Is Mike Tyson greater than Lennox Lewis on the all time greatest heavyweight ranking?

Thats interesting, since you seem to rate Ali, Louis and LL differently to the likes of Larry Holmes.

 

Lewis had more title defences and fought more dangerous fighters too imho. He pulled the early knockout trick at least three to four times against better opposition as well in Ruddock, Golota, Grant and Botha.
Tyson did: Berbick, Tubbs, Spinks and Williams in case of upgraded opposition.
Tyson was more dominant and you had to beat the hell out of him before he lost, since Louis got instantly clipped twice, with one time happening out of pure stupidity and arrogance.
In therms of pure results, LL is ahead for me. In therm of how things happened, I would rank Tyson above him.

 

I'm with the intelligent crew that rates Lewis around 3 or 4 and Tyson around 7-9.

 

Nice one Fergy. Always enjoy your posts and opinions. Personally I rank Tyson above Lewis, around 6. I’ve never seen someone clear out an entire division in such ruthless fashion. Lewis at 9/10. Really not much between them though.

But I have a prime Tyson getting to any version of Lewis inside 8. In fact I think prime, focused Tyson is one of, if not the toughest opponent for any prime HW in history.

 

Lennox Lewis was second only to Ali He beat every man he faced in the pro ring. Only lack of focus cost him an unbeaten record

 

That might be true, in whatever way you want to include that into your resume ranking. Someone might argue, Tucker could rarely show it. They should have let him step up after the Young fight in 09/84 and get him better opposition from then on. By mischance, he lost 15 months via knee injury prior. After losing to Tyson, he was never the trimmed fighter known before.

However, Lewis fought a variety of punchers, jabbers, tall SHWs etc. Add them together, its the amount that puts him above Tyson imho.

 

You have Foreman at 3? I always rated him on his first career. I don't give him anymore credit in his second. He had 3 chances at the title, and he fought a weak chinned smaller guy in Moorer. Lost to Morrison.

 

Why do people continue to rate Shannon Briggs as a top win for Lewis? I do not understand. WTF has Briggs done but draw with Botha and land one shot with 10 seconds left against Liakhovic?

Oh yeah, he beat that 47 year old super hero, rather unconvincingly.

 

I would say no because Tyson went off the rails after peaking very early.

However, I am fairly certain that prime Tyson would KO prime Lewis head to head.

 

I agree. Prior to fighting Lewis, Briggs two biggest fights were the KO loss to Darroll Wilson, which exposed Briggs as an all offense no defense front runner, and the bad decision against an ancient Foreman where he tried to replicate Tommy Morison's strategy but only succeeded in showing he was a worse boxer than Morrison.

Because he "beat" Foreman and Foreman had never lost his title in the ring, observers were claiming Briggs as the linear champion, without analyzing the context of such a claim.

 

Lewis was 35 when Rahman upset him. He was still the best Heavyweight in the world but past his physical peak in my view.
The McCall stoppage was a bad loss no question and in Lewis's physical prime (but not his fighting prime, he improved considerably under Manny Stewards guidance) so that's a definate mark against him.

But Tyson also got hammered in his physical prime by Douglas and unlike Lewis he never manned up and avenged this (or any other) loss. Lewis beat Golota and Ruddock far more emphatically than Tyson could, beat Holyfield when Tyson couldn't, reigned for longer, fought at the top level for longer, beat better opposition and obliterated Tyson when they eventually met (admittedly Tyson was completely shot by then but Lewis was near the finish himself).

A h2h p4p matchup betwwen the two would be an awesome fight and a real pick'em for me but if we are talking who had the better career and title reign then it's Lewis all the way for me.

 

Right on both counts !

Your incisive and insightful judgment on matters pugilistic is matched only by your biting wit and tolerant forbearance of certain fools who occasionally post here,