Prime for Prime: Lennox ~vs~ Wlad - Classic Views?

I honestly think Lewis has an easy night with Wlad. Wlad is great from the outside dominating with his jab. I don't think he has the physical strength or requisite courage when Lewis closes the distance on him and drags him into a dogfight.

 

I think Lewis ability to fight, to become physical is the decider. Wlad is the better boxer, has the better jab, even the better right hand but when the going gets tough Lennox can make it a fight. I´ve never seen Wlad fighting. There is a chance Wlad using his skill to avoid that but it´s a small one. I take Lewis by late midround stoppage. Wlad maybe ahead on the cards.

 

Manny would know. If he calls it a pick em, its a pick em.

I also call it a pick em. I've been in the ring with both, and I'll tell you; Lewis is the better fighter, but Wlad is the better boxer, and power is a wash. Both can be hit and hurt by punchers in eachothers class.

It'd be a fun, fun fight. People who say Lewis blows Wlad away don't know how freaking difficult it is getting past his jab.

 

Its all poison mate

Lennox is easier to box because he can be lured into what you want to do. The man flat out gives battle. The rougher you get the rougher he gives. Believe it or not, I think in sparring and his amateur career he wasn't disciplined enough to stick to a jab and clinch gameplan. You could just dictate on the guy.

Wlad, you know exactly what is coming and you can't stop it. You know he's gonna jab. And you know eventually, the right hand is gonna come over and its gonna hurt like hell. And when he confuses you and hooks? Crap.

Wlad is as disciplined and strategic as a fighter gets. Every move, precise, strong, fast, no punch wasted.

Lewis wasn't as disciplined, nor skilled at long range war, but the guy could bit his mouth piece and give it hell. He did it to Ray Mercer, he did it to Frank Bruno, and he did it to Vitali. Maybe its the southpaw factor, and he was holding back most likely, but I felt like I gave Lennox good work and I know I gave him a good fight 20 years back. I wasn't even in Wlad's class. Totally different level. But he doesnt spar in as many speeds as Lennox.

All that to say, its not really scary in there with fighters like them-One predictable and the other willing. Its more tense to face Wlad, and its more dangerous to come at Lewis and invoke his ire. But I know how to box, and intimidation never factored much beyond "I'm not going to get the better of this." And I knew that every round I ever shared canvas with them.

 

You are such an interesting poster. It's a pleasure to read about your experiences in the ring.

 

I was lucky enough to compete at a high amateur level and be the White Michael Moorer, Gym Edition. The pleasure, luck and privilege were all mine.

And something I thought of regarding the looking at you concept...Lennox looked at an opponent like, how. What am I gonna use to bust you up. Left hook, right hand jab. Whats open for me right now. He's eager, just smart.

Wlad looked at you like, when. When is the right moment to punch. He's waiting for his moment, even when he's leading.

 

The fight is called off after Wlad feints on the way to the ring. Ok lets say he actually fights Lennox, mentally Wlad wouldn't have the strength to handle a Lennox coming after him with bad intentions, remember he had a panic attack against Brewster and was scared in Peter 1. Steward is right about Lennox's massive strength but he was also so fast and dynamic and had knock out power in such a variety of punches.

 

I respectfully disagree and I have a feeling Manny is not biting the hand that feeds him. Lennox was pretty damn good at finding his way past jabs and didn't have a bad 1 of his own (not as good as Wladdos mind you). Yes Wlad has 1 of the best jabs ever but sooner or later Lennox turns it into a fight at mid range, it might be in the first round or maybe Wlad would even be ahead going int othe mid-rounds but as soon as Lennox catches up Wlad would be finnished. Wlad may hit as hard but he isn't as aggressive and doesn't have the chin or mental fortitude

 

After reading MN´s post about sparring with them I start to question that. And yeah, right Wlad has no mental fortitude. That´s why he kept getting up against the guys who stopped him and was always stopped on his feet, that´s whe he got up three times to dominate Peter. No mental fortitude my a$$.

 

I actually would give Lennox a small edge because of the clinch. Its a place both guys like to set up shop, primarily because its a stamina zapper, a heart breaker, and a way to limit offense output in phone booth combat, an area both are quite limited in.

When Wlad clinches, its to restrict motion. Rarely does he leave the opponents right arm untied(Left arm if he's facing a southpaw, which is pretty incredible) and he doesn't lean, persay, he presses: Barrels down with his chest, keeps things tight. He doesnt want to fight in the clinch, he wants to spoil and intimidate. The man is brutally strong in there.

Lewis seeks to redirect and dominate in the clinch. Watching Lewis clinch is actually a pretty dynamic thing. He tries to direct the head, fend off the fists, and set up his uppercut.

I think Lewis wins, probably on points, because when he gets into the clinch with Wlad, Wlad would vainly try to shut Lewis down, and Lewis wouldn't have it. He'd peck and peck and peck away. Its not unforseeable a big right uppercut does the trick ala Michael Grant at some point.

And McGrain, yes, Wlad had a harder jab. Apples and oranges. Best jab I've ever encountered. Only Foremans was in the same class as far as ouch, and Wlad was much faster. Lennox is an eager fighter, and doesn't calm well. His footwork gets out of sorts, he gets ahead of himself on his feet, and his defenses are more based out of the flinch than the technical.

Wlad wins an outside fight, and I don't think Lennox could just make it a fight without possibly taking something dangerous. Lewis responded to aggression, he didn't usually start out coming at you like a freight train. He escalated with the fight, and Wladimir fights dont escalate. But I do think both guys would tie up, and while Wlad is trying to manhandle, Lennox would be punching. And seeing as the clinch IS Steelhammers inside plan, he wouldnt be able to adjust on the fly to easily to abandoning it.

 

His last loss was due to a panic attack presumably due to the nightmares he'd been having over the Sanders loss. Wlad has little brother syndrome and Steward had to remove Vitali from his Peter 1 training camp because Vitali was being so negative about Wlad's chances

As for Lennox not getting past the jab, well with all due respect to MN he would be allot better equiped to do so than MN himself or any Wlad opponent Sanders included. He was the 1 who called Sanders and told him to rush Wlad early and ofcourse Lennox always rushed big men - Golota/Grant/Briggs/Rudduck/Akiwande/Vitali and he always got his punches off

 

yeah he lost to Brewster because of panic attacks not because he paced himslef wrongly and ran out of gas. :thumbsup