able to deal with some vicious fights, for example against Mercer and Briggs, both big hitters. Lewis was also an extremely strong, physical, heavyweight, more so than Wlad and Vitali are.

Having said that he was also infuriatingly inconsistent, holding some fights and fighting on even terms inside in others. Boxing to boring decisions (Tua), but then destroying opponents with devastating shots (Golota and Rahman II) and being mentally focussed (again Rahman II), having epic brawls (Mercer and Briggs) to being ill prepared and careless and showing real vulnerability (McCall and Rahman). Wlad is far more consistent and focussed, never underestimating his opponent and never getting out of his game plan. Unfortunately it does make for dull fights because he never takes risks.

As for overall comparison, Lewis' strengths I have mentioned. I think their hand speed is comparable, footwork i'd probably give the edge to Lewis but not by much, although I think Wlad, again, is more consistent and he controls range and where he wants the fight to happen FAR better than Lewis did. Comparable power, Lewis has more variety with his shots and has a harder yet more looping right and a weaker hook.

Lewis is stronger. Wlad uses his height better. Jabs are similar though I think Wlad has more diversity to his jab and feints with it better. Lewis has a better chin and is tougher. He is also a fighter whereas Wlad really isn't.

To conclude. Lewis, an inconsistent yet sporadically great top 5 heavy of all time, with great strength, power, adaptability and fighter's spirit. Wlad, a disciplined, highly skilled yet limited, thoughtful fighter who doesn't take risks but has the physical tools and power to be far more exciting than he is.

Both are great in similar and different ways but Lewis would be preferred simply because of his competition and the fact he could be really exciting. It's a shame Wlad doesn't have the competition that Lewis did really, not his fault though.

 

****ing idiot facts dont tell the whole story
Lewis fought better opponents

 

Lennox's lion heart and will trumps anything wlad ''might'' be better than Lewis at..

Lewis ko rd3,

 

Agreed boxing has too many intangibles to rely simply on hard statistics, though they can be useful. An example of the fallacy of relying on KO percentage to illustrate power - Sugar Ray Robinson's KO percentage is 54%, and yet he is ranked 11 out of 100 on the Ring's top 100 punchers ever. Robinson could hit mad hard - see him practically KILL Gene Fullmer with one hook whilst moving backwards.

 

Perfect post. Both had their strong points but many here forget how hated Lewis was back when he was fighting. I'm from the US and all my boxing buddies picked Tyson to KO Lewis, literllay about 30 people in the room and I was the only guy picking Lewis to win by late KO. Needless to say I made some good coin that night................

 

I guess they had better chins too right? Nostalgic idiot.....................