Early 1994 id say. Holyfield had beaten Bowe, Lewis had yet to walk in to Mccall s right hand. I know it took years for the two to fight but at least they got there, the fights that could have happened in the 90 s but didn't is quite long. Tyson v Foreman Foreman v Lewis Bowe v Lewis Bowe v Tyson. Mercer V Tyson Mercer V Foreman Moorer v Tyson Bowe v Mercer Morrison v Tyson Morrison v Moorer. Holyfield v Morrison.
I think you can make a case for a duck if you avoid one guy who should give you a tough fight to fight another opponent who is easier to beat. Lewis fought Vitali. Stopped Vitali in six. And then Lewis didn't fight anyone else. He retired. That's not a duck. That's retiring on top. (LOL) And he's never fought again against anyone.
Lennox Lewis ducked one of the worst heavyweight champs in history ,,,Ruiz? yeah , probably terrified of him
And I didn't say that. Are you just trying to argue? Lewis retired. Lewis didn't fight anyone after Vitali. He didn't pick some soft touch. He didn't engage in wrestling matches, old-timer fights, he didn't begin training years down the road to see "if he still had it." He didn't sit at ringside and call out other fighters. He retired. He was done. He didn't want to fight ANYONE else. And he's been called out by tons of people over the last 20 years. That is not a duck. He retired. Christ. IS that clear enough? Does everyone have to be a freaking ******* all the time?
Ruiz wasn't even a Titlist at that point. He was just the guy, who had been sparked out in a round by Tua. It wasn't anything like a duck.
Holyfield was busy with the first two Bowe fights then lost to Moorer. Meanwhile Lewis got poleaxed by McCall. Then Holyfield opted for a third Bowe fight since the series was tied and he probably could make much more $ for that then fighting a recently disgraced Lewis. Then Holyfield lost and was thought done. Then Tyson had regained a portion of the title and DK decided the time was ripe to make huge $ staging Tyson/Holyfield which was a matchup the fans had long wanted. That backfired and they had a rematch. I guess Holyfield and Lewis could have fought in 97-98 at least after Lewis avenged the McCall loss but not earlier.
Put it this way, at the time Lennox Lewis was obligated to defend his WBA title against John Ruiz in 2000 it was fresh of his win over Evander Holyfield which was his best win to date. He opted for Micheal Grant who objectively speaking, was a lesser fighter than John Ruiz. Ruiz on the other hand was able to replicate Lewis's success by going officially 1-1-1 with Holyfield immediately after Lewis went 0-1-1 with Holyfield. He even knocked down Holyfield in the rematch, something Lewis failed to do. Then he went on to beat Lewis conquerer Hasim Rahman 2 after Lewis got revenge. Lewis legitimately ducked John Ruiz and Chris Byrd preferring to give away his belts rather than defend them. But because the perception was that Lewis was likely to beat them anyway, he gets a pass, even though his own conquerors were the most unlikeliest of candidates. He did the same to Mercer. I personally think he would have edged Mercer in a rematch but the point is that Lewis seems to get a pass for the duck anyway. I believe he shoulders a good part of the blame for the Bowe fight not taking place in 1993, or the Tyson fight not taking place in 1996 (though Seth Abraham technically had a hand in that). Maybe I'm overstretching, maybe I'm not. All I know is that to claim that Lewis never ducked anyone (legitimate ranked contender) is simply not true.