The Lewis Era vs. The Klitschko Era

[Lacrimosa]

Hmmm. I don't seem to recall Vitali gassing out against Brewster.....or losing ANY fight because he gassed out as Wlad has. Wladimir is superior ONLY in an amatuer fight. Neither fighters work rate is anything to speak of BUT Vitali is more inclined to use power punches than Wlad is which counts for more in the pros. As for Wlad being the harder puncher.....I take it you've been clocked by both and can attest to this? The truth is Euros in general have an amatuer mentality when it comes to boxing and haven't figured out yet that the pros are an entirely different game.

Poet

Well i think one should be a completely blind hater to think that Wlad gased out in that fight or that it was Brewster who defeated him
There were talks about the poisoning... I`m not the one who believes in the "conspiracy theories" but in the fights where King is involved anything can happen...
There were talks that Wladimir`s dietitians made mistake and that caused his sugar level rise enormously during the fight... I`m not a medic, but if that is possible i think it can be very true reason...
But the one thing is clear to me - it was not Brewster, who landed two jabs and two lets hooks in that round, who lead Wlad to that state...
Also Wladimir did have experience of having long-distant bouts so i don`t see why should he gased out in just five rounds of that fight...
Take also to consideration that on the early stage of his career he was often brawling not boxing, and luring into numerous exchanges. That, i suppose, needed more endurance from him...
Whereas Vitali looks tired often in the middle rounds. His mouth is wide open, he keeps his hands low (i now that is his stance, but in fights with Hoffman and Lewis he was keeping them high for the first few rounds) and slows down. His workrate decreases much, and the only case it rises up is if he gets angry (as in the fight with Gomez, when he was deducted a point unfairly)...

That is what i think

[Davros?]

Lewis era was much better but the problem is he never actualy faced the top fighters when they were in there prime, Bowe Holyfield and Tyson where 10x better than any heavyweight around today outside the klits but Lewis never faced them when they were at there best.

[Mugwump]

Interesting thing is my criticism of Lennox's chin has never been based on his two KO losses. The KO punch from Rahman would have dropped all but the best chins and I thought Lennox had a pretty good case for it being a premature stoppage against McCall. My criticisms of his chin come from the number of times I saw Lennox wobbled in OTHER fights by less than impressive punches.

True. But then he also took some monstrous shots and stood up against Vitali, Bruno and even Grant.

[Slimey Limey]

Lewis era was much better but the problem is he never actualy faced the top fighters when they were in there prime, Bowe Holyfield and Tyson where 10x better than any heavyweight around today outside the klits but Lewis never faced them when they were at there best.

Holyfield is still fighting today at the top. That tells you how long ago it was when Lewis fought him. lewis fought a very strong, almost physical prime Holyfield who at the time had beaten the likes of Tyson twice and Moorer. Lewis fought am ATG period. I agree with the Tyson thing though. But Bowe didnt want none of the Lennox. Then we have a ****load of other great wins for Lewis. Lewis is simply a top 3 ATG heavyweight. Marciano, Ali and Lennox. Thats the best you'll ever see.

[LondonRingRules]

Holyfield is still fighting today at the top.

** UnHoly is 0-4-1 in title bouts this decade. Last contender he beat was when he headbutted his way to a technical decision over Rahman 7 long years ago.

Yeah, I guess you could say he's fighting at the top of the trash heap.

[Davros?]

Holyfield is still fighting today at the top. That tells you how long ago it was when Lewis fought him. lewis fought a very strong, almost physical prime Holyfield who at the time had beaten the likes of Tyson twice and Moorer. Lewis fought am ATG period. I agree with the Tyson thing though. But Bowe didnt want none of the Lennox. Then we have a ****load of other great wins for Lewis. Lewis is simply a top 3 ATG heavyweight. Marciano, Ali and Lennox. Thats the best you'll ever see.

Holyfield was considered shot after the last Bowe fight but he came up with a great performance against Tyson and Moorer but he was not as good as he was back in the late 80's and early 90's his combinations in those days were brilliant, by 99 he was past his best although still a good fighter compare the 2nd Bowe fight with the first Lewis fight and imo there is a big difference. As for Bowe I agree that he didn’t want to fight Lewis when he had the title but I have seen a Frank Maloney interview where he said they had signed a contract to fight Bowe if Lewis beat McCall which he didn’t. Lewis has better wins than Wlad not saying he didn’t.

