How many prime fighters has Lennox lewis beaten?

Yes fair.

We can see how well he fought as he took numerous bombs from Lewis who we know is one of the best punchers in heavyweight history. It's speculation that he would have went better at 225 or so as he may have been muscled around enough for it to be a disadvantage.

He said in the Best i Faced when asked about the strongest - Lewis: We were coming in and bumping into each other. He wasn’t budging and I wasn’t budging. He’s got some slick moves, he’s a big man, everything he did was slick and strong. He was definitely the strongest.

As he said neither was budging. Losing those extra pounds may well have seen him budging and being put into perilous positions.

He also said, interestingly - “Lennox Lewis was a bigger fight to me. Evander Holyfield was a great fighter, but Lewis was a real heavyweight."

 

I know many people here find the term too disrespectful or offensive so I am aware to use it partly in jest.

But if you are genuinely looking for an answer, I don't necessarily equate it to ranking.
It is interesting that you mention ranking though, but largely ignore ranking in Mercer's case. (not that ranking makes up the bulk of my argument on Mercer)

Lionel Butler, Justin Fortune, Phil Jackson, Mike Dixon, Zeljko Mavrovic, Glenn McCrory, Tommy Morrison, Shannon Briggs, Fran Botha, Derek Williams were also among his wins .... and lesser ones than that too ...

To be honest, I don't think forum faves such as Frank Bruno, Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall were much better than pedestrian, and two of them actually managed wins against Lewis.

Yes, and I've said so about such fistic gods as Muhammad Ali even (and least in regards to some of his challengers), but this thread is about the opponents of Lennox Lewis.

The OP seemed a bit surprised by the fact that under scrutiny Lewis's record is scattered with has-beens, names past their best. Probably because Lewis's record (or 'resume') has recently become a bit overrated.

You, of course, will disagree. I don't expect you to concede anything at all in regards to Lewis, least of all in discussion with me.

I agree, Holyfield beat a very respectable version of Dokes.
Dokes was active and sharp and on a winning streak.
And 30 years old, which isn't ancient.
And it was one of Dokes's best performances.
BUT I wouldn't claim it as "prime" Dokes.

He learned enough to lose to Ferguson the following year, scrape past him in the rematch, and draw with Wilson the year after?
I am not dismissing what Mercer said but you have to ignore a hell of a lot to simply believe "Mercer was prime" "at his best" against Lewis. You have to throw a lot of general principles and normal standards out of the window to arrive at that conclusion.
Or you just believe what you want to believe, that fits the narrative.

Witherspoon was prime around 1983-'86. He fought Mercer about exactly 10 years after being knocked out in 1 by Smith.

Sure, he was decent in 1996. But past his best. He did about as well (depending on opinion, but roughly) as a prime Lewis did against Mercer.
But Witherspoon in his prime isn't even rated (by you and most others, even by myself) as better than Lewis.
So .... Maybe Lewis underperformed and Mercer wasn't as good as people think he was?

 

Yes, he might have been aided in terms of the bulk, but it did seem to leave him breathing heavily and tiring at times.
But it's a matter of pros and cons, he might have got it right. What do I know.
The point is, he was limited by his size and style, if that's the case. One way or another.

He's not better than the version who lost to Holmes, even if he was right to come in heavy for Lewis. Holmes would have had a field day with him 10 pounds heavier too. And the idea that he didn't have a jab for Holmes (as some have stated) is funny because he sent Holmes flying with a jab in the first round of their fight.

Mercer was pretty good heavyweight. But nowhere near what people are saying.

 

Pretty much all of them were in their prime except for Tyson and Holyfield, although Holy was still an elite fighter. He has a lot of depth to his resume.

 

Read it again .. my questions were completely relevant including your praise of there Ring''s ratings and my response on their 1970's involvement in the US Boxing Tournament scam .. I think Mercer was a far more dabgereour fighter than you do. I feel he is more accomplished . I do not feel he wears a gatekeeper and you do .. what else is there?

 

Mercer was 35 and on the decline and was coming off a loss to Holyfield. He was definitely not in his prime.

 

Lewis had all the skills necessary to give anyone problems - great right-hand great jab. Good ring IQ.
Usually was in shape.
BUT the problem is his chin. He got cold clocked twice and it was by basically one punch.
I could see him out boxing say a Joe Louis pretty easily........but I could also see Louis coming out and knocking Lewis into next week.
Take Holmes. I KNOW he has a cast iron chin. And a huge heart. I've seen him get off the canvas and win.
And against pretty good punchers.
I've never seen Lewis get off the canvas because once he's there he doesn't win he gets stopped.

 

I used to rate Lewis top 10 all time, but after reading through this thread I've dropped him down to top 20 based on level,of competition.

 

Given his solid performance he must have got it awfully close to right. I'd expect him to be breathing heavily and tiring at times as the bout was a slugfest and he was fighting a 247 pound ATG - it wouldn't have mattered what he weighed. Lewis won the majority of the back end and was just too good in the long haul as he ground him down. If you look at the Holmes fight he started to fade pretty early in that one too and sucked in the big ones at various points. Holmes spent large periods on the ropes and Mercer struggled to get around it quite a bit. I'm not sure how Merciless was limited by his size or style.

He may have been as good or better than the version who fought Holmes how would one know. He was in the middle of a three fight patch that featured some of his best form as a fighter. Perhaps he was a fraction lesser, again who would know. As i said it's not like he'd had 45 bouts or had been boxing for a dozen years or a wreck from too much punishment. Holmes took him to school so perhaps he learned a few lessons as he stated he did per the jab?

