Why doesn't Lennox have universal approval ?

im not so sure his resume 'isnt near' Holmes . He certainly never avoided anyone. Not that im suggesting larry did, but there were fighters larry could have fought but for whatever reason didnt. The only one i can think of with lewis was Bowe and wasnt through any fault of lewis. Actually, and im pretty sure it was posted here a few years back, i think Lewis fought either more ranked fighters, or more top 10 fighters, something like that, than larry. Im a holmes fan btw as well as a lewis fan, im not ****ting on larry, just pointing out theres no big gap quality-wise between their resumes IMO

 

Never avoided anyone ? All his major belts were vacant and every strap he held was both relinquished and stripped off him for not facing the challenger for each belt.
He also willingly walked from the opportunity to fight a more meaningful fight with Tyson in 1996.

 

The fact that we can even have this discussion about Lennox's fights with Mercer and Holyfield proves my argument.

Whether you score it for Lewis or Mercer/Holyfield is irrelevant. It was the fact the HE DID NOT dominate either of them that solidifies his non greatness in my mind.

Lennox was not head and shoulders above his contemporaries, in fact he was barely better than them. He was a great champ, excellent fighter and a H2H monster.

But I just cant accept him as that dominant a force. Lennox could be beat, and was. He was safety first, and unable to make great fights.

He dominated B class fighters, but struggled to beat the greats( and not so greats) to often to be considered in the same breath as Ali, Marciano, Foreman, ..... He rates with Holmes and the next tier down in my book.

I watched his career, and I never got that " Wow" feeling with him.

 

Well thank god he did, because if he never, he hadn't he'd have had a perfect record, then what would people find fault about?

 

Like I said in my previous post. If he'd beat those two and retired undefeated, naysayers would still find fault with his record.

He did win the rematch (I'm really counting the McCall win and a real win) and he can rightfully claim no fighter had a winning record against him.

Foreman can't make that claim, Ali can't even make that claim, and neither can Holmes.

But as far as where you rank him goes, it doesn't much matter to me. I think he's a H2H monster as you say, but say on a p4p list, I'd rate Holyfield significantly higher than him. So it depends on the criteria you're using.

I think styles make fights and on that basis, I think he'd likely always beat Tyson, because he fought the perfect strategic fight against him when they met. Holyfield I'm not so sure about.

Lewis can rightfully be criticised for fighting to the level of his opponent sometimes, but except for two punches, he still managed wins.

And yes, for the 1,000th time or more, Lewis DID beat Vitali. Deal with it.

 

I don't think Lewis deserves a whole lot of credit for that. He had to get back in the ring against those guys to get his titles back. What other options did he have?

 

And I did, that's the difference right there. Being Canadian I watched his career since the Olympics, and granted he could fight in safety mode, more often than I would have liked, but when he came out to end a fight quickly he was Tyson like in his efficiency. I watched the his fight with Ruddock last week and it was a devastating display of pure aggression.

 

Well the option he had was to get starched again. It could have happened. Boxing not an easy sport and it would hard to name any sport in which someone can't have a bad outing. Take another solo sport like tennis, and even Federer or Nadel are going to occasionally play the bad match. In heavyweight boxing it only takes on good punch to end a fight.

Like I said had he not got starched twice, what would the Lewis naysayers have to complain about?

From my perspective one could say but for two punches, he would have had a perfect career.

Fighters like Foreman, Frazier, Tyson, etc. were all down, or stopped by TKO, more than Lewis was in his career. Hell even Louis had a bad outing against Schmeling, and Ali almost got stopped by Cooper.

 

I would add that Lewis probably fought bigger punchers in his career than Holmes did. But admittedly I think they are both elite fighters and as far as I'm concerned they rank pretty close to each other.

 

Lol.....true :rofl

 

You have to be joking prime Tyson would have crumbled him....McCall and Rahman laid him like a leopard rug in his prime...

 

Lewis having a couple of bad nights and getting KOed is not the issue here.

You said that Lewis deserves a lot of credit for getting back into the ring with McCall and Rahman after they KOed him. But the reality is that he didn't have more attractive options.

After Rahman KOed him, his options were either attempt to get his title back against Rahman, or retire after getting KOed by a journeyman. Sure, a rematch against a guy who KOed you is not the most pleasant thing, but it sure beats retiring after that kind of loss.

As for McCall, Lewis has been waiting in line for a WBC title shot since he got KOed. After jumping through several hoops, filing lawsuits, and waiting nearly 3 years, it's not like he was in a position to turn down a rematch against McCall for the title.


You would have a point if Lewis could have regained his titles through other means, and then took high-risk/low-reward rematches against McCall and Rahman just to prove a point. But that is not what happened.

 

I have a point because my over riding point was that he got back in the ring with every fighter who KO'd him and did the same thing to them. This is something, Holmes never did, Tyson never did, Liston never did, Holyfield never did, Foreman never did, Wlad never did, and Frazier never did.

Admittedly a couple of these fighters ( Holmes in particular) lost way past their primes and weren't the same fighters then were in their primes, but nevertheless, it's true. Fighter's like Liston, Tyson and Frazier, tried to do it and failed.

 

are you referring to the time he actually took tyson to court to force a fight? If you think taking, what was it, something like $4million step aside money, is willingly walking away from a fight then thats your perogative. Please tell me the list of names he avoided