Suppose Lennox Lewis had been with Emmanuel Stewart from the start

I think he'd still be the same. He wouldn't be unbeatable. He would have developed as a boxer. If I recall correctly he choose Pepe Correa as his trainer because he liked Sugar Ray Leonard?

 

He wouldn’t have lost to McCall for sure because steward wouldn’t have been in McCall’s corner like he actually was for their fight. By eliminating that loss it stands to reason that it would help improve his legacy given how much crap he gets for it. Beyond that it’s hard to say. But think he’d still be awesome

 

If Lewis only had 1 loss as opposed to 2 his legacy would be drastically better

 

It is funny because Emanuel Steward's favourite song was by the band Loverboy called "Working for the Weekend" in which Mike Reno sings "You want a piece of my heart? You better start from the start. You wanna be in the show? Come on, baby, let's GO!" I think, in a way, that tells us everything that we need to know.

 

That's a very good question.

The case for an even greater Lewis, based on a Steward partnership from the beginning, has face-value logic written all over it. Do the math, and why wouldn't he have been?

That said, I'm almost tempted to suggest that Lewis would be rated lower than he already is, had he and Steward started out together. And that's because, in my opinion, Lewis needed that loss, and for Steward to have been its architect, for their relationship to have worked the way that it eventually did.

Had Steward been brought in at the beginning (which, at one point, might have happened had circumstances been different), the dynamic between him and Lewis would have been fundamentally different. Lewis, being 'pre-McCall' Lewis, would have been the principal in that partnership. Steward, even with a say in Lewis's management, would have still been viewed as an employee.

I believe the respect Lewis had for Steward was utterly dependent on that fateful night in Wembley, 1994. I can't see Lewis having fully submitted himself to Steward's guidance otherwise. As such, the way in which Steward arrived on the scene was absolutely pivotal to Lewis's future success. It gave Steward the type of credibility that was cast in stone and, thus, the authority that no contract or reputation alone could have rendered.

Had they met earlier, it would have been good for a while, but it is entirely plausible, and perhaps even likely, that the relationship would never have achieved the same depth of mutual respect. Without that, there's no guaranteeing Steward in that imaginary timeline would have been able to mold Lewis into what he became in this real one.

 

He may have been undefeated.

 

He wasn't undefeated with Steward so no he wouldn't be.

Lewis was a great fighter BUT he always had leaky defense. Having Steward from the beginning wasn't going to make him an Usyk defensively. Lewis was never going to be unbeaten due to having an average/slightly above average chin and leaky defense.

Remember Lewis almost lost to Mercer of all people so the idea that he was some unbeatable forcer isn't true.

 

Great post, and along the lines of what I was thinking. For the Lewis-Steward partnership to work the way it did, there had to be a "need" for Steward. That need was created by the McCall loss of which Steward was the architect.

Without that need, any Lewis-Steward connection may have followed the mould at that time, which was Lewis working his way through trainers and Steward being a transactional hired gun.

From Steward's perspective as well, he also "needed" Lewis. Not in the same way, but he was looking for a project that he could develop, rather than fixing a problem like he did with Holyfield or Chavez, and then being expendable afterwards.

Sometimes the stars just align, and it's the right place at the right time.

 

Brilliant post mate.

 

Succintly put sir. Also remember he lost to Hasim Rahman (2001) the first time due to lack of interest and preparation. Emmanuel Stewart told Lewis prior to the fight you need to be doing the work!

 

A lot say that Lennox Lewis post 1995 ,is one of the most complete heavyweight s ever .
If he'd have been with Steward from the start then there's a possibility he'd have 44-0 .
Or at least just the one loss to Rahman.
But he's still one of the greatest for me.

 

Steward strengthened Lewis physically; improved him technically.
But the source(s) of Lewis's complacency likely remain a mystery – even to Lewis himself.

 

Good point. The dedication from Steward seems to have stemmed from his admiration of Lewis, having watched him over time. He really wanted that job and be more than a hired gunned.

So, yes, it would be fair to suggest that this too was critical to the relationship.

 

Also, there's other variables that need to be considered.

With Steward from the start, Lewis likely makes different career choices. The first key decision that Lewis made was being based in the UK; this made a lot of sense as the lack of a world heavyweight champion for nearly a century was a sporting obsession over here at the time. Tapping into that hope, rather than being just another North American heavy, was a different dimension for Lewis commercially.

Assuming Steward had some level of managerial input, he may well have balked at that. At the time, the quality and depth was stronger in the US. Better sparring, better opponents, better opportunities. Steward had a low opinion of the sparring Lewis had before he joined, and one of the big changes he made was bringing in tougher sparring.

Lewis went the traditional British trifecta of British, European and Commonwealth titles. Obviously Mason was a world-ranked opponent and a genuine test by any estimation, but it's unlikely Steward would have him fighting the likes of Chanet, McCrory and Williams.

With his career running parallel with Bowe in location as well as time, there's a chance he gets lined up for Holyfield first. I don't see the Bowe-Lewis fight happening early for the same reasons it never happened in reality, but how does a younger Lewis do against the Holyfield that Bowe beat? If he does beat Holyfield, and assuming Bowe in this alternative timeline beats Ruddock, it's unlikely that Lewis would dump the belt in the trash. So you then have a Lewis-Bowe superfight in 1993, a Holyfield rematch if he gets past that, then potentially Moorer if he manages to keep the titles together, Bowe rematch if viable, then Tyson shortly after.

It's going off on a bit of a What If exercise, but I think the key point is that Lewis under Steward from fight 1 is probably matched tougher, and if he keeps winning he likely faces as tough a run as any heavyweight in history. This could secure an even greater legacy, but if you feel that Lewis was the type who was prone to complacency, he probably gets unstuck at some point, with a potential fracture in the Steward relationship.

The era was prone to weird results and developments. It took a pool consisting of Bowe, Lewis and Holyfield near to their athletic primes, and ended up at one point with Bruno, Seldon and Botha holding the main belts. So something somewhere at sometime probably goes awry.