Why doesn't Lennox have universal approval ?

I'd add that Lewis could also appear a bit aloof and arrogant at times, he beat significantly smaller men in Holyfield and a past-prime Tyson for his biggest 'name' wins and he didn't give Vitali Klitschko a rematch which disappointed a lot of fans.

 

Well since they all made sure to avoid Lennox, he did what he could as such :

Destroying the same Razor Ruddock that Tyson went to war with over nineteen rounds in 4:30 ... crushing him.

He Beat Evander Holyfield twice as noted, putting the absurd draw aside.

He destroyed the same Andrew Golata in sixty seconds that ruined Rid**** Bowe.

He crushed the then undefeated Michael Grant.

He crushed the Shannon Briggs that squeezed by Foreman ( another who openly said he'd never , ever fight Lennox )

He crushed a prime Tommy Morrison w ease.

He shut out an extremely dangerous David Tua.

At 37 he defeated a physically prime Vitali Klitschko.

There is a limit as to what you can do when you are being avoided:

Moorer , Foreman and Bowe flat out would not fight him. Tyson was a mess through out most of the 90's but coming out of prison there was no way King was putting him in w Lennox. When Mike finally did fight him it was a mismatch. Evander, not afraid but far from seeking a bout unless it was worth the risk lost twice as well .. Lennox came back from his two defeats to clearly defeat the opponents .. wheat else could he have done ?

No one came name one case of Lennox Lewis avoiding any fight w Bowe, Foreman, Tyson, Moorer or Holyfield .. not one. All avoided him .. these are the facts.

 

Lol There'so no evidence they all avoided Lennox. Some of them, not all.

Holyfield avoided Lennox no more than Lennox avoided Holy. We just have ZERO evidence that Holyfield has ever ducked or avoided Lennox in any point of their careers

So those are not facts, just a dream of someone, that Holyfield avoided Lennox.

I'd say then that Lennox avoided Mercer rematch which Mercer was trying to get.

Why McCall and Rahman gave Lennox rematches but Lennox never gave it to Mercer??? They beat Lewis more convincingly than Lennox beat Mercer.

I like Lennox, don't get me wrong, I just dislike when some of his fans are trying to make him the best thing that ever happened in boxing.

 

Look, you want to deny history, that's your choice. I'm stating the facts, not making hypothetical public hair splitting arguments for the sake of diluting reality .. everybody avoided fighting Lennox Lewis until they maximized risk - reward .. he was the biggest threat in the division for years ..

Why (did) Lewis not give a rematch to Mercer ? I don't know , maybe because after fighting Lewis Mercer had one fight in three years against a forty year old Witherspoon .. at the same time Lewis rematched Oliver McCall , stopped the undefeated Akinwande, destroyed Golata, destroyed Briggs, thrashed the undefeated Mavrovic and had back to back fights w Holyfield, wining both .. could be why ..

 

I see what you mean, but the problem is there's no fact that Holyfield at any time avoided or ducked Lennox. Not in any interview, newspaper articles. Lennox never said it, too.

Facts are that Bowe avoided Lennox in 92 or Holmes avoided Page, we cant find such arguments about Holyfield-Lewis.

As for Mercer, he was seeking the rematch as early as 1997, fresh off win over top-10 at that time Tim Witherspoon (who just shut out long-time cruiser champion Al Cole and KO'd cold 25-1 Gonzalez).

 

Lennox mentioned many times he'd welcome a fight w Holyfield .. again, I do not say Evander feared anyone .. he was a pretty fearless guy .. I'm just saying he'd choose to fight a Bowe, a Moorer, ect ahead of a Lewis .. Lennox was always viewed as the most dangerous opponent .. even when he got clocked by McCall most saw it was a fluke and not a serious deficiency on him as a talent .. almost gave the entire division a deep sigh that he cold be avoided for a while .. as far as Mercer goes, his problem was that for the most part he was unmotivated, not in top shape ,

 

Lennox was always great but the US media discredited and downplayed his greatness for many years, preferring to promote and lionize Tyson Holyfield and Bowe. Many people were influenced by this and did not accept Lewis, even after he whupped Holy and Tyson, some fans think it was because they were old when they finally faced Lewis.

In sum, Lewis did not have the politics and establishment behind him, until the end after he beat Holy and then Tyson, most fans realized he was The One.

 

His losses to Rahman and McCall also severely hurt his reputation. But he avenged both in style.

