I would love to see a meaningful case made. But I feel like it's one of those rare instances in 3-17 where one guys is locked over another guy.
Lennox's hail Mary win over Vitali and overall stronger era makes him the better candidate for being above Wlad but Wlad does have the longevity, so i suppose someone could make an argument there? If NoNeck doesnt have Wlad above Lewis then id struggle to find anyone who does
No Wladimir suffered worst losses aka Sanders loss which wasn't a punch out of nowhere Wladimir got dominated and beaten up that effects his legacy considerably as he was in his physical prime. Lewis overall also had stronger opposition and finished his career on a high unlike Wladimir. For me it's clearly Lewis and its not even debatable
Wlad hadn’t even started his title reign. Lewis never had a long title reign due to Rahman and McCall. And McCall and Rahman weren’t out of nowhere. McCall’s entire gameplan, as crafted by Steward, was to throw with Lewis. Rahman had been setting that punch up for the entire fight. The other big rights either missed or weren’t good enough to get the ko.
What i mean is comparing the loss to Sanders that was a beat down Wladimir didn't win a single second in that fight and got utterly crushed that's a terrible loss IMO in the manner in which Wladimir lost. Lewis's losses to McCall, Rahman, were bad losses the McCall one not so bad as Lewis did actually get up, but Lewis revenged the loss to Rahman in stunning fashion in an immediate rematch.
Wlad accomplished more imo with his dominant reign. But Lewis beat better fighters and that's al that matters.