Lennox Lewis was not an ATG

Is there but one Lincoln? Is there but one Washington? Is there but one Popeye? If the answer is yes then Lennox Lewis must be overrated

 

Are you talking about Lennox Lewis? How the hell did he clear out the division for 10 years? The other best 5 fighters were Holyfield, Bowe, Tyson, Moorer, and Foreman... he didn't fight ANY of them during their peak. He ended up fighting an old Holyfield and a completely washed on Tyson after they weren't shinning bright anymore. Lewis wasn't even recognized Champ until after he beat Holy in their rematch. His title reign as undisputed Champ went as follows...

WBA title stripped for refusing to fight #1 contender Ruiz.
Win over Michael Grant (who was obviously nothing more than hype which was just exposed by Golota)
Win over Botha (who had just been knocked out by Tyson. How on earth did Botha get a shot at the undisputed title?)
Win over David Tua (very solid win IMO, yet received the same criticism in this fight that Wlad did against Ibragimov)
Loss against Rahman (End Title reign)
Win against Rahman (restart title reign)
Win against Mike Tyson (worthless win, but made a lot of money)
IBF title stripped for refusing to fight #1 contender Chris Byrd (inactive for a year anyways)
Win against Vitali (was losing the fight on all scorecards, won by a stoppage from a cut)
Sits on the title for another 8 months without defending it... (all the while trying to set up fights with Roy Jones Jr and trying to sue Mike Tyson back into the ring)
WBC sends letter to Lewis declaring him to either fight his #1 contender Vitali Klitschko or be stripped within 30 days.
Lewis vacates his title and retires after receiving the letter from the WBC.

So there you have his amazing title reign. 5 successful title defenses. Remember, we are talking about when he was the recognized Champ... not just when he was playing in the backround with a title off and on while the real stars of the division were fighting each other for the true Championship.




So... Lewis cleaned out the division by not fighting any of the best fighters of his own era and letting them beat the prime out of each other?:think That's an interesting way of looking at it.

 

What the hell is wrong with this board? I really think people have trouble reading and comprehending things. When did I ever say it was a reason to not rank him highly? And why are you responding to me on this thread?

 

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Great post!
I was big fan of Lewis until his fight with totally shot Tyson. I was extremely disappointed, when Lennox was KO’ed by Rahman. And I was one of the happiest men on the planet, when Lennox brutally KO’ed him in rematch.
But then I started to lose respect for Lennox. Firstly, I was shocked when Lewis sued Tyson to prevent his fight with Ray Mercer, which was already scheduled. I was really, really DISGUSTING acting from Lewis part - http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/06/sports/boxing-citing-age-lewis-sues-to-block-a-tyson-bout.html

But I lost all respect for Lewis, when he sued Mike Tyson again, trying to make him fight a rematch. And, yeah, at the same time Lewis vacated his IBF title! He didn’t want to fight Byrd, who was generally recognized TOP-3 HW at the time, but he still wanted to fight TOTALLY SHOT Tyson, whom he had ALREADY BEATEN extremely easily!

 

The rest = fail

 

You are absolutely right in your analysis. Lennox Lewis was a brilliant boxer who used his physical attributes to great effect. He wasnt a great fighter though, every time a guy landed on him his reaction was completely amatuer.
He got stopped by 2 of the worst belt holders in history, Rahman and McCall.
He only got to Holyfield and Tyson when they were finished as dangerous fighters.
But give him his due, he did a job on B Class heavys like Golota, Tua, Morrison, Bruno and Mercer. He also beat Vitali Klitschko on 10 days notice when Kirk Johnson pulled out.
Obviously in no way can you compare him to Ali, Louis, Holmes, Johnson and Dempsey .. But he definately belongs with Frazier, Foreman and Marciano, from around 7 - 10 in the top heavys of all time, no were near the top but a respectable position. I think thats a fair assesment ..

 

Can we get real please?

