Who does Wlad have to beat in the next 2-3 years to move up to top 5-10 ATG?

I'm surprised to see people mentioning vitali. He scraped by chisora for christs sake. He's about 7 years past his best.

Much better would be for wlad to beat he who defeats vitali or he who is his sanctioned replacement.

 

JOhnson gets plenty of credit from beating jeffries who was out of the game for about long as Lewis.

One of Wlad's problems is that (despite the stamina problems story) he was stopped the also rans of the previous era - like Purity and Sanders. It looks very bad, paricularly when the current era as a whole really is so poor or at least looks to be. Lewis, who is in shape, has been out of the game for about as long as Jeffries was yet their are plenty of people who give johnson credit for his win over jeffries. Obviously it would be an easy fight, like Jeffries was and in reality he would deserver zero credit.

****, just looked at the date, it is 2012 now. How the hell did those last 10 years go so quick. That is probably why modern fighters cant fight anymore. Time is so much quicker nowadays there isnt enough in a day to train properly! Maybe that explains why records are always falling in other sports too?

 

In historic terms, Povetkin will be seen as a significant omission.

 

How I look forward to the day when people criticize Wlad for not facing Povetkin...

After all, he was a beltholder, a top contender for years, even had an Olympic pedigree. Wlad didn't want any of that. He sure acted as though he wanted to face Povetkin, but he was really afraid of the Russian. Went as far as to sign a contract and even staged a press conference. Everyone saw through the charade when Wlad posed with a cardboard cut-out of Povetkin. That's when we all knew he had a yellow streak.

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The difference, boiler, is that the whole world wanted jeffries v johnson. It was the fight of the century.

Noone wants wlad v lewis.

Wlad has his legacy based upon dominance of top 5 opposition. He just has to keep doing what he's doing.

Even if he has a ten year reign and beats 20+ contenders during this time, his resume will be missing marquee names and for that reason I doubt he will ever break the top 3 (like holmes, it's just too big an ask with the resume's that are out there) but there's no reason he can't break the top 5.

 

NO one .. at this point nothing is going to change ... he has mastered a style that utilizes his size and skills to excel in a safety first manner that hides his weak chin ... he will always be a very tough match up for most because of his skills but there will also be quite a number of others who all take him out .. he is simply not top ten.

 

Wladimir ain't a top 10 heavy, and he never will be.

The division is a joke, terrible, diseased, the worst of all time, and by a HUGE margin.

Tony Thompson makes Buddy Baer look like a force of nature, defending against Mormeck makes Marciano's defence against Don Cockell look like the 'Rumble in the Jungle', and the man re-matched boxers who had already been as exposed as Katie Price's intellect.

The ONE rematch Wlad really needed to have (Against Sanders) he did not take. Actually his brother had to step in...his brother who has shared the top spot with him - but they'll never fight!

And people harp on about Dempsey never fighting Wills! For shame.

No amount of padding can save a ledger that has been lacking ever since it suffered a speed bump against the indomitable Ross Purity.

 

A couple of issues with that

1- Lennox Lewis is not a drug addict that waste millions of dollars on crack,hookers, and bling blings.
He is worth 165 Million+ CURRENTLY and is not gonna go broke.

2- A come-back Lewis might accidentally shatter Wlad's Chin and suddenly instead of Wlad getting that 'name' on his resume.

Lennox is now the GOAT.

 

I think you misunderstood what i said.

I think that Wlad v Lewis would be a ridiculous and stupid fight. I also give it zero chance of happening and it never should or will happen. If it did, it would be an easy fight and Lewis would lose, like Jeffries did.

But, like it or not, many people would use it to elevate Wlad to unrealistic levels. A Lewis name (and that is all it is) would do the same to Wlad that it did to JOhnson.

Look at what the name Foreman did to Holyfield. OLD Foreman even though people like to say otherwise (if you ever could judge anything on film) is leagues behind prime Foreman, yet Holyfield scraping over the top of him has elevated Holyfield into many top 10 lists. Actually, going on film, you could say the same about Tyson and Holmes wins for Holyfield but we are getting way off topic.

Realistically, there are 2 fights that mean the most to Wlad's legacy. (and they might even be the same fighter or not exist). A win over Vitali or a win over the next long term successor. That will do a lot for his legacy.

Here is a question for all (including me to consider ) in a bit more detail. Which fighter that Wladimir beat went on to have the best career after he was actually beaten? Chris byrd obviously comes to mind. But after that, it really does look like Wlad has mainly beaten guys who got a ranking based on a short unbeaten run beating maybe one or two ranked fighters before going on to average results. I might be wrong on this though, i havent thought too hard about it yet.

 

Holyfield - Has lost several fights (not even including any of his fights over 40). Wlad will probably fight until he is close to 40 and he would defeat the likes of Michael Moorer, John Ruiz & Chris Byrd). Holy only has 6 title defenses. Very low KO% for a HW Champion. Doesn't have the dominance or longevity Wlad has.

Frazier - 1 win out of his 5 biggest fights. Has a decent 9 title defenses. However, he only has won 32 fights. Stopped in 3 of his 4 fights. Draw against Floyd Cummings (who is this guy?).

Foreman - Didn't fight at the top level for a long period of time. Only 3 title defenses. Yeah the oldest HW Champion story is good, but besides that his resume is not very good.

 

11) Liston
12) Holyfield
13) Wlad
14) Charles
15) Vitali
16) Tunney
17) Patterson
18) Walcott
19) Jeffries
20) Bowe

*I constantly change 11-20.*

 

Aside from all of the obvious and well-known reasons for this fight being a non-starter, we would never know for sure whether Wlad won it fairly.

So no, it wouldn't do anything for Wlad's overall status.

 

It would not benefit him to beat a man ten years retired.

Old foreman went on to knock out moorer. Old holmes went on to school mercer. Entirely different circumstances.

During any dominant champions reign that is true. It's usually only ever the final opponents who go on to have a decent career.

 

Who does Wlad have to beat in the next 2-3 years to move up to top 5-10 ATG?

Its not so much as who does he have to beat, rather who with objective eyes does the ranking of past fighters.


Top 10 for Wlad is possible. Top 5, for reasons in the ring, and ethic origin outside of it is unlikely...at least in North America or the UK. However the rest of the world is a different story.

 

Povetkin would be meaningful if he takes his 0. Beating Wach hardly moves Wlad up on it's own merit but is significant in that he will be the tallest guy he's beaten, and another unbeaten fighter. Beating a 6'8 guy just adds a bit of colour to his winning streak. Similarly a win over Helenius would have the same value, and more because of the guys he's KO'd

It's not possible to say what the value of wins over many other fighters will be because we don't know what they'll do between now and then. What Price/Fury do in their next few fights will determine the value of beating them