Who was better, Lewis or Wlad?

Fair enough about Purrity, Wlad wasn’t in his prime, although he was 10x the physical specimen that Ross was and had a much better foundation and had the benefit of that fight taking place in the Ukraine. I disagree about Sanders and Brewster - he was in his prime (or at least so close to it that it was indistinguishable). He didn’t get better, per se, he changed his style from dynamic, athletic boxer puncher who was vulnerable to jab and grab Clinchko. His second iteration was more effective but far from scintillating. He was definitely past his prime with Fury and Joshua.
Nevertheless, he has had an incredible career and will rightfully be in the HOF in his first year of eligibility.

 

Wlad was more more prime than Sanders when they fought.

He was just as prime as Brewster was in the first fight.

Neither Brewey or Sandor needed the tutelage of Steward when they bulldozed through Wlad.

 

LOL, Lewis clinched way more against shot to sh1t Tyson in 8 rounds than Wlad clinched against Peter in 12 rounds. And Peter is MUCH better than any version of Phil Jackson. Peter KTFOed Jeremy Williams in two rounds and the same Williams KTFOed prime Phil Jackson in 1 round.

 

Wlad had better jab, better balance, better footwork and much better left hook.

Lewis had better killer instinct, better adaptability and much, much better right uppercut.

 

Jeremy was done when he fought Peters and nah , the uppercuts Lewis battered Tyson with in the first two rounds would have left Peter out on his back.

Lewis did hold Tyson a fair bit , but he was never hopped off the canvas 3 times nor did he turn his back to flee in the opposite direction.

 

Wlad

 

If Wlad had the better jab , then how come he couldn't keep his opponents at the end of it?

Morrision and Tua couldn't get past his jab to save their lives. I can't see cement footed Peter ever getting inside on Lewis.

 

It's very hard for fighters to overcome their natural instincts which are honed in the gym. Fact is his style with Steward was always the same, get off first, then smother the counter or move away. When faced with an opponent who could get off first with his jab in Fury, no amount of wanting to "just let your hands go" can overcome all the hours in the gym where he has had certain patterns of behaviour and muscle memeory drilled into him day in day out.

Often people are amazed by a boxers reflexes but their reflexes are no better than anyone else's. The difference is hard work, countless hours in the gym doing drills to make them react a certain way without thinking. When a normal person sees a punch coming they have to make a number of choices, "oh there's a punching coming my way, what do I do", "Should I put my hands up", "Should I duck", "Should I slip to the left", "Should I slip to the right?" A trained boxer doesn't have to go through all those thought processes and then react, they skip all that and just react without thinking and avoid the punch.

Wlad just simply didn't have the muscle memory and trained instincts to deal with what Fury was showing him and so no amount of "just let my hands go" could overcome that deficiency in his preparation for Fury.

With Joshua he did much better because he had a fighter who didn't show him things he hadn't trained to deal with and so performed better. It wasn't because Wlad was more motivated or that he had improved to any noticeable degree he just matched up better with Joshua's style.

 

Lewis by a country mile.

 

LOL

 

I think they are pretty similar, Wlads longevity and dominance evens out Lewis' better scalps. Head to head I think a 100% Wlad wins against a 100% Lewis, on the other hand Lewis maybe able to deal more easily with a wider range of styles.

 

I think Wlad had a very good jab myself, not as good as Lewis' but not far off. Wlad's issue wasn't that he couldn't jab well, it's once he threw the jab he didn't move well to create the space to keep guys at range which is why he had to hug guys to death when his footwork failed him.

Watch the Peter fights with Wlad and Vitali and you see the difference in movement. Wlad has quicker feet than Vitali but he doesn't move enough and when he does it's often straight back which doesn't help much when your opponent is heading straight at you and why Wlad fought much of that fight with him at the edges of the ring because he was being backed up. Vitali in comparison fought most of the fight right in the centre, because he would circle Peter and Peter simply charging forward would just see him out flanked.

This difference in footwork is why one reason why I've always rated Vitali over Wlad head to head. Vitali like Fury is ugly to watch, but he was way more effective than Wlad despite it.

Lewis would of never needed to clinch Povetkin as much as Wlad was forced to. Lewis would of moved laterally more and kept Povetkin in the centre where he can control him. Vitali would of done the same to, to Povetkin.

 

LMAO!

 

Career it might be Vlad, yet Lennox would beat him head to head.. So all in all. I pick Lennox. Somehow.

 

Firstly BOTH owe a great deal to Emmanuel Steward. He devised a winning strategy for both.
Lennox was best by far He beat every man he faced in the pro ring. His two KO losses, both legit, were basically his own fault.He tended to fight to his opponents level & that cost him an unbeaten record.
Without Manny Wlad would have faded into obscurity I believe He only won one rematch he sat back while big brother Vitali took revenge
As for Lennox-Wlad ?? Where was Wlad when Lennox TKO Vitali ? He didn't immediately challenge Lennox like Vitali did for him on his losses. He hid behind the protesting Viutali in the ring & then went AWOL
Lennox DESTROYS Wlad Thets if he could get him in the ring