Lewis V Rahman 2.

Lewis was always monstrously ready for rematches.
Lewis did not have many rematches, unlike Ali who had a record of 11:0 in rematches (Norton 3 is a controversial rematch).
Only 3 rematches.
Oliver McCall - you know how it ended.
Evander Holyfield - if there was a good evaluation in the first fight, the question is whether the rematch would have happened.
Hasim Rahman - nothing was controversial in the first fight; Lewis simply showed how ready he is for the rematch.
The Rahman 2 fight is the most representative example of Lewis in rematches.

 

That’s a long stretch of the bow when the opponent is Hasim Rahman.

 

I consider 1997-02 Lewis’ prime, in spite of his age. Are you arguing he was past it at this point?

 

He did markedly worse in his rematch with Holyfield. I wouldn’t even count McCall as worth anything - not Lewis’ fault there but how much credit really are you going to give him? & the last opponent is Rahman. I’m not sold.

 

Are you defining great as top 5 all-time Heavy?

 

I agree he won it but it was far, far less convincing than their first fight.

 

Lewis did not perform worse in the rematch with Holyfield, but Holyfield performed better compared to the first fight.
This confusion was created by the judges, because it is more realistic that Holyfield Vs. Lewis is a draw (but, realistically, Lewis won that fight too), and the first fight was won by Lewis.
And what will you do when boxing is first of all a business, and only then a sport. If that was the case, there might not have been a rematch.

As you say - it's not Lewis's fault.
I just think Lewis would win at least 10 rounds; I don't expect him to knock McCall out.
I don't give Lewis credit for anything in this fight, but again - it's not Lewis' fault.

Why? Rahman spectacularly knocked out a semi-prepared Lewis in round 5. Lewis spectacularly knocked out Rahman one round earlier.

 

Because Rahman was always a nobody. It’s an embarrassing loss for Lewis. It cemented he was not only chinny, but lacked heart.

Lewis is a top 10-12 all-time Heavyweight for mine but him looking impressive beating up Rahman does not convince me he could hang with the elites.