If Wlad Beats Ibragimov And Povetkin Decisively…

as a wlad fan i have to agree that wlad needs more than just ibragimov and povetkin to match or potentially surpass lewis.

it's funny because prime for prime i really do think wlad has a better chance of winning a match between the two.

however that is just a once off, and a great fighter is never defined by beating one great fighter (example tarver beating jones hasn't exactly made him historically on the same level as jones despite beating him the majority of the times they met!)

but, i will say if wladimir unifies, and in impressive fashion (remember lewis had two close fights against a former crusierweight to become unified and never ko'ed holyfield.) AND beats a bunch of quality mandatories then at the end of his career i would put him at lewis's level or above him.

remember it is all in the bias. people can rattle off names like tua, mccall, rahman etc etc etc. BUT who is to say povetkin, ibragimov, chagaev etc are not just as worthy? sure they come from russia and therefore obsurity but that doesn't mean their abilities are less than american based heavies.

it's like saying rahman is better than wladimir historically because he is a well known american name! what happened if a heavyweight with more natural talent than ali came from china? does that make him automatically uncomparable to american names simply because he isn't famous or well known to you?

 

Head to head if they had fought when Lewis was active then Lewis would have ko`d him and virtually nobody would have seen it any other way.

Now if you want to take the mythical route of a supposedly improved wlad against a prime Lewis, Lewis would still win. Wlads wins over hopeless cases Austin, Brock and one eyed Brewster dont rove he is better than he was.

 

That depends on what Iggy and Povetkin accomplish after Wlad beats them. I think Iggy has done enough to get respect, and Povektin looks like he's the next great heavyweight.

If Wlad beats them both, he'll be approaching Lewis. While Lewis has wins over Holy and Tyson, smart fans know both men were past their best. Heck, John Ruiz was even with Holy after the Lewis fight, and Tyson was a flat out mess.

Iggy and Povetkin will be in their primes. So perhaps beating them will be more impressive to the smarter boxing fans.

 

Very good point. From now on I will use this list to compare Wlads next 13 fights (hopefully he fights this long -- approximately 5 more years.) So far the only fighters stronger then Ibragimov on that list I think are: Vitali, Tua, Holyfield, Grant.

Also Im going to use that list to start a new thread.

 

Still nowhere near I'm afraid.

 

Prime Lewis lost to TWO guys Wlad would probably destroy, so anything can happen. Also, Wlad may still be getting better, as Lennox was at Wlad's age.

It's true that prime Lennox was better than any version of Wlad we've seen SO FAR. And while It's unlikely Wlad will reach Lewis' level, it's certainly possible.