 

I don't know how anybody could say he avenged the McCall fight "in style." He beat a mental cripple having a drug-induced breakdown, hardly "avenging" anything.

And, in any event, beating either McCall or Rahman doesn't erase the fact that he got taken out early by this level of fighter in the first place while he held a title - not once, but TWICE. He's the only top level ATG who had that happen to him, a big mark against his record.

 

He missed a lot of the top guys of his era, either all together or at their peak.

 

You make some good points, but you are off on some other points.

Bowe did "duck" Lewis after he beat Holyfield the first time (although an offer WAS made to Lewis' camp, but considering it was perceived to be unfair it leaves Bowe's critics room to be call it a "duck"). But after Bowe lost the title, there were ongoing talks of a Lewis-Bowe fight in 94-95. It never materialized due to a combination of Lewis losing the title and the two camps being unable to come to an agreement on financial terms.

Holyfield did NOT avoid Lewis. He would have fought Lewis after Bowe I, but lost the title. Then he was going to fight Lewis after Bowe II, but fought mandatory challenger Moorer instead due to the threat of being stripped.

Anyway, regardless of why Lewis was not involved in the big fights of the 90s, and regardless of how unfair it may or may not have been, the fact remains that he was NOT the major player during the decade that one would think with many people crowning him the "best" of the era.


In retrospect, one can look back and make a strong case for Lewis and recognize his accomplishments. But the way it actually played out in real time, nobody considered him the best in the division until his fights with Holyfield in 1999.

 

Who was the major player ?

Not Tyson for sure as he peaked in the late 80's ..

Not Bowe who had one great fight and then dumped his title rather than fight Lewis ?

You can make a case for Evander but he did lose to Bowe twice, Moorer, Lewis twice ..

He may not have been in the American promoter and media dictated biggest PPV type fights but I'd say for sure he accumulated the greatest body of work. As far nobody considering him the best in the division till 1999 I think your way off ... many did and they were correct ..

His loses were unusual but is getting flattened by monster shots by gigantic heavyweights more career defining than getting hit with a hundred right hands before being counted out by a 192 pound fighter like happened to Louis or knocked out in a round by an old journey man like what happened to Dempsey or getting KO'ed by exhaustion and mentally manipulated by a 32 year old like happened to Foreman ?

Asfar as his losses and his rebounds, I think they in many ways show his greatest asset, his mental strength .. Rachman caught an unprepared, over confident fighter and flattened him .. Lewis came right back focused and destroyed him. McCall, a long time nut and addict, was breaking down without question but he started to unfold when he saw what a different fighter he was in against ..

 

You're just repeating the same mantra without any proof. Then say it's "fact" and anyone who questions you is "denying".

If Holyfield ducked Lewis, show us the proof.
While you're at it, show us the proof that Lewis was actively seeking fights with all those guys throughout the decade.

Of course, the risk-reward thing always applies, and it applies to how Lewis's shrewd management operated his career just as much as to anyone else.

Bigging up the likes of Morrison and Briggs isn't really helping your case either.

No, he signed to fight Bowe in 1992 before Lewis beat Ruddock. You could argue that he chose Bowe over Ruddock.

Moorer was his mandatory for the IBF title. Holyfield said on the winning the title back in 1993 that he hoped to fight Lewis next and get the WBC belt back, but the IBF insisted on Moorer first.
Holyfield's the only guy who didn't dump the titles because he didn't fancy mandatories. He wanted the three belts to stay together. When Lewis became undisputed champion, he dumped/forfeited belts by failing to live up to obligations, as we know. Of course, that's fine. But it's also a fact, a real one, not a made up one.

According to who ?

Lewis looked beatable against Bruno, who was never particularly well-regarded. He was knocked silly by one punch against McCall, who the top guys knew as a sparring partner.
Of course, they all knew Lewis could be much better than that, but to imply they were hiding from him after those performances is based on nothing but yours or his imagination.

Do you really think Steward (his new trainer) or Maloney were seriously going to throw him in with Bowe or Holyfield for his next fight if they could ?
I'm sure they would have taken an immediate McCall rematch, but it's a stretch to think they were carrying on like nothing happened.
In fact they were pretty open about having a few rebuilding fights if they couldn't get McCall.
He didn't exactly look good in his next fight, against a bum Lionel Butler.

 

yet hes a top level atg.

 

It cost him when he overlooked McCall