Most dominant heavyweight champion ever?

Wlad or Louis. My pick is Wlad though. Seldom ever lost a round at the height of his reign and was HW kingpin for an entire decade. He ruled the division with a steel hammer and batted away contenders and champs alike with boring ease.

 

Wlad'd WBO reign of course doesn't count and of course number of defences count, and evenmoreso beating all of the best and retiring without losing the championship in the ring. And it counts for more than not having any defences that were close (not that Louis had many, and only one was controversial). It's just a given.

 

Wladimir has to be in the discussion aswell after suffering two bad losses to Sanders, Brewster, he recovered and had a very dominant reign without barely losing a round.

I'm not a fan of Wladimir his style was not for me at all but his reign between 2006-2015 was impressive he barely lost any rounds during a 9 year period.

 

The Brown Bomber

 

I don't count it for this discussion but I count WBO from turn of the century because the WBO gaining major belt status means it earned that in the period before gaining it. Like if IBO became major the fights the era that prompted that change should get recognition.

Louis came back and lost his lineal title in the ring and his BBBC one he got after that. Also under the current rules Louis would have lost his belt to Walcott because Walcott had knockdowns.

I have Louis higher overall and above Ali theres a lot of context that elevates him higher. But that doesn't make him more dominant than Wlad. Having no fights that were close does make Wlad more dominant.

 

I don't mean what that first pargraph is supposed to mean, but the WBO reign doesn't count. Lewis was the champ and absolutely no one said any different.

As for the second... You're inventing a loss under a ruleset they didn't even fight under? Now you're just making **** up, instead of just saying "you're right".

You have absolutely nothing here, but you don't seem to be one to just accept that so I'll let you continue this one your own.

 

As a major alphabet belt not lineal. I'm not counting it in this discussion I'm saying I generally count the WBO reign as a alphabelt belt at that time.

The current rules give a fighter a 10-8 for scoring a knockdown. The old rules counted only rounds. That rule change is relevant when you say Louis never lost his belt in the ring. Well if they scored fights the way they have for many decades now he would have.


Okay. We agree on most things I feel we disagree on this. No biggie.

 

Well, Wlad was clearly the number 1 heavyweight since 2006. So it was Vitali's job to challenge him for that spot. He didn't as they were brothers. But it shouldn't be a knock against Wlad. Especially that Vitali was fighting second and third tier heavyweights, not really disputing Wlad's claim to the crown.

 

He was still clearly the best out there besides Wlad. Not defending against the clearly best potential challenger of course decreases dominance, whatever the reason is. Louis had no such omissions from his championship record.

 

Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Wladimir Klitschko. Maaaybe Larry Holmes, but he had some misses. He beat the men who beat these guys tho, so it's a toss up.

 

I'm not holding Wlad's reign above Louis just to be clear.

 

Louis, Wlad and Holmes are the answers that you want. The devil is in the details of how highly you rate their comparitive opposition.

 

How much would you need to be paid to give a family member a concussion, possible long-term brain damage, and a potentially career shaping defeat? Choosing not to fight a close family member and friend is, imo, a very good reason for not facing your best contender since it would mean every subsequent Christmas and Birthday neither brother would be able to face each other without remembering the time they beat the hell outta each other.

 

So, this has absolutely nothing to do with anything I've said.

I've always felt it has been fully understandable that they never faced off, but legacy and dominance doesn't care about things like that. The fact of the matter is that he doesn't have a W over the other top HW of much of his era, understandable as that might be, and that of course effects dominance.

 

Joe Louis close thread.