Foreman wanted no part of Lennox, ever. Said so many times as an HBO anaylsist.

Bowe ducked him like a dog. Almost can't blame him after Lennox flattened him like Gina Carano in the Olympics ... still, the man gave up his title rather than fight Lennox. A total disgrace.

Team Tyson wanted no part of Lewis during the DK reign. Made sure he didn't get near Lennox. Keep in mind they were the same age when they finally fought. Tyson still had enough to destroy Savarese and blow out Golata coming in. Lennox destroyed what was left.

Evander feared no man, ever, but their careers did not line up till late in the game.

Lewis was not perfect and he was not an all time pound for pound great but he was definately an all time heavyweight great.

 

very funny but this list says nothing let,s put it like this : wich heavyweight champs would win from lewis ???
ali, louis, holmes, liston and foreman.
that's it.. frazier, marciano, dempey, tyson they all would loose to him. so looking at my list. it is clear lennox lewis is top 10

 

It doesnt add to Lewis legacy because supposedly Foreman and Bowe wanted no part of Lewis. That doesnt in anyway enhance his legacy. Lewis can only be judged on the fighters he actually got into the ring with. We can speculate till the cows come home that Lewis was avoided by everyone, but I would say a good part of it was too much risk for too little reward being that he was not a marketable fighter in the Us in the early 90's.
To me he was lucky, because Bowe and Holy would have done a number on the fighter that struggled with the likes of Bruno, Mcall and Mercer, so lets just put him in his proper place based on who he fought and at what point of their respective careers. The rest is speculation...

 

Disagree. Bowe vs Lewis was a highly marketed fight that most of the fans US and UK wanted to see. Both men would have made a bundle of cash, and had exclusive rights to being the best man in the world. Bowe and his people ducked Lewis.....Plain and simple. Had nothing to do with Lewis's marketability.

The real speculation here is your making the assumption that just because Lewis lost to McCall and struggled with some others, that it would have been an automatic given for Holyfield and Bowe to beat him.. While I certainly think that a prime Holyfield would have a chance at taking Lewis, it is by no means a forgone conclusion. When I look at Evander battling life and death with Dokes, getting decked by Cooper, and thrashed about by Riddick, plus taken the distance by two 40+ year old comeback cases, it's not so easy to envision the man who laid out Ruddock in two rounds getting beaten.. A similar case can be made for Bowe, who quite possibly may have lost to an aging Tubbs, then avoided half of the division's top talents...

 

Dont want to get into the whole background of it, but no he wasnt a marketable fighter in the US considering what Bowe could make with his HBO contract. Thats why he fought in the back room at MSG and on the undercard of Holy Czyz for example. Bottom line is Bowe didnt need Lewis to make big money at that time certainly not as much as Lewis needed Bowe.
To your second paragraph, Its my opinion he would lose to those fighters, just like its others opinions that Lewis would automatically beat Bowe because Bowe threw his belt in the trash or because Lewis beat him in the olympics.

 

I think you need enlightenment yourself, because Tyson was the #2 contender and had been ranked in the top3 for three consecutive years. Not a GREAT win, but certainly a very good one over an iron chinned, big punching heavyweight with fast hands but very limited stamina. The fact that he beat him down so thoroughly and scored a memorable knockout is a bonus.

He certainly has a case for the top5. He may have lacked some qualities that other champs had, but then again, other champs also lacked qualities that Lewis had. Simple as that.

 

Well, I lived and breathed every minute of that era, and I can remember as vividly as if it were yesterday when Lewis blasted Ruddock out on Halloween night. I also remember a lot of people predicting that he'd beat Bowe and how much they wanted to see it, ( I live in the US Btw. ) And I don't buy the notion that Bowe had the ability to make that kind of money elsewhere. His fights with Ferguson and Dokes didn't make **** by comparison to what he would have made against Lewis and neither would fighting Mercer for that matter.