More often boxer who are still young yet have a bit of experience seem to be in there prime. like a young, but experienced floydm, who arguably was in his prime when he fought coralles. with lewis it is different. he looked faster when he was younger, but much stronger and technicly sound when he was like in the rahman II fight, later in his career. Lennox Lewis might be the best Heavyweight ever in terms of who beats who, so lets decide.
Tua, Holyfield I or the Golota fight showed us 3 versions of when Lennox was at his best in my eyes. The Golota fight re-established that offensive beast that we saw in the Ruddock fight, but showed a much more intelligent offensive machine, taking his time and picking his shots. The Tua fight showed his brilliant footwork and defensive boxing, being able to avoid Tua for the majority of the fight while tagging him on his way in. Some call it boring, which is a fair point, but at the end of the day, that was the best way to approach the fit against someone wi the power of Tua. Finally in the Holyfield fight we saw the boxer side of Lewis. Pinpoint accuracy always established with the jab and despite the draw, it was clear who the winner really was as Lewis was able to out work and Outland a past prime, but still an incredibly good Evander Holyfield.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when Lewis was at his best. He slowed down a bit as his career progressed (compare the Ruddock fight to his more flat-footed style in his later title fights), but he grew physically stronger as his career progressed. In terms of intangibles, he seemed to have a confidence and aura after the second Holyfield fight, and if I had to pick one fight I'd say against Botha was the best Lewis we ever saw. He looked like the prototype of the 21st century heavyweight, with every tool in his armoury. Bizarrely, he followed it up with one of his worst performances against Rahman. Supreme confidence crossed over into arrogance, and cost him his title. Whenever you consider Lewis to be in his absolute prime, I don't think there was a huge difference from the Morrison fight through to Botha.
yeah he cuts vitali and than ducking the rematch, that everybody wanted to see. he runs into retirement like a ***, because he knew that he would lose.