Bad Left Hook Best of the Decade - Heavyweight
by Brickhaus on Dec 21, 2009 10:28 PM EST
in Best of the Decade
28 comments
Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over. Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade. I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes.
When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade. Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.
The heavyweight division, for the most part, was dominated by a few guys, but there still may be some contention as to who is the best. Lennox Lewis ruled the early part of the decade, but only fought for a few years and appeared to be past his best for the most part. Lewis defeated Vitali Klitschko, but there's an argument that Vitali was green at the time. Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have owned most of the remainder of the decade (excluding a few years when Vitali was temporarily retired), but the two brothers made a promise never to fight each other, and so it will probably always be unsettled as to which brother is really better.
Vitali Klitschko - Vitali went 10-2 in the weight class, and spent a short time as the lineal champion after Lennox Lewis retired. While his roster of wins isn't super impressive, he's generally fought ranked competition in the weight class and has generally beaten them convincingly. His best wins include Cris Arreola, Samuel Peter, Corrie Sanders, Danny Williams, Kirk Johnson, Larry Donald and Timo Hoffmann. Both losses were somewhat questionable. One was to Lennox Lewis in the fight described below, where the fight was stopped on cuts over Vitali's objections, and the other was to Chris Byrd in a fight that Vitali was winning handily, but he injured his shoulder and quit rather than risking further injury.
Wladimir Klitschko - Wladimir has gone 22-2 over the course of the decade, unifying three of the belts and becoming Ring champion. Much like his brother, the names on Wladimir's resume don't necessarily look spectacular, but nearly everyone he's fought (other than immediately after losses or early in the decade) has either been a mandatory or someone who was ranked in the division's top 10 at the time. Key victories include Chris Byrd (twice), Ruslan Chagaev, Sultan Ibragimov, Samuel Peter, Lamon Brewster, Danell Nicholson, Jameel McCline, Ray Mercer, Franz Botha, Monte Barrett and faded Hasim Rahman. The losses came to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster (in a fight where Wladimir gassed and won the rematch easily). While Wlad's losses are far worse than the losses suffered by the other two here, there's also a solid argument that Wladimir was somewhat green at the time of the losses, and has improved considerably since those defeats.
Lennox Lewis - Lewis went 6-1 in the early part of the decade, all of the fights being for the lineal championship and multiple belts. His best win was a somewhat controversial stoppage win over Vitali Klitschko, where Vitali was ahead on the cards at the time of the stoppage, but was extremely busted up, and the tide of the fight seemed to be turning in Lennox's favor. Other good wins include Hasim Rahman, David Tua, Michael Grant (who at the time was thought to be the next big thing), Franz Botha and a severely faded Mike Tyson. The loss came to Rahman, which Lewis avenged shortly thereafter.
Others for possible consideration: Chris Byrd, Ruslan Chagaev, John Ruiz, Nicolai Valuev, Hasim Rahman, Samuel Peter
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As much as they've earned it...
… I have such a hard time voting for either of the fighting Klitschko’s.
same here
I really want to vote for Lewis, but I know the Brothers Klitschko did much more this decade. It’s tough
Lennox never ducked anyone
While Vitali and Wlad won’t fight each other. I’m sympathetic to the fact that they’re brothers but when it comes to voting for Heavyweight of the Decade that’s the deciding factor in my vote for Lennox.
???
you’re sympathetic to the fact they’re brothers but you still imply its ‘ducking’?! I think thats contradictory and I feel that its perfectly reasonable for them Not to fight. I gave it to Vit on record overall in the period, although I think that Wlad would win a hypothetical match up right now.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
Really?
The Klitschkos are the most dominant HWs of this decade hands down. It should be a debate between which one was better. I put Wlad simply because of the long bouts with injury that Vitali has had.
Well keep in mind that Lennox retired in 2003. So, roughly 3 and a half years of this decade is all he fought. And alot of people seem to have short term memories. Lennox bashed Vitali who was about 5 years his junior when they fought in June 2003. And knowing both their styles,their aggresiveness and patience, their resumes and the abiity to go into the later rounds, I can’t see Vladimir doing any better against Lewis.But, Vladimir has been active this whole decade and beat some pretty notable names.So it can go either way i suppose.
Wladimir
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
Can't believe Lewis got so many more votes here than either Klitschko
Some people just despise the Klits for their style and whatnot. But what Lewis did in 3 years isn’t better than what Wladimir did dominating the rest of the decade, or what Vitali has accomplished before and after the hiatus.
Mybe it’s just the fact that people have trouble choosing between two Klitschkos, no?
One thing really comes off as odd to me, honestly, and it’s the remembering Lennox Lewis as something tremendously different than the Klitschkos. Lennox, when he was actually fighting, took a lot of the same flak for being dull and uninteresting and beating subpar opposition because that was pretty much all there was for him to fight.
Mybe it’s just the fact that people have trouble choosing between two Klitschkos, no?