[-CANE-]

I remember watching the Lewis - Ruddock fight live on HBO. That was a young, pre-Steward Lewis. I remember thinking while watching it that Lennox's technique was all wrong and he held his right way to open. He didn't pay for it in that particular fight but I think the chickens came home to roost against McCall. In a sense, there WERE two Lennox Lewises: Pre and post Manny Steward.

Poet

I was there LIVE for the fight and expected Ruddock to knock him out.

Your right when you say there were two Lennox Lewises. The pre Manny Steward one was very clumsy and awkward and not technically brilliant.

But after he got with Steward he improved in nearly every aspect except one thing. I think they bulked him up to much and he lost his speed and probably a bit of his stamina with all that extra weight.


When you go back and watch the Ruddock fight look past all the deficiences and just watch the speed and the power and the accuracy especially in the final combination that ended the fight. That was a combination of Ali and Tyson rolled into one.

Had he been trained by Steward then and not bulked up so much I think you would have had pretty much the perfect heavyweight.

[kayjay]

Wlad needs to get in quantity what he can't get in quality. He's got ten total alphabet defenses as of now, and a total of four belts collected. If he defends ten more times, which is perfectly reasonable to speculate about, he'll have accomplished as much at HW as Hopkins or Calzaghe at MW and SMW. That would put him in the top six or seven by anyone's reckoning.

[Slimey Limey]

** UnHoly is 0-4-1 in title bouts this decade. Last contender he beat was when he headbutted his way to a technical decision over Rahman 7 long years ago.

Yeah, I guess you could say he's fighting at the top of the trash heap.

title bouts this decade? How about you look at the past 3 years where he gave Sultan a run for his money and was robbed against No Value Ev in his last fight.
So it doesn't matter. And against Rahman it was a close fight. He would have won against that beached whale of a ****kicking fighter.

Holyfield was considered shot after the last Bowe fight but he came up with a great performance against Tyson and Moorer but he was not as good as he was back in the late 80's and early 90's his combinations in those days were brilliant, by 99 he was past his best although still a good fighter compare the 2nd Bowe fight with the first Lewis fight and imo there is a big difference. As for Bowe I agree that he didn’t want to fight Lewis when he had the title but I have seen a Frank Maloney interview where he said they had signed a contract to fight Bowe if Lewis beat McCall which he didn’t. Lewis has better wins than Wlad not saying he didn’t.

Bowe took something out of Evander, which was a bit of his reflexes and maybe a bit of his speed, as well as a tiny bit of his endurance. That is in no way "SHOT". Shot is Tyson against Lewis, Ali vs Holmes etc.

By 99 Evander had come off a 5 victory streak after the last Bowe fight including 2 over Tyson and one over Moorer(needless to say, after Holyfield was done with these men they were never at the top again.)
I dare to say this was Holyfield at his best because of his experience at this point.

So Lewis definitely deserves a lot of credit mate.

I was there LIVE for the fight and expected Ruddock to knock him out.

Your right when you say there were two Lennox Lewises. The pre Manny Steward one was very clumsy and awkward and not technically brilliant.

But after he got with Steward he improved in nearly every aspect except one thing. I think they bulked him up to much and he lost his speed and probably a bit of his stamina with all that extra weight.


When you go back and watch the Ruddock fight look past all the deficiences and just watch the speed and the power and the accuracy especially in the final combination that ended the fight. That was a combination of Ali and Tyson rolled into one.

Had he been trained by Steward then and not bulked up so much I think you would have had pretty much the perfect heavyweight.

Lewis also peaked his career when he was already at an advanced age so he could have reigned much longer if he went to the pros earlier.

[RightCross94]

oh jeez. holyfield couldnt beat either brother and neither could tyson.

or any other fighter that lewis fought.

many buy into the hype of those fights.

also, lewis i find more boring than either brother. especially vitali who attacks almost constantly.

if anyone disses the klitschkos, u have ti diss lewis too. and a lineal title doesnt mean ****. a boxer is a boxer. greatness is only determined by numbers by nerds who dont fight.

people here who do box usually have a more relaxed and open idea when it comes to ranking boxers and comparing them.

prime holyfield (1991 or 1992) would beat both klitschkos

tyson-wlad could be close if wlad survived tysons early onslaught and recovered to control the fight with his jab, but my guess is he doesnt and tyson takes the knockout

i do think vitali probably beats tyson though, i think his chin would survive the onslaught and he would wear mike down and stop him late

uhh yeah it does!

arent you a martial artist?