Who do you believe is / was the best Heavyweight - Lennox Lewis or Vitali Klitschko ?

Its a better record than Vitali has.Tyson was shot and its a shame he is on the list but that aside its a good record.

 

Vitali was ahead on the cards, FFS, not giving Lennox some massive beating. It was only the sixth round and Lewis appeared to be taking over.

 

Lewis because of the era he fought in.

 

Some absolutely abysmal posts in this thread.

But also some good ones, namely by Flea Man and Beeston Brawler. Folks who are actually talking sense as opposed to spewing shite.

 

He would have, yes.

There'd have probably been a return, both were young and close to their best, not nearly 40.

:yep

Lewis was behind, but he was ''winning'' the fight. There was only one winner from thereon.

I'm blushing

 

Yes but nobody outside of England rates wins over Bruno, Mason, Briggs, Akinwande, Rahman, Mavrovic and Tua as great wins. Not to mention that Holyfield and Tyson were way past their best, both fighters were at their best in the 80's. Christ, they could of just picked Tyson up off a sidewalk he was in such bad shape when he fought Lewis.

Fair enough some here in the States who are Tyson nut huggers might overrate the awful Bruno due to Tyson beating him with ease twice. But Bruno was a joke fighter with no chin.

 

Yes, that is boxing! It is a hard sport and the very best make decisions that show themselves hard men, who are prepared to go that extra mile.

Muhammad Ali went the distance despite breaking his jaw.

Larry Holmes sucked it up for 15 rounds with Kenny Norton despite a torn bicep.

Evander Holyfield kept going against the bigger Bowe and let his conditioning win him their rematch, when so few thought he could win.

Lennox Lewis in poor shape, fought the best opponent available in Vitali as a late sub, and despite being behind on points, found a way to stop Klitschko.

Vitali Klitschko had his moment to show himself potentially special when ahead on points, he suffered a serious shoulder injury. Vitali used common sense and did what you and me would do and called it a day.

Sensible, but that is also why Klitschko is always going to be considered on the second rung of Heavyweight fighters; he never showed that special moment of bravery that separates the very best from the rest.

 

Not 'great' wins, no. But they are decent-to-good wins that add to the overall depth on Lewis' resume.

If you look at any of Vitali's wins tey are only decent-to-good. Are you telling me that outside of Britain, the likes of Kevin 'Kingpin' Johnson, Danny Williams and Herbie Hide are massive rated as top Heavyweights? What about an injury win over Solis, or a late round stoppage against Adamek?

Vitali, evidently, has the much better resume.

 

Great post Booze :good

 

So Arreola is better than any of those?

Sam Peter? Herbie Hide?

Come on man atsch

Lewis was just better, there's no realistic argument that can be tabled to prove otherwise. Holyfield you can argue for, likewise Tyson, but Vitali

It's just not true. Stoppages occur when the ''beaten'' fighter is ahead on the cards. Chavez stopped Taylor, Leonard stopped Hearns, Grant stopped Golota, Jackson stopped Graham.

Don't see many of them (or their fans) whining a decade later.

 

That is spot on :good

 

I'm not actually arguing in Vitali's favor here, just being honest about Lewis's resume. I would say Lewis's win over Vitali is quite clearly his best win on his record and it's not even close.
I wouldn't even consider Arreola one of Vitali's better wins, his wins over Adamek, Solis, Peter, Sanders, Juan carlos Gomez all easily trump that. I think after last night Vitali just makes it into the top 20 ever HW's. I have Lewis top 5.