best upset win over lennox lewis?

Rahman because Lewis was already established and although Rahman could punch he was not really known as a one punch guy and his fights vs Maskaev, Holyfield, etc did not show tremendous power or speed...I was surprised

Had the cut and the hold and hit tactics by Lewis not prevalent the Vitali Klitschko fight may have been the bigger upset because Vitali was not really held in high regard prior to that fight because of his loss to Byrd.

 

Rahman. That knockout came out of no where.

 

Nah Mcall was the bigger upset. Mcall was considered nothing special when Lewis faced him. Basically a Don King placed contender who was known more for being a Tyson sparring partner more than anything else. Up until that point he had done very little as a professional, staying in the mix but losing in most of his high profile bouts. Lewis was just hitting the big time coming off his big win over Razor Ruddock and Bruno and was undefeated. Nobody really knew at that point how good Lewis really was, but he fought a very stupid fight and paid the price.

Lewis was ****ing around before the Rahman fight filming a movie with Wladmir Klitschko and not going to Africa with ample time to prepare. He came in out of shape and not focused and showed no respect to Rahman who actually did prepare himself well. The media was well aware of it and making mention of it alot in the press and in the interviews leading up to the fight. Lewis was the better fighter but it wasnt suprising at all that Lewis was flattened by Rahman.

 

Rahman is clearly the bigger upset.

He splattered a peak complete Lewis, not a lucky punch, he backed him up with a series of solid jabs and smashed him with a huge right.

 

On the night of the rahman fight a lot of people were speculating if an upset was on the cards because lennox looked quite out of shape and disinterested in the weeks coming into the fight. It showed in his performance on the night too.

 

Also the same people slating tyson for losing to Douglas don't seen to recognise that mike was as much, or even more so disinterested going into the Douglas fight as Lewis was against rahmam. Shows what can happen, as Lewis was not hit by a lucky punch against rahman, he was having an awful round and was getting tagged by jabs and right hands before the mammoth shot put him away

 

yep

 

Rahman was easily the bigger upset because of the fighter Lewis was in '01 compared to '94. But i see lefthook's points on it not being a surpise that it happened again in South Africa.
As a fan i wasn't surprised at all that Rahman won. Lewis, even though he was winning looked like **** (has rumoured), and Rahman nailed him numerous times throughout the fight before landing the big one. Infact he caught Lewis with a right hand just has sweet about 30 seconds before.
So yeah in historical terms Rahman is the bigger upset. But McCall was probably more surprising.

 

There are always excuses for losses and Lewis had an excuse for his 2 KO loses and his almost loss to Klitschko but the fact that he did not rematch Vitali showed he knew he was lucky Vitali had that bad cut, why else would he turn down 30mm

 

Because Lewis no longer had the fire to fight. He entered mini camp and was just going through the motions, so he decided to call it a career. Thats what happens with fighters, they lose the desire to fight and once you lose that desire its time to call it a day. Lewis fought very courageously against Klitschko because his skills were diminished and his timing was starting to fade. He basically had to do will his way through that fight, but why should he go into a fight where his desire is gone and his skills are diminished to lose to a fighter who was not better than him? Klitschko was what he was, hes not that good, certainly not on the level of Lennox Lewis, and thats why Lewis was able to win because Lewis looked pretty awful but still had the desire and mental toughness to break Vitali down.
Lewis didnt need to be Mike Tyson and fight for money. Thats why he turned the fight down.

 

People forget that McCall's only notable victory facing Lewis was against Bruce Sheldon. Just food for thought.

 

In Rahman I, Lewis was undertrained, listless & lethargic with a very low punch output... hardly on "Peak form".

The difference between their first & second fights is night & day, because Lennox trained properly for the rematch.

 

I disagree, I think Vitali Klitschko overall was and would have been one of Lewis's toughest fights and in retrospect and knowing what i know now other than a serious cut the later rounds form 8-12 would favor Vitali

Vitali was better than Grant,Tua,the version of Tyson that Lewis fought, Botha,Marovick,Golota, Holyfield and Mercer and Rahman and McCall...I think he would be a test for any version of Lewis and remember the Lewis fight was a fight that encouraged Vitali because without the cut it would have been a different fight. I think the memory of the tough fight with Vitali was a motivating factor for Lennox to retire

 

I dont think Vitali could have beaten the Mercer that Lewis fought. Its hard to say hes better than Rahman and Mcall too, because he really never fought anyone as tough as them. Vitali would have to work a lot harder than he ever has had to against the likes of those guys, and hes faded in two fights due to injury and pressure.

 

and why couldnt vitali ko a bloated old useless shannon briggs.