Lennox Lewis - What Are Your Thoughts?

I'd like to see him vs. Usyk, it'd be interesting

 

Top 5 Heavyweight of all time for me easily based on his record and H2H ability.

 

One of the greatest heavyweights of all time,Fergy,without a doubt. And he's a Brit! A handful for anyone.

 

One of the greatest of all time. And good to see someone who knew when it was the right time to call it a day and then stuck to it. H2H has to also be one of the favourites of all time. A class act.

 

Sorry to be that guy but Lennox never did much for me. I am not arguing he wasn't a great fighter and I think Lennox had some bad luck as far as legacy making match ups. My three issues are:

1) Considering he was hyped as a master boxer and thinking man's fighter I always found him rather stiff and awkward post Ruddock. I mean for such a big guy he was athletic but his fights seem to be split between either him using his huge size to simply overwhelm weaker opposition like a giant wrecking ball or tediously prodding away with little enthusiasm against better opponents to squeeze out a bloodless points win. True he looked like Ali against Gary Mason, a man who makes a turning oil tanker look swift but then this was a guy who was out boxed by Frank Bruno for god's sake. His huge size and punch make him a problem for anyone, but feel there are many other heavies who P4P could outbox him.

2) He lacks a defining fight IMO. Yes it should have been against either Bowe or a less faded Tyson and you can't blame Lennox for these not happening. Otherwise we have a boring draw and win over Holyfield, fair enough a good win but he hardly made a big statement and a pointless win over a well faded Iron Mike that told us nothing. Yes his other wins over solid contenders and champs like Morrison, Tua and Grant and Briggs are all good and to a certain extent I place him along side Holmes as someone who is great more through consistently beating solid guys and being clearly the best without necessarily having a bunch of legacy defining victories. 90s Heavyweights was a deep division and you can argue Lennox probably has a better resume than Foreman or Frazier. But he doesn't have a George vs Frazier I or Frazier vs Ali I defining fight which is the difference between a legend and a great.

3) KO losses to McCall and Rahman. Look any great can have a bad day at the office. But I would argue that these two loses, that seem to be more to do with lack of focus on Lewis' part, drop he significantly down the all time rankings. I have Lennox at least below Holmes on the all time ranking as simply put when Lewis was nailed he got KO'd while when Larry faced similar life or death moments from Snipes and Shavers he got back up and won. Maybe a simplistic way of looking at it but whenever I compare careers these two loses of concentration on Lennox's part stick out like a sore thumb and put a big question mark over many potential H2Hs over other great heavies. Does anyone serious think Lennox could afford such lapses against Foreman, Liston, Marciano, Louis or Frazier? Also I never see Patterson getting any passes for being blasted twice by Liston, a far far better fighter than McCall and Rahman. Credit must be given that Lewis avenged his losses, although how satisfactory his win over McCall is considering his mental health is open to question.

Just my two cents and happy to be corrected on any erroneous conclusions!

 

I have him at #4 at heavy. He's considerably better than Bowe. Used his height and reach much better and I like that he could be mindful and wary and protective of himself at times but still took nearly everyone out.

 

Completely agree.

 

If he turned up now in the division he would quickly clean it up. Get rid of all the pretenders and fat boys, defend everything that was put in the ring with him, any loses avenged immediately, respectful to opponent's, fans and the sport. Take all the glory, belts and money, retire once he'd accomplished his goal, go and buy himself a nice home in the Cayman islands and take it easy.
Exactly what he did before.
He's up there with the best. Nobody comes close to him in this current era apart from maybe Usyk but he has a long way to go.

 

It's hard to know where to rate him due to those losses (both avenged so a definite top 10 for me). Not sure about top 5 though, perhaps, due to his successful title defences, he's difficult to place- above Holmes? Not sure, debatable that is, as mentioned, Larry got up from those two bombs, although peak Holmes would have been given time had he been hit by McCall (i.e. the Don King guy gets the break, again). I'd put him above Foreman, probably, due to being a more successful reign as champion. He would be very high on a h2h sense. In fact, if i had to choose a heavyweight at their best to fight any other champion in history (before or after) but have no knowledge who the other guy would be, I'd choose Lennox as that person.

 

I have him at #3 personally. And you could argue him higher H2H. Only real blemish was that he never rematched Vitali (who I'm confident would have beaten him) but once a fighter hits 38-39 in my opinion his losses stop becoming as important in a H2H sense. That's since nearly all fighters have been on the slip for a while at that age.