Lennox Lewis underrated or overrated?

Overrated.

Created a myth around himself that he was ducked and avoided and was an 'outsider' persecuted by the boxing establishment because he didn't sign with Don King or wasn't flying the US flag or whatever.
When actually he was one of the most favoured and spoilt fighters in history, and had plenty of offers to fight those guys earlier (including Riddick Bowe).

Definitely a strong, powerful and skilful fighter, but nowhere near as great as people make him to be now.

 

Underrated, partly due to being British, alloof and lacking charisma. He beat everyone in the best era ever and a top 2 resume of all time.

This the 90s is the best era ever for me

 

Lennox definitely belongs in the HW top 10, all time. I'd wish he'd been around at the HW golden age since it's a bit difficult to really know where he should be placed, given the times he fouhgt in. He might have be a top three. I wouldn't put him up there, but I fully undertsand that some do. His two losses doesn't really count, since they were caused by his own arrogance, more than anything else. He also avenged both.. well, I dont know what to think about the second McCall fight, but McCall didn't win, that's for sure.

There's also something absolutely classy about Lennox, something many fighters ought to learn from. He was he never i conflict with the law never did drugs never beat up people in the streets, and I am pretty sure that we'll never hear about any filing for bankruptsy. He just lived clean and punched hard.

 

lennox was one of the very best quite simply no other heavyweight beat so many
legitimate opponents.No fighter he ever fought could claim to be his superior.
Was avoided by Tyson,Bowe etc when they were prime..not his fault.
Lennox didnt have a career defining fight at his or their peak because Tyson and
Bowe clearly avoided him.He beat what he faced and ducked nobody.Only Ali rates
higher for me.

 

It's interesting that people give him credit for beating so many big, strong punchers .... yet his lack of wins over cagey and skillful boxers or defensive fighters is often overlooked. Of course punchers attract bigger purses so it's perhaps understandable.

How many southpaws did he ever face ?

 

Pretty much agree with this.

 

You're so wrong I don't even know where to begin. He's really not as awkward and for a guy his size he had more than decend speed in his prime. Pretty good mover too.

He didn't fight Tyson in his prime? He wasn't around when Tyson was prime, I don't think anyone values Lennox' win that much though, but I have always thought he beats a prime version of Tyson too.

To say he went life and death with Vitali is a bit of a stretch. He was done in 2003, but still managed to stop a fighter who'll continue to dominate for the next 10 years.

It was Bowe's decision not to defend against Lennox, not sure what major part with King you're talking about.

Putting all the pieces together, he's borderline top 5.

 

You are right. I messed up. Lewis didn't avoid a prime Tyson , he avoided a shot, post prison , past it Tyson. ...Lewis even avoided a fossil of Larry Holmes and even admidited it.
Cant agree he was done in 2003 when he just came off the biggest fight of his career and on off one of the highest selling fights of all time.

He also most definitely went life and death with Vitali who did NOT DOMINATE for the next 10 years. He fought left overs and bottom feeders whihle spending half of it in rerirement , so how the hell is that dominating a division?

The worst version of a corpse of Mike Tyson did better against Lewis , who you say was at his best, than the best version of a prime Vitali against who many say was at his worst.

At the end of the day , Lewis was a usless fighter who used his power and size to see him through. Anybody who see's him as a top 5 ATG is a fool.

He is an H2H beast as long as he's not fighting old Ray Mercer and fresh out of rehab Tony Tonker.

 

First of all, I did not say Lewis was at his best against Tyson. He was well past his prime, maybe not as much as Tyson was though. Let's not forget that Tyson was stripped of his title for fighting Holyfield instead of Lewis. So guess what, this game of who ducked who can be played both ways.

If all you see in Lewis is a fighter, and an 'useless' one, who uses only size and power, I have a hard time considering you serious. I'm not one to defend big, tall fighters like the Klitschkos, but Lewis is an exception. Not that it'd be wrong to use your physical strengths into your own advantage, just like some boxers rely on speed.

Vitali didn't completely dominate the division, but that's one of the disadvantages of fighting in an era with your own brother, who's more talented.

 

If you have reason for why he might be overrated do tell.

How long he takes to KO an opponent does matter, because a great fighter would knock out an poor opponent easily. Bear in mind fighters are ranked on who they beat and how they beat them. Had mike tyson took 10 rounds to ko all of his first 30 opponents, he'd certainly not be viewed as great. Not IMO and not in most peoples. He'd be viewed as a fighter who just sqeaks by and is lucky to etch out wins.

Many fighters, especially the great ones get better over time. Even head to head, I\d on;y give joe frazier a chance of beating lewis for this very reason. Lewis is stronger, taller and has most the advantages, but if he goes into the 8th, 9th or 10th then he may be the one knocked out by smokin joe. Doesn't mean joe WOULD beat lewis, but it means he could. Versus, a lewis who knocks out opponents early, he'd be ranked higher because there is less chance of the opponent winning. Lewis inability to put away substandard competition is definetly a huge negative. Had he for instance fought the first 2 rounds like he fought the last 2 rounds of the vitali fight and it ended in round 2 on tko, would anyone be saying but vitali COULD have won? No, most people would say he got beaten up badly for 2 rounds and would have lost.

 

I like how championship calibre fighters, not to even mention dominant long time champions, are labeled as "bums" and "useless" on this board... This forum is increasingly the haven of true imbeciles.

 

Excellent post!!

I too think getting into the ring with a guy who knocked you out and beating him, is something you rarely see and it takes a lot of guts to do.:good

 

This is how I see it too.

 

Thats interesting that you put the blame on Lewis rather than Tyson. First off Tyson got arrested right at the time Lewis was coming into the heavyweight picture. Tyson took himself out of contention for 3 years. Then lets remember that Mike Tyson paid Lennox Lewis step aside $ in the mid 90s with the promise of a later fight.

Somehow that gets twisted into "Lewis avoided Tyson". Tyson really didnt want to fight Lewis especialy knowing he could get roughly the same $ fighting much lesser fighters. The Tyson camp thought Holyfield was shot and that it was a safe defense.

 

You make it sound like Tyson willingly admitted himself to prison in order to ovoid Lewis.
Tyson paid Lewis nothing. King wanted Tyson to unify the belts against Seldon. Lewis had an offer from King to pocket 4 million or fight Tyson for over 10 million and at the shot at the world title.
Lewis chose to take the 4mil and walk away.
He hadn't the honour to take on Tyson and it was his second duck after hiding away in the amateurs the first time.

Lewis was a bum and was throughout his whole career he won his major belts through vacancy and was stripped of evey version of the title he ever had. What other top 5 ATG was strripped of evey belt they had ever won?