Title Defenses: W. Klitschko 13 Lennox Lewis 12

[J Mac]

I don't know if anyone has made a remark about this but last night with his victory over Chambers Wladimir has eclipsed the career total defenses of Lennox Lewis.

Lewis' Defenses:

Frank Bruno
Phil Jackson
Henry Akinwande
Andre Golota
Shanno Briggs
Zeljko Mavrovic
Holyfield
Francois Botha
Michael Grant
David Tua
Mike Tyson
Vitali Klitschko

Klitschko Defenses:

Derrick Jefferson
Charles Shufford
Francois Botha
Ray Mercer
Jameel McCline
Calvin Brock
Ray Austin
Lamon Breswster
Sultan Ibragimov
Tony Thompson
Ruslan Chagaev
Hasim Rahman
Eddie Chambers

I would say that Wlad has 6-8 fights left in him which could bring his career total over 20 titles defenses and put him in very select company. I believe only Holmes and Louis had as many as 20 in the Heavyweight Division.

Looking at Lewis' list it isn't very impressive, especially considering the high regard he is held in today. His biggest and most impressive win is arguably Vitali Klitschko, a guy who most Lewis supporters consider to be highly overrated.

what does that say about Wlad's list........lol

Lewis fought fighters with a pulse........

[Hitman932]

what does that say about Wlad's list........lol

Lewis fought fighters with a pulse........

No he didn't. He fought past their prime fighters when they had heart problems and weed addictions.

[Classic Rock]

I'd argue that he didn't need the WBO because no one cared about the WBO.

Yes but who recognizes the likes of Michael Bentt, Henry Akinwande or Herbie Hide as heavyweight title holders? No one. They weren't paper champions, they weren't really champions at all.

Is IBO title holder Sakio Bika a world champion? Will his IBO title reign suddenly become recognized as legit if in the future IBO becomes a recognized world title? Not for me.

I believe the champion makes the belt, nevermind the history of beltholders and their overall average quality. True the WBO Belt had a questionable lineage but at the point where the lineage went Vitali-Byrd-Wlad I think it has established a caliber of champion that it hasn't returned to since. Taking this into consideration Wlad began both reigns with wins over a deserving champion whereas Lewis both began under dubious circumstances over mediocre fighters.

[Jim Jeffries]

The question was compatibilie. Two different topics Mr "Ali and Joe Louis ducked European fighter's ".

Are you still seriously not grasping the fact that Eastern European and Russian fighters couldn't fight professionally during Ali's and Louis' time?

The guy was lining up those opponents based on caliber, proving that there really wasn't the difference in the quality of opponents that people are claiming (10 times.)

Lewis' defenses were better, yes, but not night and day better as a collection.

[Hitman932]

Lewis' defenses were better, yes, but not night and day better as a collection.

See I agree. The question is at what point (if ever)will Wlad get credit for having the better resume?

Even with the people who believe Lewis is better and are willing to admit that it isn't great I get the impression that no matter what Wlad does they will always say Lewis' was "a little better".

If Wlad wins 7 or 8 more times he will have over 60 career victories and 55+ KO's to go with more title wins and a title reign spanning 8 years.

He might be the only heavyweight in history who could say that all of those things are true.

[jthoang]

When it's all said and done, Lennox will be considered the greater fighter.

[Hitman932]

When it's all said and done, Lennox will be considered the greater fighter.

What makes a fighter great though?

I am one of the people who think Lewis and Klitschko would easily beat a much smaller Joe Louis, yet I don't consider them "greater" fighters.

Yet you cannot also define greatness strictly on benchmark accomplishments. For instance Klitschko and Lewis are both much more accomplished fighting as champions than George Foreman was. Foreman only defended a Heavyweight Title 3 times in his career. I am of the opinion that the young George would go through either Klitschko or Lewis like they were Swiss Cheese.

When it's all said and done I think Lewis and Klitschko will be right next to each other in the all time heavyweight rankings. Defining greatness is a very subjective matter. There are people on here who would rank Floyd as top-10 p4p all time, others would put him in the 40's.

That's why I wanted to limit this mostly to a discussion of resumes and how Klitschko's is slowly getting to the point where his dominance needs to be recognized in a historical context.

[ulises_solis]

the only good guys lennox fought were holy and vitali
tyson was shot to pieces and golota has never beaten a top ten fighter in his career
by the exception of 2 all of the rest suffered multiple or single ko losses before lewis fought them

[beez721]

I don't think so at all. Wlad has a far superior defense at this stage than Lennox did and make no mistake about it, Wlad has a better jab and more punching power. Lennox's dodgy chin could see him go to sleep on Wlad's hard, straight, fast right hand.

Good fight and I think it's a toss up with both men at their best.

Note* Vitali clowned the champ Lennox on ten days notice.

I agree. wlads hands are also faster than lewis's were and I could see him landing something big first

[beez721]

You said in your opinion, Lewis lost the fight. He was losing 4-2 on the cards. Handily? LOL He won the fight because he pummelled Vitali's face so hard, it caused one of the worst cuts in boxing history. Hardly the face of a man that was "handily" winning a fight.

lol,,,it doesnt take a hard punch to open a cut. in fact its usually grazing shots that open you up. lewis won fair and square but he was fortunate that he had the tougher skin because it didnt look like he was going to win that fight without that nasty cut