How many prime fighters has Lennox lewis beaten?

Your boxing knowledge is less than 0/.

Please seek help before posting more nonsense.

Wilder would get battered by at least 30 Heavyweights just off the top of my head. He has no skill and coudn't beat an out of shape Fury.

That he cherrypicked because he thought Fury would be an easy nights work.

 

I was just about post the same thing and was just checking to see if anyone had clocked it.

 

Oh yeah i recognized the way he typed and formed his paragraphs immediately

 

On Ray Mercer, he was coming off a 13 month lay off, a loss to Holyfield before that, a draw with Marion Wilson, was no longer regarded as genuine top 10 fighter, was 35 years old and 238 pounds (he competed at 201 as a 27 year old amateur in 1988).

These are facts. The type of facts that some of you guys would be quick to hold up against other fighters. I'm sure if Lewis had KO'd him in 5 rounds the facts would be conceded, the win would be seen as less. Ironically Lewis seems to boost Mercer by struggling with him.

Mercer's next fight he fought similarly on even terms with Tim Witherspoon, who was a few days shy of his 39th birthday, and over a decade past his prime.

I think there's a good argument to say the Holyfield, Lewis and Witherspoon fights were a mini resurgence for Mercer and he boxed quite smart.
But let's be honest, he was a gatekeeper type by then, and had been exposed years earlier by old Holmes and even Jesse Ferguson.
1995 Holyfield was already past his best, 1996 Witherspoon way past his.
Lewis was prime.
The likelihood that Mercer perhaps represents one of Lewis's best "PRIME OPPONENT" wins is an indictment against Lewis's overall quality of opposition.

That's how I see it. Which isn't a lot different from how people seemed to see things at the time.

 

You can slag off pretty much anyone's record if you go 100% all out for negativity tho. There's always a crack, always an angle and you can even twist around "facts" to achieve your heavily desired predetermined outcome.

 

Oh, I get it, now! Thanks for clarifying! I shouldn't be worried about a fighter's performance in the ring, I should be assesing their ability based off your whims! That makes so much more sense! Silly me, I thought I should base my opinions on facts instead of your bias, but now I see how wrong I was. Thanks for clarifying.

Now that we have established your whims are the basis for quality, could you identify for us which of Sanders' fights were him at his best and him at his worst?

 

Look, Mercer was often a poorly trained, unmotivated under achiever .. when he fought Lewis he was in his mid thirties but did not have wear and tear, almost never took any form of beating or was rarely hurt .. he was a physical monster .. He was highly motivated for the Lewis fight, a big time televised show at MSG, and gave one of his most inspired performances .. I've watched it many times and while it was a close , tough fight and a very good performance by both guys I always see Lewis winning fairly cleanly .. to me it was a big win for Lennox against a highly motivated , dangerous guy with big time power and a granite chin ..

 

I wouldn't say Mercer was exposed post Holmes as anything but a guy that lacked focus and consistency .. he had just crushed Morrison and took the fight against a 42 year old Holmes for granted and he was outboxed. He did only have seventeen or eighteen fights at the time .. still, Ray was a pretty fresh guy as he did not fight that often , rarely took punishment and like McCall had an all time great chin .. he was still quite dangerous if and when motivated ..

 

But that's not what I've done here, is it?
I point out that Ray Mercer possibly wasn't exactly in his prime. Some others say something like "no, I think it was him at his best ever, better than any other night of his career ...", and I explain why it you could equaly say it probably wasn't. Judging that win on Lewis's resume under the normal criteria standards applied in thousands of debates about hundreds of other fights on this very board, no one cay say I've taken a "100% all out for negativity" line.
In fact, i'm fairly sure you would use, and have used, similar evidence for discussions on other fighters.

 

He lost to Holmes.
Probably (almost certainly) never beat anyone as good as even an old Holmes.
Never beat anyone much good after Holmes (except 39 year old Witherspoon, which was debatable).
His best win is 1991 against Damiani.

As for motivation, I'd say the most motivation he ever had was probably the Jesse Ferguson rematch, which looked like a very close fight again to me.

He was a gatekeeper.

 

I don't think Mercer won the Lewis fight.
He didn't win the Holyfield fight either.
His "win" over old Witherspoon was probably closer or more debatable than either of those losses.

 

He was an olympic gold metal winner who defeated previously undefeated Damiani in a come from behind one punch stoppage, beat a focused Bert Cooper, crushed an undefeated Tommy Morrison, avenged his defeat against Fergurson, fought a very competitive fight against a razor sharp Holyfield in one of Evander's last prime performances, fought a terrific battle against an exceptional Lewis and defeated an old but focused and motivated Witherspoon .. other than a cracked rib vs Holyfield he was never staggered or hurt till he was over 41 against Klitschko .. hardly a gatekeeper.

 

He even described himself as a gatekeeper.

 

Great because even if it can be traced to a specific statement why bother with context or contradictions ..

 

What's your point?
Mercer wasn't even ranked as top 10 when Lewis fought him. He was coming off a loss and a draw before that. Holyfield was considered past his best and had used him as a comeback opponent after that dreadful Moorer fight, and the retirement due to 'heart condition'.

A tough trial horse type opponent at that stage. Bruno's people had even tried to get Mercer for a non-title fight, and they were very cautious. The fight in Hong Kong fell through due to finances.

Mercer simply wasn't rated as highly as some of you are implying, not after Holmes fight, certainly not in 1995 or going into the Lewis fight. He was tough test, a gatekeeper.