That could play a part in it, too, like guys on the same team up for the Heisman splitting votes in their key regions.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by SC on Dec 22, 2009 4:11 AM EST up reply actions
I went with Lennox
And not because I had difficulty voting for a Klitshcko.
1) Lewis beat Vitali head to head, and I think that’s about as good as Vitali’s ever looked.
2) I think lewis would walk through any version of Wladimir
3) His win over Vitali is the best win overall, and his wins over prime Tua and prime Rahman are as good as any wins either of the two Klits have. The only win that’s arguably as good as any of those three is Wladimir over Byrd.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Dec 22, 2009 12:25 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
He also waxed a very waxable Tyson
"If you sit there and watch a person take about an hour to tie his shoestrings, then you realize that whatever problems you got ain't that significant"
---Vernon Forrest 2006
by The Midnight Rambler on Dec 22, 2009 12:46 PM EST up reply actions
Amen
He was just better than either Klitshcko. Vitali had his best ever performance against an old and slow Lennox, and he still got beat.
Well, Holyfield was better than the Klitschkos too, just not in this decade. I can see both sides of this argument, but there’s nothing wrong with picking a Klitschko when Lewis retired in June 2003.
I can see the argument that the Ks have made a ton of defenses, but it doesn’t change the fact that Lewis beat Vitali, and I don’t think Vitali’s improved since. Wladimir never fought Lennox, but I can’t imagine 2000-03 Lewis having many problems with him – he’d probably jump on him, a la Grant.
By the early noughties Lewis had lost some speed and mobilty, but I still have him down as the best of the decade
Think of it this way. What if Lewis had beaten Klitschko in 2000 and then retired? Would he still be the best heavyweight of the decade? Of course not, because he would have only had one or two fights in the whole decade. In real life, he fought until 2003. It’s a little bit longer than 2000, but he still doesn’t have much of a body of work in this decade.
I completely agree that Lewis was better than Klitschko, but that doesn’t mean he was the better fighter from 2000-09.
I can see your POV
But he did have some good wins in those four years (four years!) – as was already noted by Brick. We’ll agree to disagree, eh?
If Vitali doesn't get cut....
Do you think that Lewis still wins that fight? I’m not exactly sure if he could have kept up with Vitali and made up the difference he was already trailing by.
I think I had him down 4-2
but he was coming on strong. Obviously there’s no way of knowing what would have happened, but it seemed like Lewis was getting stronger as the fight went on.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
What a ridiculous question.
It’s not like the cut was caused by random flying shrapnel. Lewis broke Vitali’s face open, it was Lewis that did it, it was Lewis with his hands, Lewis did what he had to do and hurt his opponent, and therefore won the fight.
Next straw-man question; What if they had agreed to wear silver sequined gloves and had a dance-off…. would Lewis still have won the fight?
Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)
No, I think it’s a legitimate question. Yes, Lewis caused the cut, but it’s not like you can really cause a cut by design. It’s not like Lewis was thinking: I’m going to aim right for that spot because I know I’ll cut him that way. He was just trying to hit him hard somewhere in the face. Also, the reason why Klitschko got cut so badly at that moment wasn’t because that punch was the hardest punch he’d ever taken in his career. It was at least partly because of random chance. In other words, whether or not a fighter gets cut by a particular punch is, in large part, a function of good luck (or bad luck, depending on whose perspective you’re looking at it from).
Hey Taco Pal that sounds kinda silly.Well of course the ripping of a person’s skin is usually not by design, but neither are stoppages or knockouts sometimes. You can’t discredit it though.Vitali couldn’t slip or block those punches that ripped him. And … Lewis threw the punches!!!! So I would kinda disregard what if he hadn’t got cut? Would he of beat Lennox? Klitschko couldn’t protect his face enough for 6 rounds. What makes you think he would’ve lasted for 12? And that part “Trying to hit him hard somewhere hard in the face.” That’s kind of leaving out their professionalism a bit don’t you think? These guys are professionals.The pads and maize bag is for the timing and precision of your punches.They work at this shit day and night in the gym. Most know the angle to throw, how and where to hit you when the opportunity comes. So, this semi justification is kind of weak to me. Just give Lennox his credit without debate. He beat Vitali in a great fight. Period.
Lewis was storming back into control of that fight. I think Lennox digs down deep and pulls that one out, but that’s just my feeling.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by SC on Dec 23, 2009 4:06 AM EST up reply actions
I had it 3-3, Vitali wins first three, Lennox wins the next 3.....
and even if Vitali hadn’t been cut, Lennox would have stopped him circa 8-9…..
Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)
Or even if he doesn't stop him
Sure, there was the cut, but Vitali’s face was also swelling like crazy. Even with no cut, his left eye would have been completely shut in a few rounds.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I rewatched it recently...
..and Vitali was going to get beat, cut or no; maybe somewhere between 8-10. What did strike me (I’d almost forgot) was how STRONG Lewis was – much stronger than Vitali, who’s no weakling.
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