Which all time great Heayweight champs do McCall and Rahman kayo with one shot?

2 losses to the prime top contender, only one of which lewis ends up on the floor.

glass chin?

David Priceis the most widely recognised glass chin, theres just no comparison between his repeat losses to journeymen and nobodies, and lewis 2 losses to the top prime number 1 contender, one in which he was koed.
lewis does not have glass chin -but its not great, its just good, good enough to go all thosde other fights without being koed, and more importantly to win them..

 

Lewis vs rahman was a truly bad loss, but i do think Lewis smug overconfidence and not coming in the best shape was largely responsible.

Of Course if someone like Ali or Holmes had done the same, they would still not likely have been stopped by that punch, but it was really a truly avoidable loss and a rightful black mark on Lennox, as Rahman was a limited heavy.i can't see himpulling that off on any other elite heavy and likely was a 1 in 10 kind of thing against the big poof himself.

McCall though i always thought a heavy handed fighter.I expect he might surprise in who he would at least badly hurt if he were able to land the same combo on other notable heavies.Wlad would be in big trouble certainly....and Marciano, Dempsey might find it a tougher prospect to absorb punches like that than from Moore, Charles, Tunney etc

 

Lewis, by being koed by single punches twice, gets knocked down several pegs all time. Many hwt champions went into bouts not in the greatest condition but few suffered KO losses because of it.

 

I don't disagree.Not sure anybody would.

 

I agree that the McCall loss is significantly less damaging than the Rahman loss, for the reason you have listed, combined with Lewis's comparative inexperience.

The Rahman loss is a problem however.

I would not go as far as to say that Lewis had a glass chin, but I think that when comparing him to the highly elite club of all time great heavyweights, it can't simply be overlooked.

 

That's true.

Although I think the "controversy" of the stoppage was overblown (especially mmediately by the AMERICAN TV commentators, rather than the Brits, ironically), and the referee was very possibly 100% correct under the circumstances (ie. Lewis falling into him, legs gone), it certainly doesn't qualify properly as a "one punch kayo".

 

1. "Journeyman" isn't a put down, as I've explained elsewhere. It's not my fault people misuse the term.

2. "Bums" would be wrong generally and yeah I probably do so in combative mood or jest, although I will say .... I've seen Rahman woefully under-trained and out of shape on many occasion ... and McCall was a confirmed crack smoker who has been in and out of courts and jails for drugs offences and for fighting with police officers.*
(*Personally, as a human being and with liberal views on drugs, I'd give him a pass for that, and wouldn't judge him as a man for his drug addiction or whatever circumstances lie behind it, but judged as a "professional athlete" and a "heavyweight contender" it's going to earn him the label of "bum" now and then in ordinary boxing conversation.)

3. Dempsey's opposition was questionable, certainly. Journeymen, has-beens, his fair share of "bums" too.
I'd point out that Gene Tunney, the man who took his title, was at least a level above journeyman, even for me.

 

Rahman wasn't #1 contender, he was barely top-10 (after brutal KO loss to Maskaev he beat Sanders and returned to the rankings.

Lewis picked an opponent between Rahman and Izon (who thought to be slightly better opponent at that time with impressive KO wins over Savarese, Jefferson, and Darrol Wilson).

 

Incidentally, Lewis never credited either McCall or Rahman with being much good at all.

 

To be fair, I think his retirement press conference was classy, and he thanked Mercer, Holyfield (and someone else, can't remember) for "bringing out the best in me".