What would Lewis have done if he was in Wlad's shoes last night?

Indeed.

 

He would have won, probably via stoppage.

 

Being big isn't always a good sign. Heavyweight boxing is going to be full of monsters that are ponderous and are going to be hold and hit. Not good having 7 foot, 260+ heavies. Means one thing... Slow.

 

But would you say I'm right?

 

True.

 

C'mon dude...it has everything to do with bravery.

 

Bravery wouldn't make Wlad a faster, better conditioned younger man. He couldn't get into position to launch these bombs you want him to throw. Fury was too fast and long.

Wlad has cheated aging for years but it finally caught up, in his last two fights he has fought like an old man. Slow and conservative.

 

They appeared of similar speed to me. Fury seemed to have sightly better timing.
To me there was not a chasm of difference in speed. Regardless...

While it seemed farly obvious to me that Wlad had lost a trick or two, the fact remains that he did not exactly try and lay it all on the line. I can't entirely blame him.
He showed urgency in the last round but it wasn't enough.

This is really a rhetorical question. Lewis was knocked out early in his losses and never had to face a situation like this. We cannot ever know just how he would have reacted in similar circumstances.

But it must be noted that Wlad was traditionally a front-runner who did not respond well to coming from behind.

Was Lewis? Not really either. But it's ironic how much better and better the win over Vitali looks about now.

 

I must strongly disagree about the speed observation.

Wlad came from behind against Peter, Brock, and Thompson 1. This is the first fight at 39, he did not respond well.

A more valid comparison would be asking what 39 year old heavy could do better...I don't think Moore, Walcott, Foreman, Holmes, or Holyfield could. Vitali never even faced a test like Fuey, so doubtful.

 

Lewis would have been able to at least switch tactics and try and walk Fury down like he did when he was being out boxed by Vitali and Bruno.

Lewis was simply a more versatile fighter than Wlad. Wlad's jab while very good and in some ways better than Lewis' was not as versatile as Lewis' jab, as well as being shorter. Lewis had the pawing spearing jab that Wlad uses so well but Lewis could throw it from the hip like Fury and more importantly in a fight with taller opponents he could step into it, to use it to close range. Wlad's style isn't to close range, it's to create distance or clinch so stepping in with a jab was something he couldn't do like Lewis could against Vitali.

Wlad has often been criticised for having no inside game and it was never more evident than in the fight with Fury. Once he faced an opponent who could take away his normal jab and grab style he had nothing else to fall back on. Fury's size, reach and jab made it impossible for this version of Wlad to win in his usual way, he was beaten to the punch as he was forced to get into range and then all he could do was clinch, preventing him from scoring. Basically Fury beat him at his own game, he out spoiled the spoiler.

Lewis also had better upper body movement than Wlad and that's something that would also aid Lewis against a tall opponent like Fury. When have you see Wlad duck a punch? He prefers to lean back or create distance, something Lewis did most of the time as well, but Lewis has shown he can slip and duck shots when needed to, it was something he did more prior to Steward when he was younger and we would see glimpses of that now and again in later fights.

I will add that Wlad did try and turn it around. Later in the fight he did start landing the odd right hand but it was too little to late. Wlad found it too hard to adapt and overcome the years of drills that had ingrained the muscle memory to clinch when in close and that really hampered him against Fury. Wlad mastered his style of boxing but that lack of versatility and his aging reflexes cost him the fight.

 

Lewis would have been retired , wlad is close to being 40.

 

Bravery didn't make Lewis a faster, better conditioned younger man against Vitali.

Bravery made Lewis collapse into his corner like a sack of potatoes each round after giving Vitali everything he was capable of giving.

Wlad was not an old man. There's a difference between couldn't pull and wouldn't pull.
If you watched his career , you would know he simply does not pull the trigger until everything falls into place for him.

He was at his absolute best against Chambers , yet Manny had to scream and shout at him all night to drop the hammer on a tiny 6 foot non punching , non heavyweight with T Rex arms.

It was the same against , Peter , Haye and pretty much everybody else he 'fought'

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2010/09/steward-was-telling-wladimir-to-stop-clinching-peter/

Fury did only what he had to do to win. The more Wlad pressed him , the more aggressive Fury would have became.
He was simply not willing to engage in a battle to keep his titles , nor would he ever have.
He proved in the last round he could have pulled the trigger at any point . Its easy to go for gold when you know the contest is about to end.

 

Thread has nothing to do with age you utter simpleton.