What do you think is the real reason that Lewis never fought a southpaw?

Byrd had the better record at that point, it's true, but I think Vitali and Wlad were more credible contenders. No-one gave Byrd a hope in hell against Lewis. In hindsight, Vitali and Wlad weren't that dangerous either.

 

Lewis was faster than Ruiz, had a better jab and was rangier, how exactly would he have struggled? How would Ruiz have taken Lewis's power. Even DK, Ruiz's promoter didn't want the fight, he wanted to pay Lewis not to fight Ruiz, hardly a credible challenge by any means

And we all saw how well Byrd did with the 2 men most like Lewis he faced in Vitali/Wlad

The only reason you pull the laughable Byrd/Ruiz card is so you can claim Lewis is as bad as your hero Bowe for ducking top contenders, which is laughable to everyone but yourself and your agenda

We all know full well if LEwis fought Bryd/Ruiz instead of GRant/Tyson/Vitali and 2 of them went on to be belt holders, you'd switch around your avoidance claim and have a much better case

 

Yes but the reasoning was stupid. I gave Byrd a chance. I knew it wouldnt resemble the same type of Klistchko Byrd fight. I dont think Lewis would fight the same way and his balance is **** when he misses a lot.

 

how do you know he never fought a southpaw? looking at his early fights on BoxRec, its quite possible one of those guys was a southpaw.

 

I actually updated this post with more detail.

Wlad wasn't an official mandatory and just plain not in the real title picture despite Ring pushing him through the roof. Than Sanders happened.

Vitali didn't vault into the title rankings until at the end of 2002

Byrd had been a mandatory number one contender since 2001, and most articles at the time speak favorably of his chances.

 

See your just making stuff up. It really has nothing to do with Bowe. You dont see me using that in my arguements for Bowe and personally I dont see a lot differences in the two scenarios. Bowe proved himself against Holyfield, he was looking for bigger money and longer term, but whatever, back on topic, it depends on how you want to look at things. Not true about King and Ruiz. They very much wanted the Lewis fight after the Holyfield series. Who offered a bigger payday for Ruiz and King, Kirk Johnson or Lennox Lewis?? King didnt have promotional rights to either. Everyone thought Johnson would school Ruiz just as they thought Lewis would. It was widely accepted by most that they were better opponents because Vitali and Kirk Johnson were more pleasing fighters stronger and more credible than Ruiz and Byrd. But that wasnt the case, and no Lewis wasnt faster than Ruiz, he had gone on to make half of the top ten look stupid in fights.
To me Lewis did avoid ugly fights with Ruiz and Byrd, because he could potentially have looked like a fool. It wasnt because he feared their punching power. Lewis would rather fight a guy that stands in front of him nice and tall but punched like a mule, than a fluttering piece of tissue paper that he couldnt touch. Lewis even said it himself, you cant put an lion in with a Byrd, and what he really meant hes would have a tough time hitting that bird. :hey

 

That's bs. I remember that interview and really what he meant was that there wasn't a market for this fight nor would it present a challenge to him. Also, you seem to have pretended you've seen a lot of Lewis, if true you'd know that in his youth he wasn't slow at all, he only got slower as he aged and became more flat-footed. But I do think the would have had the ability to corner Byrd in the ropes at some point and then the fight would have ended. No way Byrd's going to dance around for an entire fight and not get trapped a number of times.

 

Was Lewis young when a proposed Byrd fight was to happen? atsch

 

No but he wasn't as slow as you make him out to be. And many posters, including yourself seem to frequently comment on his lack of speed and unlying those comments was that he was always slow, which simply wasn't the case.

 

How slow was I making him out to be? I said he would have had trouble dealing with the quickness of Ruiz's herky jerky jab and grab style. Ruiz had given guys who were faster than Lewis trouble with it. I also feel he doesnt fight as tall and balanced as either Klistchko so he would be missing with a lot of forward momentum against Byrd especially with his righthand. Thats how I see those two fighters giving him trouble.

 

Could you provide a source?

