Expert opinions on Wladimir vs Lewis

Boxing.com

A fight that perhaps would have been the biggest heavyweight chess match of them all - Lennox Lewis vs Wladimir Klitschko.

You'd struggle to find more of an out and out tactical affair between two big men who can punch anywhere in the history of the sweet science.

Both came from tremendous amateur backgrounds, having pure grade and pedigree all the way through, culminating for the pair of them both winning Olympic Gold for their countries.

This type of high level amateur grounding is almost always a contributing factor in a professional fighter developing elite level pugilistic skills in the professional code, not necessarily guaranteeing world title success mind you, but almost always developing highly tuned boxers from a skill set perspective.

Such a fantasy fight would have had a little bit of everything, for every type of fan.

If you enjoyed your power punching from big heavyweights, both men deliver in this department, with a sickening 85 wins via knockout (as of August 2015) between them in the paid ranks.

Who could have took the power though?

Surely advantage Lewis in this realm, one would have thought.

Lennox, although he tasted knockout defeat on two occasions in his career, showed at different points in his campaign that he was able to dig in when the going got tough - and soak up punishment when needed.

The two knockouts he suffered would have knocked out horses such is the concussive nature of the heavyweight division, to be fair.

Wladimir's chin on the other hand may have been a tad bit more suspect than Lennox's.

But if we were to match the two in their respective primes, it would have to be noted Wladimir didn't come into his prime until later in life (like Lennox in truth) and by that point had created a safety-first style that was virtually impossible for most heavyweights to crack.

Could Lewis have cracked that code and got through with some of his big right hands, vicious power hooks and neck shuddering uppercuts?

Almost certainly.

He showed he could do so as much to Wladimir's older brother Vitali in the final fight of his career, but it has to be said Vitali perhaps was there to be hit slightly more than Wladimir, and obviously different styles make fights.

Lewis took on various big men in his career, but he always kept things long in a similar fashion to how Wladimir did and still does.

From a style perspective, the two might very well have shared two of the most similar styles out of any heavyweight champions in history.

But what were the differences?

Well for one, you'd have to concede that Lewis had a tougher era and fought on the whole, more difficult challengers.

That's not Wlad's fault though - it's just the way the cookie crumbled for him.

So that for me, would give Lewis a distinct advantage in that he showed what he was capable of at a higher level.

However, one advantage Wladimir would have enjoyed would have been a slightly superior height and reach, which could have definitely frustrated Lewis early on.

Lewis although he fought big men in his career, never fought any really as monstrous at Wladimir Klitschko, so may have taken a few rounds to get his distance and timing down.

However for this writers money once he did that, it would have been curtains for Klitschko, who in my opinion, would have succumb to the overwhelming fighting spirit, skills and power of Lennox Lewis in the mid to later rounds.

But what a boxing chess match it would have been, one for the purists.

By Jim Carney

On the surface not much to choose from here. The fighters are well-matched in size, strength, speed and skill and have similarly vulnerable chins. Lennox has the edge with this writer for two reasons. One is that he has fought and beaten more tough opponents and a bigger variety of opponents in general. He has scored victories over some very dangerous men, such as Evander Holyfield and Vladimir’s own formidable brother Vitali. The edge in experience may contribute to the other point in Lennox’s favor his ability to handle difficult situations.
Lewis’ two kayo defeats against Hasim Rachman and Oliver McCall were from quick one-punch kayos. Vladimir might have the power to duplicate this but would probably be too cautious against Lewis’ own power to get in such a blow. Vlad basically gave up against Ross Purity. He showed grit in his other two kayo defeats against Cory Sanders and Lamon Brewster. But once in trouble against these men he never untracked. He survived the onslaught of the powerful but unskilled Samuel Peter and legitimately won the fight but had to scramble and hug to do so. His training was then taken over by Manny Steward who taught him his present effective - but safety-first - style of slowly picking foes apart with his jab.
Lennox on the other hand (unless knocked cold) is good at riding out tough situations. Vitali Klitschko, Frank Bruno and Shannon Briggs had him in tough spots that he fought out of. He’s also good at taking advantage of openings and quickly finishing opponents such as Razor Ruddock, Andrew Golata and Michael Grant when he quickly got them in trouble.
Lennox might rush Vladimir, get him in trouble quickly - as with Ruddock, Golata and Grant - and finish him. Most likely the bout would last a good while and be close, perhaps with Vlad’s “steel hammer” jabs putting him slightly in the lead. But Lennox stays out of real trouble and at some point gets the giant Ukranian in difficulty and efficiently finishes him.

 

:huh

 

Depends? Are their backstage politics involved?