Lennox Lewis. Does he have some holes in his legacy?

Could it be better, yes no doubt but as others have said he always tried to make the fights that counted when he could but either opponents ducked him or someone lost to prevent a fight happening.

Bowe ducked him in 93.

Lewis signed to fight Bowe in 95 but lost to McCall.

Lewis signed to fight Holyfield in 94 but Holyfield lost to Moorer.

Tyson was steered away from Lewis by King.

 

I have to think that Lewis has a fine legacy behind him. Bowe promised him a showdown, then all but jumped through plate glass to meet the challenge of Michael Dokes....after they dug him up and dusted him off. The garbage can incident marked the walking away from THE biggest heavyweight fight of the day. Period.

Lewis took on the big hitters that Bowe seemed to get around.

Lewis was an active champion. He essentially did what he promised to do, rid the division of all the misfits.

Sullying the waters of his legacy, Lewis was derailed twice by one-punch KO (although I feel the ref absolutely sucked in the initial McCall encounter). To his credit, he actively sought out the rematches, reversing both outcomes (a demonstration of championship pride that his former nemesis/antagonist Rid**** Bowe failed to give us...excuses and revisionism aside).

Lewis' last two showings thrust his legacy into overdrive. The win over Vitali Klitschko took on more value over the years given the elder Klitschko's remarkable championship runs.

 

This might answer the first part of your post.

Lewis had the number 1 contender's slot in the WBC rankings when he knocked out Australian Justin Fortune, then defeated former WBO Champion Tommy Morrison in October 1995, followed by Olympic gold medallist and former WBO champion Ray Mercer in a close majority decision in May 1996. Lewis successfully sued to force Tyson to make a mandatory defense of the WBC title against him or force him to give up the title, winning a four million dollar settlement from promoter Don King. Rather than fight Lewis, Tyson relinquished the WBC title to fight Evander Holyfield. The WBC title was declared vacant. This set up a rematch between Lewis and McCall, who met on 7 February 1997 in Las Vegas for the WBC title.

The rest of it isn't worth answering quite frankly.

 

has a few holes in his legacy ...fought a shot razor ruddock ....fought the old deal holyfield(not the real deal)................and fought a super shot coke head mike tyson who was a walking corpse in memphis in 2002

 

I don't think Razor was shot. I think Razor was one of if not his best win.

 

good win for lewis = but those 19 rds with tyson destroyed razor ruddock man ...broken rib/broken jaw ...he took a severe beating in the 2nd fight .

 

Lewis's resume is as good as you're gonna get. He did everything that was asked of him, mostly. Still bugs me that he won 2 belts in the courtroom. And I believe Bowe didn't duck him since there were politics involved that the public didn't know about.

Everyone has holes in their legacy.

 

Lennox couldnt have done much more.
He beat everyone he fought, 2 he needed a rematch,but no doubting he was the superior fighter in both cases.
He beat a very long list of good/competent opponents.His longevity was very impressive.
His career just lacked that defining fight,like Ali had Foreman for example.
It doesnt always happen that way though.
Tyson for example,even at his peak didnt have one,not his fault,as it requires alot of things to be in place and collide at a particular moment.
Anyone interested in LL should read the book 'Mamma's boy'..a full account of his career , fight by fight...all the boxing politics of the era are well documented also.
What people underestimate is how difficult it was for him to have the appropriate fights whilst not being a pawn for Don King.
King kept Tyson away from Lewis after prison.
Bowe and his manager ducked Lewis...no doubt.
Lewis ducked nobody,ever.

 

Not sure Tyson ruined Ruddock. I believe Ruddock ruined Ruddock. The guy had zero ring generalship, forgot his long left jab after initially throwing it earlier in his career and that by the time Lennox got to him, he knew exactly what Ruddock would try to do, and countered it so effectively we didn't believe Ruddock was anywhere near what he was for Tyson.

Boxing is sometimes illusion.

 

The whole getting starched twice by two average contenders is a mark you can't wipe out. It just didn't happen to any other great heavyweight. But Lewis' record is arguably one of the stronger ones.

 

It happened to Wladimir.

 

Hmmm,

After Lewis Ruddock had 12 fights, lost 1, went the distance to win 2 and stopped the other 9.

Shot Ruddock you say?

 

As already mentioned, there were some things he might have done differently, but I think his career is pretty solid. Two time olympic medalist, a dominant world champion with wins over about 98% of the best fighters around, and the claim to having avenged his only two defeats.. He makes top five on my list.