Could Wlad be ranked as high as Joe Louis

No. There was only 1 Joe Louis. Wlad wouldn't last 2 whole rds.

 

H2H I'd take Wlad.

Historically you have to take Louis.

 

personally i see alot of Things that they have in common during their reign. both were ahead of their time (Louis Looking like the first modern heayweight and wlad being the first modern super Heavyweight) and had Little competition during their peeks.

wlad actually had better competion during his defenses so you could agrue that he was a greater fighter. the truth is, the american media would never recognize wlad over Louis because Louis was an american folk hero and wlad a ukrainian Fighting out of Germany!
but the Cold Facts actually speak for wlad.

 

On paper you could. But, not in reality. Although Wlad had some incredible physical gifts, he was simply not as good of a fighter as Joe Louis.

 

No. A lot of Wlad defences were not really of the legit world title. He had a good run, but not Joe Louis good.

 

You could make an argument for it IMO...I wouldn’t, but you could. If you count his belt defenses as actual championship defenses and you consistently rate that way you could. So while I think there’s a gap it comes down to your opinion and criteria. If you are consistently doing that in your evaluation...go for it. We all have guys who are rated higher or lower than the consensus

 

Yes, but you'd have to make some negative assumptions about the quality of Louis's era compared to Wlad's.

It may well be common in 15-20 years.

 

No. Louis didn't have the shadow of his brothers possible superiority hovering over him for much of his time. Louis was the top dog no if's or but's.

 

Not even close. Louis had the superior competition, the superior showmanship, superior domination, he didnt have his brother protect him from lennox lewis and shannon briggs, he didn't not fight his brother, he fought people much bigger than him, whereas Klitschko towered over his wins, Klitschko never unified, etc.

Not even comparable imo.

 

The sad truth is that it's already becoming more common. The day when Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko are heralded as the GOATs are upon us. Muhammad Ali is going to be Jack Dempsey'd

 

Um, no. He shouldn't be.

And, no, he didn't equal or exceed Joe Louis' 25 successful title defenses.

 

If you took all the successful defenses he made after beating Chris Byrd for the WBO title, and all the successful defenses he made after winning the IBF title from Chris Byrd, the total comes to 23.

1. Derrick Jefferson
2. Charles Shufford
3. Frans Botha
4. Ray Mercer
5. Jameel McCline
6. Calvin Brock
7. Ray Austin
8. Lamon Brewster II
9. Sultan Ibragimov
10. Tony Thompson I
11. Hasim Rahman
12. Ruslan Chagaev
13. Eddie Chambers
14. Sam Peter II
15. David Haye
16. Jean Marc Mormeck
17. Tony Thompson II
18. Mariusz Wach
19. Franceso Pianeta
20. Alexander Povetkin
21. Alex Leapai
22. Kubrat Pulev
23. Bryant Jennings

 

Different eras and like Louis Vlad had to make an adjustment in his career like Louis did after the Schmeling loss.

Vlad had some confidence issues after first the stamina loss to Purrity then getting bombed out by the avoided & dangerous Southpaw,quick fisted Corrie Sanders, then shooting his load against Brewster.

From the fist Peter fight on he improved steadily and defended his title over a nice group of top contenders.

I have Louis as my number one so Vlad is not there but I do think Vlad has a solid resume, his brother cleaned up a few during the same era but between them they cleaned out the division so Vlad may be top 5

for me Holmes is overated, never unifying,avoiding top contenders, never rematching tough fights & losing to Spinks in Spinks first heavyweight fight

There is quality and there is quantity & Louis had both but who falls behind him Ali is close, Marciano fought his #1 5/6 times but only 6 defenses.....who else makes the top 5?

 

The trouble with Wlad is that at no point during his reign was he ever undisputed. That's a major asterisk that can't be ignored.
To Holmes credit alot of belts did start popping up during his reign that splintered the titles causing confusion; make no mistake Holmes was THE Man during that time period.

As for the thread? Louis ranks higher; I actually rate him #1 at Heavyweight.