Lennox Lewis underrated or overrated?

Underrated. Fought in the greatest era of power punchers and beat every man he ever face. Was bald assed ducked by the supposed best threat to his crown.

All Time Great. Head to Head Top 3 at very least. All Time Top 4, though any number within would be justifiable.

 

I have him in the top 10 heavyweights of all time. Lennox Lewis is also a head to head monster compared to many of the other notable Heavyweight Champions.

He won the Olympic Gold Medal beating a pretty good heavyweight named Riddick Bowe by stoppage. Sometimes that gets forgotten.

Lewis went on to beat many good and very good heavyweights. His destruction of Razor Ruddock when he burst onto the heavyweight scene serving notice to the other contenders. Ofcourse Bowe backing out of an agreement to fight Lennox`s wasn`t Lewis fault but more a testament to how dangerous he was.

Can`t forget that Heavyweight Champions George Foreman and Micheal Moorer would never take on Lewis. Nobody with anything to lose really wanted to fight Lennox Lewis. It was a rough night. He did beat Tony Tucker, Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrsion, Shannon Briggs and then a slightly past it Evander Holyfield who Lewis schooled in their first fight and beat close the second time.

He goes on to destroy Micheal Grant and dominate David Tua. The Tyson fight was mostly something Lewis had to do to shutup some people. Ofcourse Tyson was only there that night for the $ and gave a good effort for about a round and a half.

Here is the key IMO. Lennox Lewis was knocked out twice and both times had the guts to climb back into the ring with the man who stopped him and reverse the result. I dont care that McCall cried or whatever none of that matters. He was there to fight and McCall had no answers and started to fall apart.

He goes out beating a pretty formidable fighter in Vitali.

I understanad Lennox Lewis wasn`t a popular figure but if he was from New York he may be regarded and rank right up with the very top heavyweights who ever lived. His biggest crime was that he wasn`t an American heavyweight.

Bottom Line Lennox Lewis was a winner and one of the best heavyweights that ever lived.

 

I've been rewatching a lot of Lennox lately and am impressed with how he sneaks his uppercut in and neutralizes people on the inside. It's cool to see (even when he holds Grant's head down and obliterates him with an uppercut) and I appreciate it.

I think Seamus has him rated a pinch too high, but it's really hard to keep him out of the top 5 lists considering his skills and resume, impossible to weed him out of the top 10.

Lennox fought tall and used his size as the massive advantage it was. He had a good jab, a good cross, and was hard/impossible to fight with at range. When a fighter had equal or close to equal size, they got destroyed on the inside. He's more versatile than he's given credit for.

His knocks are his fighting style and how he got destroyed twice. He avenged those losses, but McCall and Rahman are two guys that a top 10 ATG shouldn't lose to in such dramatic fashion.

I have him ranked around 8, higher H2H.

I think he gets the credit he deserves. Sometimes too much, sometimes too little, but altogether I think he's rated appropriately.

 

He used his height and range better than any fighter I saw. Definitely any heavyweight. His right hand was fast and explosive. One of the best in the division`s history.

 

This.

:deal

Since he retired I have him tied for #3 alltime.




BTW,

There are some fair points that could be have been noted in the "over-rated" column, but the OP did not make any of them.

How long he takes to KO or outpoint an opponent is an almost irrelevant consideration. Ditto for the point on obliteration.

And a bit more knowledge of the mans history and amateur career would have answered the "where was he..." question.






I liked the concept of the "flash KO"

 

By my reckoning Lennox is rated pretty fairly. Definitely an all time top ten heavyweight.

 

Big, awkward, clumsy, bad ballance, two left feet and one dimensional.

If he couldn't get a guy out early , he looked very limited over 12 rounds, and has never ko'd anyboy late in a fight.

Watching his fight with Mercer , there should be no doubt he gets annihilated by a prime Tyson. Mercer would probably have won that fight if it had been a proper 12 rounder.

Went life and death with Vitali who got outboxed by little pillow fisted Chris Byrd.

Won both his WBC belts out of the trash can. Both times.

Hadn't the valour or pride to fight Tyson in his prime and accepted step aside money to fight bums in Dublin.

Played a major part with King to prevent a fight with Bowe.

Overrated.

 

I rate him tops with ali

 

How many other guys were taking the risk of fighting the DKP fighters? How many were coming out with victories? Lennox took on the popular fighters and guys that big $$$ was behind and that's the toughest road to travel in the sport.

He also took on the pedigreed up and comers when he was the old guy. Lots of times those are the changing of the guard fights for heavies.

Hardly any heavyweight champion wlaked in those shoes. Lewis did. And me, I sure do appreciate that he did. Lots of other guys always take the path of least resistence fights. Lewis could have as well and instead of fighting the guys he did, we could have seen mismatches--but safe fights--against the easy to hit opponents like an Alex Stewart. Joe Hipp. Maskaev. Ocquendo. Seldon. Mathis. Herbie Hide would have sold well. Washed up and in the graveyard guys like Pinklon Thomas. Bonecrusher Smith. Dokes.

Or done the other trick of 1 surprise win or decent showing by a guy gets him a Lewis bout. That'd be guys like Zolkin looking good for awhile against Morrison. Vaughn Bean doing well against Moorer. At least we didn't get that type of matchmaking.

He could have fought those second tier type guys on the outskirts of top 10 and "names". He didn't. And anyone watching the sport long enough knows that's a haley's comet in that division and rarely seen in the sport.

 

the manner of his two defeats count against him. also, I think he should have beat Holyfield much more convincingly considering Holy was 37 at the time and had already fought three wars with Bowe several years earlier.

Still Top 10 based on achievements alone.

 

Outside of Ali , possibly the toughest head to head matchup for the other champs, he is ,imo,a top ten heavyweight.ATG

 

Saved me a lot of time typing! Thread absolutely nailed in one post.

Top 10 atg without any question, and a case can be made that he's very high in the top 10.

H2H...as ETM says, Lewis was an absolute monster...H2H, when focussed, Lewis COULD beat any HW that ever lived.

PS - ETM - I thoroughly enjoy reading your work - whether I agree with it or not...hat doffed.

 

A big lug who is over rated and has a personality as exciting as drywall.