Lennox Lewis is great but

You can't answer simple questions, can you? There are a few people here who blame Lennox for the lack of this or that opponent, but I don't. I don't know who's responsible for this happening... I only know what happened... I know that the best fighter Bowe fought was a 30-year-old prime Holyfield, and Riddick won in stunning fashion, and then he did the same to a 33-year-old Evandere. I know that the best opponent Lewis beat was a 37-year-old, past-prime Holy, and Lennox won in mediocre fashion. Hell, Bowe's worst defeat as a prime was a brilliant, close fight against Holy in 1993. And Lennox's defeat? Exactly... quoting a record from Wikipedia is ridiculous. I've been saying for a long time that Lewis's resume is fantastic, much better than he actually was. So instead of citing his great performances, someone pastes Wikipedia: Mavrović, McCall, Briggs-Mercer, Klitschko, Bruno, Akinwande.... damn, where's a fight like Norton-Holmes, where's a victory like Frazier-Ali? Where's dominance like Liston-Patterson or Foreman-Frazier? With the starter Golota getting a million dollars in compensation for a lidocaine injection? Lewis's fans are revisionists who appreciated him 20 years after his career ended because they simply weren't following it.

 

Sensible course of action.

 

Technically he is British but he continued to be hugely popular here in Canada. He disappointed me a little. A little bit lazy to my mind, he didn't seem to make full use of his tools. Of course he deserved the first fight against Holyfield, one of the worst decisions I have witnessed. Almost as bad was the wide UD in the second, that one was very close, draw would have been ok, but nod to holyfield if you are forced to pick a winner. The one exception that stands out was the fight against Tyson, he went right after him with all guns a-blazing, would like to have seen more of that from him, especially against Holyfield

 

Bowe went life and death with Golota, dropped several rounds to Tubbs and struggled with Biggs who Lewis ran through that same year. Prime Lewis would have beaten Bowe h2h. Better at range, can hold his own in the pocket, better defense, superior ring iq, more tools, more power.

 

It doesn't always work that way. Ali had colossal problems with Frazier and Norton, what did Foreman do to them? And what did Ali do to Foreman?

Lennox's best opponent and greatest success was the past-prime Holy, and Lennox won the most important fight of his career in weak fashion. Probably weaker than Moorer in 1994, but I won't argue. Certainly weaker than Bowe in 1992, with the much better Holyfield. Lewis's worst prime defeat was McCall by KO 2, and Bowe to Holy in 1993 after a fantastic, even fight. Golota received a million dollars in compensation for a lidocaine injection before the 1997 fight with Lewis. And Bowe wasn't a prime fighter against Golota, as evidenced by Eddie Futch's words, which he left him. Lennox can beat rivals like Akinwande, McCall, Gołota, Mavrovic 100 times, but he still didn't impress at the highest levels, at the lower levels it was very different (Mercer, Bruno) and he was also knocked out (McCall, Rahman). Great CV, but only on paper.
Holyfield himself said that Bowe was the best opponent he fought, not Lewis. and he is more reliable than you, sorry

 

So I guess you will believe Ray Mercer when he said Lennox was the best opponent he ever faced which makes him better than Holyfield? Or Tony Tucker that Lewis was better than Tyson?

 

It doesn't ework that way either. Multiple fighters put Lewis above Bowe. Lewis achieved more and beat more top guys. Hate to bring up the Olympics but Lewis had Bowe's number.

 

He was really great.

 

Okay, but honestly, after watching the Bowe-Lewis fight in Seoul, I wouldn't have bet on Bowe based on it at all.
1. Lewis was 23 years old, and it was his second Olympics. He'd been a super heavyweight since at least 1983. Bowe was 21 years old, and two years earlier, he was a emaciated lightweight who was rapidly gaining weight.
2. Lewis had an easy path to the final, received a walkover in the semifinals, and Riddick fought a terrible war with Miroshnichenko. He was probably counted out twice, and honestly, he was closer to defeat to the Russian than to Lewis. If he had the same judging as in the final, he and Miroshnichenko would have lost early. 3. In the final, Bowe won quite easily. In the second round, he took some hard blows but didn't seem as hard as in the semifinals, yet the referee stopped him. A very controversial verdict, overshadowed by Roy Jones's fight.

As for the opinions about Lewis's superiority over Bowe, I honestly don't know them, but of course I don't dispute them. I know Holyfield's opinion, who was the best opponent for both of them and ranked Bowe above him... which common opponent of Bowe and Lewis claimed Lennox was better?

 

No he wasn't, Bowe was hurt to the body by Miroshnichenko before outclassing him the next 2 rounds but Lewis bobbled his head and was going to force a stoppage. Holyfield also beat Bowe using more movement, but going right at Riddick is not the right approach. Styles make fights, Lewis always had Bowes number. Comparing fights gets no where when Lewis has the better record and it can be applied to numerous examples. Bowe did better against a younger Holyfield, but looked like trash against multiple opponents including Golota who got smoked by an aging Tyson in a round. Biggs and Hide hurt him bad, but Lewis can't outbox and hurt Bowe ?

 

Lewis had the great steward in his corner. I am 100% confident the best version of Lewis beats the best version of Bowe

 

He was a super heavyweight that relished counter punching.. get right back in there. Got him knocked out a couple of times, playing that game.

Certified great though. H2H Lewis could pull some surprises, I would expect (Liston? Dempsey?.. maybe..). But.. he is definitely getting knocked out in the top-10 all-time heavyweight tournament. He's lucky he fought Holyfield later in his career.

 

Holyfield earlier in his career struggled with 40 year olds, had a life and death against a journeyman and got beaten by a light heavyweight. Not sure about this "luck", Holyfield was always up and down.

 

Man_Machine is great