By Dave Lahr: In watching last Saturday night’s fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Eddie Chambers, I came away from the fight being very impressed with the overall punching power of the 33-year-old Klitschko. I think his power rates near the top of the all time great punchers in the heavyweight division, better than fighters like George Foreman, Joe Louis, Sonny Liston and Rocky Marciano. Perhaps the heavyweight that closest compares to that of Klitschko in terms of power is the 6’5” Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KO’s). Both Lewis and Wladimir are tall heavyweights, with long arms and massive power.

Lewis dominated the heavyweight division more or less for a 10 year period from 1993 until retiring in 2003. Along the way, Lewis defeated the likes of Vitali Klitschko, Ray Mercer, Hasim Rahman, Francois Botha, Michael Grant, David Tua, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Shannon Briggs, Oliver McCall, Henry Akinwande, Andrew Golota, Frank Bruno, Donovan “Razor”Ruddock, Tommy Morrison and Tony Tucker. Although Lewis’ chin was his weak link, betraying him twice in his career with knockout losses to McCall and Rahman, Lewis was always quick to get back in the ring and avenge his defeats by knockout out his opponents.

Accuracy: In looking at Lewis’ power in comparison to Wladimir, Lewis seems to have had the much better accuracy. Klitschko for some reason misses a lot of punches in his fights. He didn’t used to miss as often as he does now earlier in his career. That could be because back then Wladimir threw more punches, and had better timing for where his opponent.

But nowadays, Wladimir misses quite a bit in his fights. In his 12th round knockout victory over Eddie Chambers last Saturday night, Klitschko missed again and again in the fight, in particular when he was going for a knockout in the 11th and 12th rounds. He looked really clumsy and not at all accurate with his shots. It wasn’t just isolated to the last two rounds, though. Wladimir missed often during the earlier rounds in the fight and it wasn’t because Chambers was doing anything special to make him miss.

Chambers stood in front of Wladimir for most of the fight with his gloves in front of his face like a big target for Wladimir. Even with a sitting duck, Wladimir repeatedly missed with right hands, left hooks and even jabs. In contrast, Lewis rarely missed with his punches. If you look at some of his fights, he seemed to have this incredible ability to land almost everything. Take a lot at Lewis’ 2nd round TKO of Francois Botha in July 2000. I can’t see a single instance during the entire two rounds of the fight where Lewis missed one punch. He landed everything he threw. If you contrast that fight with Wladimir’s 8th round stoppage over Botha in 2008, a fight in which Wladimir missed with many of his shots all night long, it shows how much more accurate of a puncher Lewis was compared to Wladimir.

Advantage: Lewis

Right hand power: I think there’s really no comparison here. Lewis was a much bigger puncher than Wladimir in terms of right hand power. Lewis’ right hands were lethal, the kind of shot where he could take you out with one punch alone. Lewis also had a right uppercut, which made him even more dangerous. Wladimir as of yet still can’t throw an uppercut to save his life. Lewis’ right hand was not only powerful, but very quick. He could throw it really fast before his opponents had time to react. Wladimir has a fast right hand as well, but I can’t say that it’s any faster than Lewis’ right hand. Lewis was able to throw his right over and over again, and didn’t need to wait to reload. With Wladimir, he waits a long time between throwing right hands, as if the act of throwing them depletes his energy. Lewis was able to unload over and over again with them. Emanuel Steward, who used to train Lewis, seemed frustrated with Wladimir’s in ability to throw combinations and just put Eddie Chambers away last weekend. Part of that may be because Steward is used to having worked with Lewis and seen how Lewis would just go right after his opponents and chop them down with heavy shots. He didn’t have to wait for ages between power shots like Wladimir.

Advantage: Lewis

Left hand power: Wladimir seems to have a much better left hand than Lewis. Although Lewis had good left hand power, he didn’t have a left hook like Klitschko. Of all his weapons, Wladimir’s left hook is perhaps his best one that he has. It’s also one that he doesn’t use all that much compared to his right hand. Klitschko doesn’t like to throw it a lot because he gets countered sometimes when he tries to throw it. This happened in his fight with Corrie Sanders in 2003. Sanders was able to tag Wladimir with a straight left hand when Wladimir attempted to throw a lead left hook. But Wladimir’s left hook, when it lands, is deadly. He’s won a number of his fighting using that weapon, and that was the punch that he staggered Samuel Peter with in 2005. Wladimir hit Peter all night long with right hands with no effect whatsoever, but when he finally threw a left hook in the last round, Wladimir was able to badly stagger Peter with it.

Advantage: Wladimir

Jab: Wladimir has a really hard jab, and I’d say is one of the best in heavyweight history. When he’s snapping it hard, it’s a lethal weapon and like a mini power punch. Wladimir used to be able to throw it even harder when he was younger, more flexible and less muscled, but he can still throw it with a lot of power. Lewis had a great jab as well, but not on the level of Wladimir.

Advantage: Wladimir

Willingness to trade: This department isn’t even close. Wladimir doesn’t like to trade shots with his opponents and seems to retreat from the heat of battle. Lewis seemed to relish this kind of combat. In most cases, Lewis was willing to go to war with his opponents and fire power shots one after another. With Wladimir, he’s really cautious, and acts like he doesn’t want to be hit. He often retreats at the slightest hint of aggression from his opponents. Wladimir seems to wait too long before throwing his punches for the exact right moment. It’s like he won’t throw his power shots until he’s absolutely certain that he won’t get hit back. With Lewis, he didn’t seem to care as much about getting hit. In his fight with David Tua, Lewis fought as cautiously as Wladimir does in most of his fights, but that was an aberration for Lewis. Most of the time during his career he was willing to let his hands go.

Advantage: Lewis

Ability to throw combinations: Again, this is an area where Lewis was much better at compared to Wladimir. Lewis liked to put together two or three shots in a row against his opponents. With Wladimir, he’s more of a jab-jab, right hand type a guy. He doesn’t throw a lot of combinations and when he does its limited to a simple left-right combination. He doesn’t throw many multiple combinations like Lewis used to do.

Advantage: Lewis

Hand speed: This is an area where Wladimir has the advantage. He punches very fast with his right hand, and his left hook is blazing fast. Lewis was fast with his right hand, and very good at throwing three punch combinations very quickly, but he didn’t have quite the same kind of hand speed that Wladimir has. It’s close though.

Advantage: Wladimir

Overall, I’d have to say that Lewis was the better puncher compared to Wladimir, but it’s close in terms of overall power between the two. What makes Lewis a better puncher is that he could throw more punches, was a better inside fighter, and was much more aggressive compared to Wladimir. Lewis was like a lion in the ring compared to Wladimir.