Wow, thats it then. He wins this one. Thanks for your input, I'm sure we all look forward to more pearls of wisdom from you .:good
Razor Ruddock would qualify as Wlad's most dangerous challenger , imo. Two men , both fairly equal in talent and stature , one proven in the fire one not. I go for the proven fighter and that is Lennox.
Rudduck had a great hook/uppercut but unfortunately he did not get to test LL's whiskers before LL tested his I think David Haye would be a good test for LL and equal to R Rudduck in size and power
Oh yes... head to head, I rate Lewis #1 in the division's history. I'm gay as a basket of birds for Lewis
Counter-point. Yes, Lewis never got up to win a fight but he was down less in his whole career than Wlad was in just one fight. Not going down in the first place has to count for something, and against McCall he was on his feet, the ref just never let him continue.
His legs were shaky vs McCall and he almost went down without a punch I think the REF may have saved him seriously, he did not recover well Vlad lost from stamina issues in 2 fights and in the Sanders fight walked in cold and over-confident and he had no idea how to clinch (lesson learned) Sanders was a freak of an early starter fast handed southpaw with speed (bad Choice) fighting a guy who was avoided another note Vlad has already has 65 fights 63-3 while Lennox Lewis retired with a total of 44 fights 41-2-1 so Vlad has fought over 20 more fights than Lennox and in Vlad's has only been down once in his last 20 fights against Davarell Williamson and while Lewis has fought the better fighters Evander,Tyson, Vitali I think the rest of Vlads opponents are pretty much even in terms of quality to the rest of Lennox's opponents
Bottom line is Wlad's been down far more than Lewis has been even after they each had 44 fights. Honestly I don't know how you can defend either the division or anything Wlad's done after than Povetkin fiasco. That was honestly the worst performance I've ever seen by a "champion." And it's why I won't want another Wlad fight. I still think he's an ATG but I don't put him on the same pedestal you do, and I have yet to see Wlad get rid of a fighter the way Lewis destroyed, Ruddock, Golota, Grant, and even trench it out against Vitali and Mercer. Until I see that I can't put him in the same class as Lewis on a H2H basis.
Wlad started reaching his prime about 20 fights ago so in that time he has only been down once and he was off balance VS Williamson. I was impressed by Vlad in the Povetkin fight by the power in his hook but the grabbing was annoying but in his defense he was avoiding the head butts of Povetkin. If a fight holds and hits like Lewis or hits behind the head like Peter or uses his head like Holyfeild and Povetkin the other fighter has to reply with a counter tactic or a foul. I think Vlad had enough of those cuts opened by head butts the Williamson fight was one. I dont put Vlad on a pedestal I recognize his ability as one of the best Big men who can box and punch and has ring smarts but I also know his weaknesses and Lewis had them as well, Lewis was also on the top of the list as a Big men but is the old adage" the bigger they are the harder they fall " not true anymore, I am not sure, Vitali had the best chin of the whole group Bowe had a good chin but got hit too much, Primo and Willard either got hit too much or fell hard but to their credit they got up. Do Super-Heavyweights have Super-chins ? As far as Vlad slugging it out to gain a win or going for the kill, I will say this there are many different styles of fighters in the ATG list Louis,Marciano,Ali, Dempsey,Johnson all with different styles and all had weaknesses but overcame them for the most part. Wlad is now 38 and fighting a young undefeated big man in Pulev if he gets past that for his next fight he will be 39, he may lose drastically or may keep going until 40 so time may answer our questions when the chips fall
I think the bottom line is that Wlad got up after being knocked down. Plenty of great heavies have gotten dropped more than Lewis in their career including Dempsey and Louis. Wlad has since greatly improved his defense as well as his ability to smother an attack when hurt while on his current run of domination. As for the Povetkin bout it was ugly but Povetkin was the cause of it just charging in head down, the ref did nothing and Povetkin didn't complain during the post fight. He was dominated in an ugly fight. Wlad may never blow out guys like Lennox but that is not his game. Ali didn't destroy guys right away either or Holmes. It may make him boring but doesn't diminish his effectiveness. As for being in the trenches and winning, I think he proved himself in the first Peter fight. Not only was that fight a dogfight, Wlad's career was in the balance. He came through in my eyes salvaged his career and has had one of the most remarkable turn arounds in the history of the division.
He put a number one contender on the canvas numerous times who had never been down in the pros or many, many amateur fights. On paper, it's pretty impressive.
I'd be very comfortable in betting on Lewis if these two had met in their primes. Both were very good technically but Lewis was just the better of the two at fighting. I see the first rounds being fairly close but Lewis to hit Klitschko much harder and much more then he is used to be hit and Klitschko wouldn't like this. In the early to mid rounds and see Klitschko hitting the canvas getting up discourage and Lewis jumping on him and finishing him off. It wouldn't even surprise me to see Lewis starch Wladimir in the early rounds kinda like what Corrie Sanders did to Klitschko or like what Lewis did to Golota. Klitschko may be most technically sound heavyweight of all time with great physical tools but I've never felt he had the character of a great fighter though his ability still makes him in my mind amongst the ten best heavyweights of all time.
Better question would be how in the hell could Lennox have lost to this clutch, and grabber, that can't fight without putting people to a vegetation state of mind?? Lennox beat the **** out of his brother, who would have needed a blood transfusion if that fight would have continued, and his brother is a lot tougher than him... I seriously don't think Wlado would have lasted 5 rounds against. a prime Lewis, everytime that man hugger gets into the ring with someone who can really punch, he fights like a wimp who fears for his life, his fights SUCK.... Watch the first Peter fight 2005'''..
After the Povetkin fight?? Must have missed this. I'm not questioning his career but anyway you look at it that was a horrible fight. There's no reason Wlad couldn't have gotten him out of there in the mid rounds or earlier.