When and if Wlad beats Tyson...will he be above Lennox on the ATG list??

This is fair but the quality of opponents argument just holds a lot more weight than the longevity argument for most.

I think Wlad keeps creeping up on Lewis but it would be very hard for him to close that gap in most people's minds. Lewis just beat a lot of guys who were serious combination of big, hard-punching, and good. The images of Lewis shocking wins over Golota and Ruddock, his tough battles with Briggs and Grant, and his scientific masterpiece with Tua just really resonate on a visceral level.

 

Why should beating a random contender like Fury make Wlad ATG. His last two opponents were much more skilled then Fury is and he is not ATG now, so why with Fury :huh:huh

 

All right, but how about Vitali...Mercer...Ruddock...Morrison...Holyfield...

And I disagree about Tua. The man has victories over four champs, including brutal knockouts of Moorer and Ruiz.

As for Fury, I like him, but he is at this point still almost totally unproven. His only notable wins were the seesaw battle with featherfisted cruiserweight Cunninghm, and Chisora, a man with no discernible talent whatsoever.

I am sorry, I like Wlad and admit that there are some strong points in his favor that he still has time to build on, but you will not win the quality of competition argument. At least not yet. Maybe if Wlad's opponents go on to accomplish big things.

 

watch r6 again and look what the tired Lennox did at the end at his coner

 

I love Wladdy. I like him more than Lennox but I feel Lennox is pretty much untouchable for Wlad considering his age and continued lack of challengers in the wings that could boost his resume above the Lions'.

 

^^^This^^^

 

They were both exhausted, but LL was the one coming on and had done far more extensive damage.

 

Look at Vitali. atsch

TKO6, brother. :hi:

 

Excellent ****ysis and also from Asterion

 

Longevity doesn't mean **** when your facing tomato cans. Lewis could quite easily have matched Wlad's streak if he was fighting in this era, where as I'm certain Wlad wouldn't have matched Lewis if they swapped their fights.

Both lost against undeserving challengers although Lewis avenged his losses where as Wlad didn't bother, his duck vs Sanders is one of the most shameful ever considering he got his big brother Vitali to do his work for him. I think Sanders is a bad fight for Wlad at any stage of his career regardless and I think it would have been another Sanders KO win if they did fight again. Not avenging his losses REALLY hurts Wlad's resume.

Lewis fought a greater level of opposition, and has more marquee names on his list and in all honestly was a better fighter than Wlad head to head. I don't see too many people arguing this point

I simply can't put someone who I feel is inferior as a fighter and has fought weaker competition ahead in the rankings because of longevity (partly because of a weak era, not Wlad's fault admittedly)

Also you say Old Holyfield but yet he was on a 5 fight winning streak and had just unified the titles and you didn't even mention wins over people like McCall and Bruno...

I just think it would be very difficult for Wlad to surpass Lewis given that most believe him to be the superior fighter and have fought in a stronger era. Having said that when Wlad retires people will remember him as an ATG heavyweight for certain, just not as great as Ali/Lewis etc...

 

Wlad is a good champion but there are some significant differences:

Lennox could plain flat-out fight in the trenches, Wlad cannot.
Lennox beat a better class of opposition.
Lennox avenged his losses.

 

Good post, much better than your earlier ones. You clearly can't stand Wlad, but you're at least trying to be objective and give the devil his due.:good