Why doesn't Lennox have universal approval ?

It's pretty clear that the Lennox Lewis team had an exceptional talent for distorting/manipulating the facts and playing a clever game on the public relations front, forever casting themselves as the "hard done by" and the "outsiders".

I don't think they were any more guilty than the others, but it's strange how many people still buy into the "whiter than white" propaganda.
We've even had it here suggested that Holyfield was part of a multi-party consensus to DUCK poor Lennox Lewis.

 

Trying to get back to the topic of the thread per its title.

I don't remember Bowe lining up to take on the kind of punchers that Lewis faced or anywhere near the depth of talent Lewis saw. Perhaps if his dance card had been filled with more guys like McCall and Rahman than the likes of a cracked up Dokes or no hoper Ferguson we would have seen Rid**** respond to adversity.

And I don't seem to recall Lewis struggling with the likes of an old Tubbs, Coetzer or Golota. In the latter regard, Lewis accomplished in less than one round what Bowe couldn't in 16 rounds.

 

McCall struggled to beat Ferguson in a fight many people saw Jesse winning. A dubious decision. McCall was coming off a good win over unbeaten Bruce Seldon, and Ferguson was coming off a mostly inactive period, sometimes supporting himself as a professional sparring partner.

Ferguson was in his best shape in years against Bowe too.
Let's not pretend McCall was levels above the "no hoper"status.

 

...

 

What punchers ? The Tyson he walked away from in 96? The Golota who was doped up and in no condition to box?
The Mercer who Bowe did line up to fight only Ray lost his eliminator?

I don't recall Bowe struggling with Tubbs either . Tubbs had one good round , in which Bowe laughed off his success before ending the fight a few rounds later.
I recall Bowe shutting out unbeaten and very underrated Donald who was better than Coetzer and Tucker, Jackson, Butler, Rahman , Tua, Ackwandey, Merovic..
I recall Lewis looking poor against Butler who was stopped by Bowe in only his second professional fight.
All that is meaningless anyway when The facts prove Lewis was nowhere near the innocent party amd victim over the fight not taking place.

 

Is this disingenuous or are you being willfully dense?

Weaver, Ruddock, Mason, Bruno, McCall, Golota, Briggs, Grant, Tua, Rahman, Tyson, Vitali, Morrison... Take that lot as a whole and tell me someone in the division who has faced more depth of power.

 

Ok, you win. But I didn't come here arguing about his record.

 

I think Lewis suffers for a variety of reasons:

1. He's not American
2. He came over as arrogant.
3. He didn't really have a defining fight.

I never really took to Lewis(even though I readily accept he has a fine record) and here are my reasons:

1. He only lost to "lucky" punches.
2. He took credit for inflicting McCall's mental breakdown.
3. He wore his shorts as nipple protectors.

 

I don't know.
I think Lewis and Maloney and Eliades were on favourable terms with the established powers from very early on.
There's certainly a good argument to say Lewis was partly used as a pawn to drive Don King back into the picture after Lewis beat Ruddock, and King was really out in the cold then (resorting to Tony Tucker as his flagship heavyweight).

Not that Don King was necessarily a bad thing for boxing - in fact if everyone had signed with him we would have seen ALL the missing fights !
I just think there was a lot of hypocrisy and bluff from the Lewis team, which I guess is part of the game.

 

I like Lewis and my take on it is this.

1. He lost to McCall fair and square, and said the loss made him a better fighter. His loss to Rahman was a result of his own complacency, he momentarily thought he was a movie star and not a boxer. But he avenged these two losses.

2. Not sure what to make of this comment, cause it's the first I've heard of it. Worth discarding in any event.

3. If the ref allows him to wear his shorts up to his face, that's on the ref, not the fighter. Holyfield would head butt you unconscious if the ref's allowed it, and Tyson would gladly break an arm then loss a fight. Fighters at that level will take advantage of any rule they can, Lewis included. Why would you find that offensive and not say holding Grant's head down when he delivered a brutal uppercut?

A fighter being arrogant, well that's the first time I've ever heard a heavyweight champion of the world acting arrogant. I suppose some would prefer their champions to discuss how they were going to eat their opponents children.

As for a defining fight, you could call the Ruddock fight a defining fight, it certainly elevated him into the higher echelon of the sport. The rematch of Rahman could also be called a defining fight, and could his defense against Vitali. So where you see no defining fights, I see at least three.

 

I'd say Jesse Ferguson was actually a better boxer than Oliver McCall, and just as good a puncher.

McCall was more durable and usually more determined though.
Ferguson took plenty of fights where he was clearly out of shape, lacking ambition and just along for the payday.

So, overall McCall was better.

 

You might be right.
I might well be overrepresenting their ability as spin doctors.
And maybe overdoing the thing about them being "insiders" (although I think that must apply to some extent to EVERY party involved, including the annoying Newman/Bowe even - since the true outsiders wouldn't get as far as these lot did.)

Obviously a complicated matter, with different statements making sense in different contexts at different times.

 

I don't follow the politics of boxing, and I certainly don't dwell on it. But I do believe that Lewis did everything he could to avoid King getting his hooks into him, and I also believe he paid a price (in terms of who he could fight, and when) for doing so.

But in terms of his career and his achievements, I just focus on what they are, not what they could have been.

The only fighter I've ever accused of ducking Lewis was Bowe, simply because they signed contract to fight the winner of the Ruddock - Lewis fight and reneged on that commitment.