Regarding the jab the below is what Mercer himself noted. Citing him hitting Holmes with a single jab in their fight doesn't begin to show the full picture. No-one is saying he couldn't physically throw a jab, they are saying it got noticeably better which is certainly fair. Take particular notice that he is speaking of Holmes use and utilization of the jab, not how to throw it. The sheer versatility if you like -

BEST JAB
Larry Holmes: I learned how to throw my jab off Larry. He had one of the best jabs in the world, ever. I’ve got to give that to him; his jab was awesome. He used the jab for a lot of things: to hurt you, set up the right hand, he used it well.

 

Some knowledgeable posters in this one thats for sure .. Your post is the best tho .. not saying I agree with it ... lol
I dont know these heavies this well

 

Yeah i won't bang on about the term i just find you find the level of bum and mediocre different to what others would.

Regarding Mercer's ranking i don't ignore it so much as put it into perspective. Mercer was ranked #6 right after his run against Holyfield/Lewis/Witherspoon so whether he was top 10 or not when he fought these guys he was putting on top 10 performances and hence his revised ranking. He didn't lose again for 6 years even if it was filler.

Morrison and Briggs are better than a lot of filler other heavyweights had. I don't rate Morrison to be as utterly hopeless as you do. He lost just 3 fights in his lifetime and was a massive puncher. He was a contender for a time even if he is thin on good wins.
The Foreman win was actually quite an impressive effort. Briggs got as high as #5 and again mediocre wouldn't be my description. He was getting title shots more than a decade later. Let it be said Lewis collected the lineal title in this one so there was every reason to saddle up. I was interested to see where Mavrovic's career would have gone (if not forced to retire) after Lewis as he showed a stupendous chin in that one. He may have had one of the great chins if he'd boxed on. Lewis was actually forced by the WBC to defend against Mavrovic. The Lewis camp didn't actually want the fight.

The OP has not shown surprise at Lewis's record for mine. He'd been calling it hollow and making anti Lewis threads not long prior. In his second post he claimed Lewis was scared of Bowe. In his third post he said Lewis' resume is overrated as a statement.

He started a thread the other day (before this one) saying -

"Briggs was cheated in March Badness...

Watch the first round... Briggs rocks lennox Lewis and they ring the bell 5 seconds earlier to save lewis

In round five Shannon Briggs fell over from the momentum of his own punch and the fight gets called off

More proof of how hollow lennox Lewis career was"

Really, what more need be said

Surely not even your good self could get on board with that hater rot!

If you said to me i believe Dokes fought near as well as he did at his best and possibly better than in some prime outings i wouldn't debate it at all. Of course Dokes is a very different case to a Mercer for instance. Dokes had a lot more fights, a hiding and lost years to a drug stupor. Having said all that he did his best to turn back the clock and was in good form against The Commander. I think it sows Dokes could have been a very good heavyweight if dedicated and professional to the level of a Holmes for instance.

Hey these things take time

It's been touched upon Mercer was a hot and cold fighter and he didn't exactly turn up all the time. Safe to say he turned up against Vander/Lewis/Witherspoon. He fought well.

To be open and honest you said more than a decade not a decade. This takes him at the very least to Tubbs and Bruno and i know beyond dispute you rate the Tubbs version of Tim quite highly. He was past his best absolutely yet he was still good enough to be rated the #5 best heavyweight in the world 2 years later in 88.

And while sussing that i have just noticed that Mercer reached a career high ranking of #4 in the world a full 2 years after fighting Lewis.

Lewis may have underperformed, Mercer may have overperformed. Perhaps Mercer is a little better than you think he is too so there's that. Perhaps it was a styles thing. At the end of the day all the greats had surprising struggles against opposition they really weren't expected too. History is absolutely littered with them. One could say that's boxing.

 

That's funny because I don't think any heavyweight with the possible exclusion of Holyfield fought anywhere near as good a level of opposition .. mind mentioning there ten heavyweight champs that fought better opposition ?

 

I think you have to take this thread with a pinch of salt considering theres only 3 people giving a reasoniable assessment.

All the others are trolls. two of which are the same person. Lennox is top ATG 10 HW easily and a valid top 5 for others.

In reality if you put any resumes under scrutiny you can pull them apart fairly easily.

 

Just off the top of my head....and comparing ONLY to the time a particular guy fought in:

Jeffries
Dempsey
Baer
Louis
Walcott
Marciano
Liston
Ali
Frazier
Foreman
Axel Schultz (ok, just kidding)
Holmes
Holyfield
Tyson (Mike)
Wlad Klit

 

Yes indeed. I said Holyfield was a 90's guy because he didn't join the heavyweight ranks until mid 1988. He did fight every year in the 90's though, and was a champion throughout beating Buster in 1990 and losing to Lewis in 1999. That's 10 years of championship quality opposition. After all he's still considered the heavyweight of the 90's, is he not?

Damiani was undefeated but lost to Mercer in 1991, so technically he was an 80's heavyweight whose career bled into the 90's and faded into bolivian shortly after. He became known for devouring pastries and racing against Dusty Rhodes to the front of the line at the all you can eat buffet smorgasborg.

A certain style troubled Ray Mercer. Heck, Mercer and Old Foreman were easier than Kim Kardashian at an NBA All Star game.