Who had a better career, Lennox Lewis or Evander Holyfield?

Lewis, but if Holyfield retired at the right time he’d have a better case overall. Lewis would still always pass him at heavyweight though.

 

Is this a trick question? Lennox and it's not close

 

‘Better’ career resume wise? Lewis.

More IMPRESSIVE career… Holyfield

Beat a closer to Prime Tyson twice. Beat a top three early/mid 90’s HW in Bowe. Who at one point was every bit as good as Lewis ever was. Fought through a serious health complication to regain the title. Gave Lewis himself all he could handle in their rematch. At age 37. Whooped Rahman at 40 years old.

Among many other wins. IDK… I just think his career was a little more impressive than Lewis.

 

Do

Would you consider him Canada’s greatest ever boxer, taking into consideration George Dixon, Sam Langford, Tommy Burns?

 

No it has to be Langford. He was a wild man when the Black men were supposed to be yes men. Lennox #2

 

Lets put some respect on Lennox's name and not compare his achievements to others who have no business being in the same sentence.

 

Lewis had the better heavyweight career by some margin, Holyfield the better p4p. Had Holyfield retired after the Ruiz trilogy it would have been closer.

 

Thread is about better CAREER not better boxer.

Holyfield, hands down. Lineal CW and HW champ, defeated more good boxers in total:

Qawi
Tillis
Thomas
Dokes.
Douglas
Foreman
Cooper
Holmes
Bowe
Mercer
Tyson
Moorer

Lewis beat
Briggs
Mercer
Morrison
Tucker
Ruddock
Bruno
Weaver

And of course KO'd very badly twice. Holy was KO'd once in his prime (Bowe) and once when he was ancient.

 

High praise, indeed, coming in second. Langford was some performer evidently, outstanding in every department.
Previously George Dixon, the first black World champion, also was expected to toe the line.
Rising above the prejudice he achieved legendary status among ring historians.

 

p4p Holyfield is greater.. yes Lewis beat him but he was 37 , had fought just once in 2 years and had been there and done it so many times.. Evander was roided to the gills but he is of the greatest heavyweights ever undoubtedly.. His career is almost unmatched... Lewis got a fading version.. he went 1-1-1 with Ruiz ffs & had already had all those Tyson, Bowe, Foreman, Moorer etc wars... by the way their second fight was close there wasn't much in it so I can imagine a younger Holyfield beating him.. Lewis was a great fighter but he beat a lot of other great heavyweights at the fading end of their careers & let's be honest he probably should have lost to Mercer as well

 

I picked Lewis too, see my post before yours.
But your perspective is highly biased here.

When what you write down is all the bad things, & nothing positive, you have a wholly inaccurate view of anyone. Especially when someone was champion & had many great fights & victories over World Class boxers.

Hell if you just wrote down the losses of Ezzard Charles & Sam Langford, they would look terrible indeed.
Instead of top ATGs, nearly the best ever (& candidates for GOAT, at least during their times) at their actual weights.
But physical decline & specific ailments including going blind & ALS had them lose MANY fights post prime.

Holyfield was easily a great fighter.

 

Could Holyfield have made HW had it not been for the drugs? Granted most pros were/are juicing but he really re-shaped his whole body structure when he hopped on the gear. He didn't look remotely like a HW in his earlier years.

Guys like Lewis and Tyson despite being on opposite ends of the height scale were both naturally over 200 lbs before they turned pro.

 

How can you put Quick Tillis and Bert Cooper under Holyfield and under Lennox Lewis, you left off:

Vital Klitschko
Mike Tyson
Evander Holyfield
Andrew Golota
Hasim Rahman
Henry Akinwande
David Tua

In addition to:
Ruddock
Mercer
Morrison
Bruno
Briggs and
Tucker

How does Quick Tillis get a mention as one of the better fighters Holyfield beat but Vitali, Tyson and Holyfield himself don't for Lewis?

No wonder you're mistaken.

You also left off Olympic Gold Medal win over Bowe ... successfully defending his title nearly twice as many times as Evander ... beating Evander... and retiring on top as World Champion ... not getting koed by middleweights and getting his license revoked and embarrassing himself at age 59 by getting blown out in seconds.

Lennox's career was miles better than Holyfield's.

 

If you going to say Lewis should've lost to Mercer, then Holyfield should've lost ALL THREE to Bowe.

Bowe beat him up in fights one and three. And in the only fight Evander won, via controversial decision, Bowe threw and landed a 100 more punches than Holyfield did.

The punches thrown and landed were RIDICULOUSLY one-sided in Bowe's favor.

I never saw a defending heavyweight champion outland a challenger by 100 punches and lose a decision before that ... and I never saw it happen ever again, either.

What's Evander's resume look like with NO wins over Bowe?

And which great heavyweights in their primes did Holyfield beat again? 42-year-old Foreman. 42-year-old Holmes. Tyson after prison. Were Pinklon Thomas and Dokes in their primes? He didn't even fight Qawi in Qawi's prime. Qawi's prime was at light heavyweight.

Just the Bowe rematch, which you could argue Evander didn't deserve the win in.

Lewis fought Morrison when Tommy was 26. He fought Shannon Briggs when Briggs was 26. He fought David Tua when Tua was 28. He fought Razor Ruddock when Ruddock was 28. He fought Hasim Rahman when Rahman was 28. He fought Andrew Golota when Golota was 29. He fought Vitali when Vitali was 31.

Lewis wasn't beating a lot of old guys at the ends of their careers.

Hell, he didn't even fight Evander at the end of Evander's. Holyfield fought for another 12 years in boxing after he lost to Lewis.

 

Lennox.

Holyfield’s career is littered with losses and allegations of steroids.