Which is the greatest name you would rank wlad above? ?

Lewis came into his last fight at a career high of 257lbs. So he clearly wasn't in his best shape. Plus he was 38 years old. Despite all this he STILL stopped Vitali with a booming right hand that required 60 stitches to mend! I thought I once had a bad cut to my head when I needed 5 stitches, let me tell you there was blood everywhere, but Vitali, he needed 60 stitches! The doctor may have saved his life.

Lewis was only 56-58 behind on the judges scorecard, but it doesn't EVEN matter when you TKO your opponent! That's boxing, you could be winning the first round but if you get knocked out you get knocked out.

Now you lot, you love to talk in 'ifs and buts', "if Vitali hadn't got knocked out he would have done this", "if Vitali had got a rematch he would have done that". But let me pose my own 'if'...

'If' Lewis comes into that fight in shape, at 30 years old instead of nearly 40, imagine the carnage he would have inflicted onto Vitali. It doesn't even bear thinking about considering what he did to him when he was out of shape and almost collecting his OAP slip!

And there is no question that Vitali had a better chin than Wlad, there is no question that Vitali punched harder than Wlad. You throw Wlad into the lion's den instead, well... he probably dies.

Look what tomato cans like Lamon Brewster and Corrie Sanders did to him within a year of each other. Okay, Lewis may have lost to a couple of freak punches too, but he at least avenged all his losses.

I mean, just who have Vitali or Wlad beaten on their resume that people are going to still be talking about in 25 years time?

No one. Absolutely no one.

Between them, they had 4 PPV fights here in the UK, they recorded one win which was a stinker (in a very close points decision against Haye), and lost the other 3 emphatically (to Lewis, Fury and AJ), two of them by KO.

That's a terrible record. Abysmal record for two so called ATGs.

The rest of their fights were against bums and road sweepers.

They are two of the most overrated boxers of all time!

Lewis could have beaten them both on the same night with one arm tied behind his back. No question.

 

Lewis had some exciting fights and some dull ones.
He got better as his career progressed but still produced some.
I don't think it matters much either. Mayweather produced some dreadful fights too.
Wladimir doesn't deserve to be hated for it. He was winning and that's what matters.

The top tier is Ali, Louis, then Holmes, Foreman etc.
Lewis is below them clearly. He was dethroned by McCall and Rahman for crying out loud! He barely scraped past Ray Mercer. He's around the same mark as Wladimir Klitschko.

 

Dear God man, you're putting him below Larry bloody Holmes??? Even placing him below Foreman is harsh. At the age of 28 Foreman was losing to the likes of Jimmy Young. I mean Foreman was a beast, I'll grant you that, and I have no problem with you placing him in the top 5, but you're not extending the same slack to Lennox Lewis as you are to George Foreman.

Lennox Lewis belongs in the same conversation as the likes of Foreman and Louis minimum, it is Wlad who belongs in the tier below with the likes of Tyson, they are the guys who never quite proved themselves against top opposition on the biggest nights. They fell short. Lewis always showed up for business when it really mattered.

So what you are essentially saying, is there have been no greats born since 1949, no greats born in almost 70 years!

 

I think Foreman's the more contentious pick than Holmes actually but I put a lot of stock in his coming back and competing so well after the 10 year layoff.

Holmes is clearly above Lewis.

Your views about Lewis v the Klitschkos are extreme, and a bit stupid.

 

Well Ali was right when he called Foreman "The Mummy". But like you, I also place stock, not just in his comeback but his destruction of Joe Frazier, not once but twice. He beat an ATG. Maybe we could argue Frazier was shot from Ali (3 times by the time they met the 2nd time), I don't know, but he still beat an ATG twice.

Lennox Lewis recorded 5 wins against ATGs who were close to his own age.

The Klitschko's recorded zero.

Totally, totally unfair to place the Klitschko brothers in the same bracket as Lennox Lewis when they never proved themselves to nearly the same extent.

If I beat Dave the Plumber, nobody cares, when Klitschkos do it, they belong in the same category as Lennox Lewis? No, just no.

 

Well you can call Floyd boring, but his resume makes fairly impressive reading. I don't like the guy but I respect him as one of the ATGs.

As for Larry Holmes, well, all his wins (and defeats) were kinda mismatches in terms of age and where his opponents were in their careers, so he is a bit of an anomaly. I guess you can make the comparison with Wlad and Vitali, but like them two, I wouldn't really place Holmes as a top tier HW of all time.

 

I'm not saying they were terrible, they that just weren't in Lennox Lewis' league.

Let's try a little thought experiment. Imagine if you will, I have a gun to your head. And Lennox Lewis is about to fight Wladimir Klitschko. Both 30 years old (they can be any age, but lets say both the same age of 30, and both had the same training camp of 12 weeks). You have to pick one or the other to win, if you pick the loser I shoot you, if you say "I don't know", I shoot you, if you say "what?" I shoot you.

Who are you going to pick to win when your life depends on it?

Are you really going to put your life on the line for a Wladimir Klitschko win over Lennox Lewis? You're not, I know you're not. You're picking Lennox Lewis every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Why? Because he proved himself time after time against other great fighters, and more often than not did a complete demolition job of good or great fighters. Wlad didn't.

I bet those biases have a habit of quickly going out the window when a gun is pulled to your head.

Any sane person who values their life is picking Lennox Lewis in this situation. Absolutely no question about that, Fergy.

 

Well I'm relieved that should this unlikely hypothetical scenario ever happen, we wont be saying goodbye to you.

 

No , thats simply not true. And its not a matter of my or your opinion either. Its backed up by the fact Wlad couldn't keep plodding Peter at the end of his jab but Tua who was a better version of Peter couldn't pass the jab of Lewis to save his life.

Peter had Wlad running all over the ring in fear and downed him 3 times. Tua couldn't land a glove on Lewis.

These false claims are as ludicrous as claiming Wlad belongs in the top 5 of all time.

 

Quoting me again. It's nice to have fans. You mean the same Jab Ray Mercer walked through with Lewis but couldn't do with Wlad? You see you like to cherry pick to fit your narrative typical casual.
A great Jab is usually a staple tool to any great heavy that has tremendous dominant longevity. Louis, Holmes, Wlad, Ali. It's a not a coincidence but I wouldn't expect you to understand.

 

Pretty pathetic to bring up the washed up shell of Mercer to claim that Wlad is better in certain areas than Lewis.

Thats like saying Haye did better a better job against John Ruiz than Holyfield did. Never put it past a Kliturd to have such low standards.

 

I used a common opponent. But you can use many of Wlad fights to praise his Jab. Go back to general.