I can’t say I agree he would be right in there but several he could lose to. The only good big man he fought was Vitali Klitschko and he was losing that until a doctor stopped it in a technicality. You obviously know boxing so I respect your opinion Beale
You may be right as he did walk into a big KO twice. That Lewis uppercut on Klitschko was felt a few States away and no idea how on earth he remained on his feet.
Behave… Heavyweight division is a “one punch changes everything division” you can’t say Lewis would be undisputed/undefeated in this era when you have fighters who punch as hard as Wilder and Joshua, also fighters who are as unorthodox as Fury and as skilled as Usyk. No point in comparing historical fighters to active fighters, matchups yes, resumes yes but fighter vs fighter, leave it out.
Well Fury is undefeated and considered the best right now and he’s not on the level of Lewis so I probably can say that.
Emmenuel Steward claimed that Wlad was more talented than Lewis: more powerful, more athletic, better fundamentals, naturally bigger, more intelligent, more experienced. Steward died 3 years before the end of Wlad's reign and 4.5 years years before Wlad's final fight. People can say that crackhead McCall and greenhorn Rahman would be the top 2 heavyweights in this era, or that Andy Ruiz has faster feet than Ali. But just looking at the most important results, Fury's on track to finish ahead of Lewis and has been since Wilder 2 at the latest. Fury-Lewis results comparison (no filler) Fury's wins: W. Klitschko (away, underdog), Wilder x2 (away, underdog, away) Fury's draw: Wilder (away, underdog) 3-0-1 Lewis's wins: V. Klitschko (neutral), Holyfield (away) Lewis's draw: Holyfield (away) Lewis's losses: McCall (home), Rahman (neutral) 2-2-1
I love how you list Fury’s best win against a 60 year old shop work WK in a fight where maybe 25 punches were thrown yet you don’t mention Lewis defeating Tyson. I like Fury and I’m all honesty don’t rate Lewis as British, he’s Canadian. I’m not going to do a 300 word essay breaking down fights and fighters as it’s been done daily here. Fury’s record is weak for a man 30 fights in claiming to be the best ever. People want to defend it, that’s fine. In my opinion his record is weaker/on par with Terrance Crawford after 30 fights. You don’t hear folk claiming Crawford would beat Hearns.
"60 year old shop work WK" Wlad was 39, Ring champ, P4P No.2, undefeated in 11.5 years, 4/1 favourite, fighting at home and as the A-side against Fury in his world title debut, who'd been 12 rounds just twice before against Chisora 1 and Kevin. And 17 months later at 41, Wlad went life and death over 11 rounds with Joshua in Britain. "you don’t mention Lewis defeating Tyson" Tyson was two years removed from being stopped in 4 rounds by Danny Williams. He'd been battered and stopped x2 by Holyfield 5+ years prior and took 6 rounds to stop Nielson in his fight prior to Lewis. I'm only mentioning wins and draws against top quality/very dangerous opponents, for Lewis it comes down to Vitali and Holyfield. "maybe 25 punches were thrown" Perhaps people will come to understand it in the future but if you can beat the P4P No.2 by 8-4/9-3 margins in his backyard while taking the fewest punches ever as a challenger in a 12 round championship fight, you've pulled off a magic trick. Statistically it's the greatest 12 round defensive performance ever. Fury took fewer punches against Wlad than Wlad took against Wach and Povetkin in that Greco-Roman match. I'm sure Byrd and many others would have rather danced around and won wide on points rather than getting schooled and pulverised. "Fury’s record is weak for a man 30 fights" Fury has 34 fights, Lewis 44 (fewer than Wilder and far fewer than Wlad). But the number of fights is far less important than the number of significant fights. I've seen Lewis's record described as "thin" post-Holyfield 1 and that's after 36 fights, prior to getting banjoed by Rahman: https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/11/...-this-weeks-rematch-against-evander-holyfield And unlike Lewis, Fury's career isn't over yet. We'll see what he adds to the record going forward.
It was a good win vs Wlad, no one is saying it isn’t. Fury is the best around but the era is weak. Talks of him being one of the best ever is hilarious. Doesn’t have the skills or resume to get anywhere near that debate
There's no such thing as a "strong era" 50-60 years ago in any sport where objective measurements are made. It's baseless nostalgia. Fury's the most skilled boxer for his size ever, which is why he has the best 12 round defensive performance ever from a statistical point of view. Usyk is more skilled than Lewis, Wlad, Fury and Ortiz according to Scott, who has extensive experience sparring and fighting all of them. No era can be "weak" with historically unique fighters like Usyk and Fury, not to mention Wilder (possible GOAT right hand) or Joyce (unique output for a man of his size). Even Joshua is a very strong 5th, ex-LHW Moorer wouldn't beat him and he could punch holes through Frazier and Norton.
Ok. So Wilders GOAT right hand. Who has it knocked out exactly. It couldn’t even keep Fury down and though he has spirit he doesn’t have the best chin
Technicality ? Lewis busted him open with a punch and this was when he was 38 and at his career heaviest and clearly not trained. Loooool.
I like how Redbeards view on Wlad changes depending on what thread he is in. If it is a pro fury thread then Wlad was an all time great in his prime, a virtually unbeatable monster. Hailed as better than Lewis by Manny Steward. A Joshua thread has Wlad (who was only just over a year older) as a washed up old man who shouldn’t have even still being boxing. Beaten easily by the likes of Sanders and Purrity.
Who did Rahman and McCall KO save Lewis? Who did Puritty, Sanders and Brewster KO save Wlad? Who did Ruiz KO save Joshua? Fury has a good chin but GOAT powers of recovery. Steward mentioned his chin among his best attributes and if Fury was worried about his durability he wouldn't have fought 22 year old Price at 17, signed to fight Haye x2, fought Wlad away and Wilder x3 away. Jullian Jackson wasn't regarded as an elite fighter but he was an elite puncher. Same can be said of Shavers, whose best KO's were over Norton (who got KO'd in 1-2 by every big puncher he fought) and fighter who was still a middleweight at 24 back in the same day weigh in times. Wilder did significantly better against Helenius than Chisora and Whyte Breazeale than Joshua and Wallin post-Wilder Fury than Wlad Stiverne than Joyce post-Wilder 2 Arreola than Vitali Duhaupas and Washington than Miller post-Wilder Scott than Chisora and Ortiz post-Wilder Firtha than Povetkin and Fury Liakhovich, Szpilka and Ortiz than Jennings Manswell than Chagaev Morales, Liakhovich, Arreola and Ortiz than Ruiz post-Wilder
I think redbeard is about 30 IQ points higher than anyone else in this thread. He is just tearing everyone apart with logic. It looks to me like people are getting a bit upset with him upstaging them