"Fury edges Lewis in new rankings"

Ranked by who?

 

of course fury should be ahead you would NEVER see fury get knocked out cold by the likes of mccall or rahman

 

Lennox can be ranked anywhere from 3rd to 10th.

Fury can be ranked anywhere from 20th to 40th.

Not a fan of either but in this debate, seen several times recently, makes me seem like a salivating Lewis fanboy.

 

Past 21 years means since 1999.

Lewis's best wins 99-03:

1. Tua - beating a dangerous hard hitting top contender
2. Vitali - controversial but fair win
3. Holyfield - past his prime and only a year away from struggling vs Ruiz
4. Rahman 2 - beating a limited fighter whom he should have never lost to.
5. Tyson - completely shot, nothing left


Fury's best wins:

1. Wilder 2 - demolishing a dangerous hard hitting but limited fighter
2. Wlad - past his prime but still good
3. Wilder 3 - same as #1
4. Chisora - a tank with power and toughness but limited skillwise
5. Wallin - a pretty good southpaw but nothing exceptional

Its close. I suppose beating Wilder twice is better than beating Tua once (even though Tua was more durable than Wilder). However, Tua showed up out of shape whereas Wilder showed up in shape.

Past his prime Wlad is still significantly more dangerous than old man Holyfield.

However, Lewis's win over Vitali exceeds beating older Wlad.

Direct comparison:

1. Wilder 2 > Tua
2. Vitali > Wlad
3. Wilder 3 > Holyfield
4. Rahman > Chisora
5. Wallin > Shot Tyson

Fury leads 3-2 but Lewis was more active, unified the titles, and you could make the case that Vitali that Lewis beat would beat all of Fury's opponents.

I am leaning Lewis but i can see an argument for Fury.

 

That is true. However, i think they are only looking at accomplishments in the last 21 years.

 

Thats kind of a set up, haha. In that case, sure.

 

What exactly in Lewis win over Vitali was controversial for god sake ?
Also Lewis was older than Tyson when he fought him by a year.
And going by Tyson fans he lost his virginity, oh dear sorry i mean his prime when he lost, at 23 years old ....

Klitschko was 39,8 when he fought Fury, and Fury was 27 at his absolutely peak.

Let's see where Fury will be not at 40, but at 35 or 36 years old. If he still fights top dog, he will be beaten regularly with his terrible care of his body and life.


Fury has a path to maybe, and i say maybe come in front of Lewis, and the path is clear:
Beat Whyte, then Usyk and Joshua, no matter the order, and he is set.

 

I can’t see the argument to be honest

 

Tyson was a speed reliant fighter. Lewis was not. Lewis's best years came between 97-02. The 97-02 Lewis would destroy his younger version.

Tyson's best years were 86-92. Without Tyson's speed (especially footspeed), he was a sitting duck vs Lewis. Different fighters age differently and peak at different times.

Lewis being 1 year older does not mean he was past it. Lewis was coming off arguably his best performance ever in the Rahman rematch. Tyson looked slow and lackluster for at least 5 years before that.

Again, this is from 99 until now. If you are comparing their full careers, Lewis is miles ahead of Fury.

 

Spot on. Fermando Vargas was shot when he was like 26, Wilfredo Benitez even earlier... And now compare them to Hopkins who was arguably at his peak at 36

 

Calzaghe was the best British boxer in the last 21 years.

 

I always thought Lewis became seriously overrated. The losses to McCall and Rahman hurt his rating a lot for me.
Fury has shown better recovery powers and seems a more natural fighter and his comeback has been incredible.
Lewis's opposition often gets overrated these days too.
But I think Lewis still has enough depth on his record to be a notch above Fury at this point. If Fury beats Usyk in style then we can have a conversation about whether he goes ahead of Lewis.

 

It’s just that he’s more popular right now. Most poles are a popularity contest.

 

Fury is popular right now, but Lewis has a much better resume.
If he beat at least 35 year old Wlad you could argue that he has something on Lewis, but he beat a 3 month to 40 Wlad. Wilder is just a paper champ with a padded record. Lewis beat a lot of guys like him. Ex. Briggs, Golota, Grant, Rahman etc...
Wlad has 10-15 fighters on his resume, who are on the same level as Wilder.