manages to knock out Wladimir in the first round and then stops Vitali on an accumulation of punches in the 7th, and the Klits for the first time ever would be unable to come up with a lame excuse as to why they lost, where would you rank him ATG?
He would go up a lot in my estimations if he pulled off something like that.I would not say he would be an all time great though.
Well, that would have been a nice acomplishment for sure. But an ATG? no way. The reason for this is that he has been sooo careful/ calculated as to whom he has been fighting. Besides, in cruiser, he had only one defence of his titles. Also, he did not challange for the last remaining belt (IBF, Cunningham.) In Heavyweight none of his defences have been against Ring top ten challengers as of yet. (With Wlad around 8 of his last 10 were ring top 10...) If haye had fought top 10 guys on a regular bases then maybe. July the 2'nd will not be a good day for Haye, wait and see...
and ..... if a mouse was to kill a lion and then after that it was to beat up an elephant would that make the wee beasty the toughest animal on the planet?
he'll rank well if that happens but the problem will be how often can haye induce his inside attacks, if hes kept at too much of a distance and wlad dominates to a controlled slow pace. haye could be effective inside if he can sneak in often without loss of precision and grounding. haye has a tendency to get bursts of haste and that could put him at risk but a more disciplined focused approach will help.
I don't know, I'm a fan of his but, Compare his record to an ATG like Larry Holmes, or Lennox Lewis, in doing so you will see he is like a "Primo Carnera" at best. Remember man, you are only as "great" as the opponents you BEAT. The Klitschkos would not have survived before the 2000's anyways.
