Lennox Lewis, Chris Byrd and the IBF

Basically Chris Byrd and John Ruiz as well as Wladdy Klit were not thought of as real world champions. The reasons for this were Chris's ko loss to Ike, getting dominated by Wlad. Wlad getting koed by everyone and their moms and Johnny Ruiz's two performances vs Holy where he should have gotten an L on his record instead of a D or a W, can't remember if their first fight should have been a D or a W for Ruiz, also his hugging style made his somewhat of a joke.

So there was no real demand for LL to fight any of these three gentlemen, not among the public and neither among real boxing fans.

The fight that Lewis missed out on the most might have been a Valuev fight, other than that he pretty much cleaned up the division.

 

No. He totally pulled that out of his ass.

 

Lmao, Lewis fought complete bums instead of those guys. Wlad only got stopped once more than Lewis, until he was over forty. Lewis beat a Holyfield that had a .500 record or worse against all his top challengers who weren't shot. He beat a shot for years Tyson.

 

There was demand for a Vitali rematch. A Tyson rematch was also in talks. There was a brief window when Wlad looked like a good opponent before Sanders pantsed him. Byrd and Ruiz were afterthoughts.

 

I do not acknowledge the IBFs belt split here. There was no logical reason for it and therefore as far as I'm concerned it didn't happen.

 

Youd have to be pretty silly or misinformed to believe that there was any demand for a LL vs Ruiz, Wlad or Byrd fight but if you young fellows want to rewrite history then be my guest.

LL cleaned out the division, that's just something that you pupps are going to have to learn to live with.

 

What are you smoking dude? Valuev? Seriously? A guy that got schooled by fat shot 5'9" cruiserweight Marcelo Dominguez?

Wlad was rated very, very highly. In fact he was considered #2 heavyweight from October 2000 till March 2003 when he was upset by Sanders. There were a lot of talks in boxing industry about him fighting Lewis.

Byrd? He has very good resume beating Vitali, in-shape Tua and Holyfield. All three were among Lennox very best wins ever. Certainly better than Grant, Botha, Rahman and shot to sh1t Tyson whom he fought in that period. There was no demand for Lewis vs Byrd but only because Byrd was dominated by Wlad, wasn't marketable and was feather-fisted, not because he wasn't good.

Ruiz was also very unmarketable with his horrendous style but he was clearly better than scrubs like Grant and Botha, better than Rahman whom he beat pretty easily, and better than shot Tyson. Also, you are saying Holyfield won the second fight. Have you ever seen it? Third fight - yes, but not second. It was clear cut victory for Ruiz with knockdown.

Overall you either know nothing about boxing or are smoking something very hard

 

Lewis wouldnt have been able to get up for byrd and more then likely woulda been embarrassed by byrd at the time.

 

Lewis vs Wlad was popular idea in 2001, that's why the two met in Ocean's 11 right before Lennox was KTFO'd surprisingly by Rahman.

Also, how do you bring Valuev who was just circus freak and no one was interested in watching Lewis destroying that clumsy giant.

 

It's quite sad to read something like this, so basically you agree with me that there was no demand for two of these three fights and yet you feel the need to hurl insults to prove your machismo, have a really good day.

 

I mean sure, Ivan Drago(Wladdy) vs the champ could have sold to casuals or the masses but hardcore boxing fans were not calling for the fight. Most hardcore boxing fans were acctually dismissing the possibility that Vitali I vs Lewis would be a good fight to watch, I knew better and expected a good fight even though I rightfully expected a LL win.

But Valuev, acctually this would have been a nice fight to watch, maybe LL would just have rolled over the fellow but it would still have been interesting to see. But yes he was just starting out back then so my bad.

 

So bottom line. If all the names that anyone can come up with are Wladdy, Byrd or Ruiz then it can't be disputed that LL basically cleaned out the division before retiring at a respectable age. Something that no other heavyweight before or after has managed to do.