Who ranks higher ATG, Lewis or Wladamir

[PEBBLES!]

i do credit him for boozerweight, it was a nice, entertaining run, but i can't credit him unduly just because he stands out in a historically weak division. he'd only just really gotten rolling as a championship deal when he put himself into this zone of diva-like, 'won't get out of bed for less than a Klitschko' posturing.

i think Haye made it pretty obvious from the jump that he was closed off to taking a calculated risk on a live contender or two to earn a shot. Barrett typified the kind of opponent he was looking to showcase himself against, and he got an ill-fated shot at Wlad straight after that. which is fine, as i said, and he's certainly entitled to make the most of whatever opportunities rear their head, but i just can't see much kudos in his body of work at HW. he redeemed himself somewhat against Chisora with his most truly meaningful performance in 4 years at the weight, but, as expected, he slunk into another year of reluctance and unwillingness straight after, waiting for Vitali to throw a shot in his lap instead of capitalizing on an excellent result and imposing himself on the division's consciousness by aiming at another gun. and that's typical of the mentality i'm decrying. if that's how he wants to operate, that's up to him, but it's silly of him or any of his supporters to expect buckets of acclaim for it. if the Klitschkos' comp isn't a murderers row, they at least stay busy against ranked guys. they are not above staying active and slowly clearing the division of these guys that Haye claims he's too good to share a ring with.

[PEBBLES!]

i mean, look how tempered enthusiasm is for Danny Garcia's recent run, for example, and rightly so - it's worthy of some credit, but he's only just gotten started. take out the things that look nice on paper and focus on quality of opposition... was Haye's CW run really much better than a run like Danny's?

you have to give a kudos, ofc. but let's keep things in perspective. Haye didn't do anything mind-blowing.

[ShamrockXpress]

1. Holyfield (LL)
2. Vitali (LL)
3. Tua (LL)
4. Bruno (LL)
5. Haye (WK)
6. Briggs (LL)
7. Golota (LL)
8. Briggs (LL)
9. Rahman 2 (LL)
10. Peter 1 (WK)

That's the top 10 wins of the two ranked imo

You could move some of Lewis' around, but Wlads are pretty much concrete

It's really not close

Tua was always pretty limited, chris Byrd beat him right after Lewis did, so I don't see how you can rank tua over Byrd. Briggs was always just hype with a punchers chance. What did he accomplish before Lewis (other than a controversial decision over old George) or after (other than his home run swing against liakovich). Ibragimov and chagaev are as good as golota (in hindsight, all credit to Lewis for fighting him when he did, but he turned out to be a quitter), Rahman was never much, he has a win over sanders and the freak punch over Lewis but other than that? Maskaev made him his 81tch twice.

[LacedUp]

i mean, look how tempered enthusiasm is for Danny Garcia's recent run, for example, and rightly so - it's worthy of some credit, but he's only just gotten started. take out the things that look nice on paper and focus on quality of opposition... was Haye's CW run really much better than a run like Danny's?

you have to give a kudos, ofc. but let's keep things in perspective. Haye didn't do anything mind-blowing.

I know what you mean, but until he fights some of the other fighters at the top, you cannot call Danny the top dog. The thing is, I never claimed Haye was the best thing since sliced bread. I think he had a really good CW career, I struggle to find many better cruiserweights. At HW he's been the most potent challenger, winning a belt and KOing all others he faced. He came up short when he met the best, things happen. I would still rank him #3 though.

[HWChampion]

What are you on about? "Badly limited"? He throws every punch in the book, not just the 1-2. But I wouldn't expect you to know otherwise. You have probably only seen the Wlad & Valuev fights.

No it has not. You went back to 2008-2011 and assumed what I thought about Wlad. You can always go and check my previous threads. I have stated many times that wlad is an ATG, not top 10, but ATG and I have a lot of respect for him. I just don't like his style of fighting, it bores me. But if its good for you, then good for you.

Haye is a woman, he ran like a woman against valuev and wlad. He ducked VK, he defended his 'world' title against Harrison and Ruiz lol probably the worst heavyweights I have seen for a while now. I don't see how you back this guy? He insults people's families etc. it's not cool. Wlad is most definently top 10 all time great his fighting style proves to be the best reinforced by the like of Lewis and VK. I don't see how you find the guy boring? He breaks his opponents down and he KO's them. What else do you want him to decapitate them? Wlad beats any form of haye. As a British citizen I was embarrassed for my country after the way he acted. No respect no nothing.

[LacedUp'sDream]

i'm just saying, mate - there's a poster here whose username bears the legend, 'StellarCareer', lifted directly from a recent comment you made about Haye. and you're claiming not to have shown him overly generous amounts of regard here in the last couple months or so.

Stellar by name,stellar by nature.

Who cares about that loser? Because I said Haye's CW career was stellar? So what man, get a life.

I have never, contrary to general belief, claimed Haye is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I just find his fights vastly more entertaining than Wlads. In fact, his last fight was more entertaining than any Wlad fight.

I care about me,and I also care about you Andrew,you humour me,I'm thankful of you for that reason alone.

David Haye's career in acting has been amazing so far, I actually fought when he said he was going to look to brawl with Wladimir that he would!
God so convincing someone get David Haye in the Expendables 3.

David has grown into a fine actor,I pray he finds a stage worthy of his real talent.

Wlad has made me a fan of his by the way he conducts himself outside the ring. I'm not so keen on him as a fighter, I always preferred his brother more, but I will give Wlad the credit he deserves, he's pretty much assured ATG status for the his domination of a weak era, but it's still been total domination however you want to slice it. His brothers record doesnt hold a candle to Wlads.

Now on the subject of Wlad vs Lewis, whilst I might be a bit biased towards Lewis, even with that removed, I cant honestly put Wlad over Lewis.

Lewis was the last of the mohicans

This I whole heatedly agre with,respect where it's due.

[DosRounds]

Beat everyone he faced and fought better people Lewis

[paulf]

Wladimir, though it's close. He'll have to retire to get the respect he deserves, just like Lennox.

However, in America, I think Lewis will always have more respect. People may have hated Lennox, but he fought almost all of his major fights in America, so a hell of a lot more people know him.

People know of Wladimir here, but no one knows anything about his fights except the most hardcore of boxing fans.

[M Bison]

Wladimir, though it's close. He'll have to retire to get the respect he deserves, just like Lennox.

However, in America, I think Lewis will always have more respect. People may have hated Lennox, but he fought almost all of his major fights in America, so a hell of a lot more people know him.

People know of Wladimir here, but no one knows anything about his fights except the most hardcore of boxing fans.

I don't think it will harm the division once Wladimir calls it a day...
Life goes on in that division and It will potentially make things better possibly allow for some of the belts to be brought back to America and maybe hype up that division a little bit, the Germans do host good events though lets not take that away from them, love watching all their fights they make a great effort of it.
For example alot will be tuning in for Marco Huck vs Afalobi...

[kokingbill]

I like them both, but get serious. Lewis is wWWWWAYYYY ahead of Wladimir and Vitali put together... Lewis does have a personality like a dead moth, but were talking boxing here....Hes just below the top tier like Ali, Dempsey, Foreman, Tyson..... Even though he beat up the washed up corpse of Tyson. Hes above Holmes too.