I can provide this quote from Manny post Tyson:

"I have known for a long time now that Lennox is the best heavyweight since Ali and the world should now acknowledge that," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/specials/lewis_v_tyson_fight/2036717.stm

Kind of strange that he'd say Lewis is the best fighter since Ali yet then go onto say he'd drop a decision to Byrd don't you think?:deal

I can also provide this:

"Lewis decided to hand in his belt rather than face a court ruling to meet Chris Byrd who despite being the mandatory challenger, did not rate highly on the earning or entertainment scales.
HBO, apparently, did not see the Byrd fight as a big enough attraction, a fact Lewis referred to when he described the prospect of meeting the American as "not attractive enough" in the statement he released explaining his decision to give up the IBF title."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/3034060/Lewis-lines-up-Tyson-rematch.html

So it was basically HBO pulling the strings.

 

Will take me a while on the Steward quote, he certainly said it on HBO.

Last part is doubtful since HBO had no problem featuring Byrd/Holyfield in the place of Byrd/Lewis. Or even featuring Byrd in less attractive fights than that.

And the Amercian press was much less forgiving of Lewis dropping the title:


From Sports Illustrated:


We’re not here to say Lewis is chicken -- not after he treated Mike Tyson like a tomato can last time he set foot in the ring -- but you wonder what’s behind his ducking of Chris Byrd. Word is Lewis accepted $1 million from King to give up his International Boxing Federation belt because he wanted no part of Byrd, a slippery southpaw capable of making him look clumsy.
This is business as usual in the not-so-credible fight game. Rather than taking on the mandatory IBF challenge, Lewis will sit ringside Saturday night for the title fight on HBO between Byrd and four-time champion Evander Holyfield. If you believe King, and we’ll leave that to your discretion, the IBF champ gets the winner of John Ruiz-Roy Jones Jr., with the winner of that being sold the promise of a title unification bout against Lewis next summer.
Byrd isn’t even buying it -- and he’s promoted by King, who also promotes Holyfield.
As an interesting sidelight here, Byrd recently moved with his wife and three children into a small gated community in Las Vegas. It wasn’t until after purchasing the place that he learned the neighbor directly across the street -- the one whose abode takes up half the block -- is Mr. King. That doesn’t guarantee any neighborly favors, though.
In fact, the way Byrd hears it, if Jones should win, he’s willing to fight Holyfield. But he, too, wants no part of the smallish heavyweight. At least that's Byrd’s opinion.
“Man, they just hate my style of boxing," Byrd sighs. “My style poses a problem for anybody that is in the division. Nobody wants to get embarrassed and lose at the same time. It has been frustrating for a long time. Like since I was 10-0, it’s been hard to get fights." The biggest offender? No question -- Lewis.

 

"Word is", is that what you supplied? This "word" probably came from King himself. You'll have to do better than that.

As for the HBO part being doubtful, from April 2005:

"But HBO didn’t seem too interested in recent history. Instead, they thanked Byrd for his time, and quickly showed him the door."

http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/1880/april-showers-but-not-rain-hbo-sprinkles/

Yeah, HBO obviously viewed Byrd highly and a real money maker.....

I'd also like to ask why King would pay $1 million to a guy who was going to be stripped by the IBF anyway?

 

-I don't have to do better than anything. Just pointing out the American perception of Lewis dropping the title from a respectable sports magazine.

-Yes in 2005.

N.Y. Times

Lennox Lewis will give up one of his heavyweight titles rather than fight Chris Byrd, the mandatory contender, saying that Byrd offers him no great challenge and that no one wants to see the fight anyway.

It also opens up the door for Evander Holyfield to fight Byrd and try to become a heavyweight champion for the fifth time at age 40. Byrd is the I.B.F.'s top-ranked contender, while Holyfield is No. 2. Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, said his network was interested in showing a Holyfield-Byrd fight, possibly on Dec. 14.

 

The fact remains Byrd was the IBF champion when HBO dropped him thus backing my argument HBO knew all along he wasn't a draw and they weren't going to make money off the guy.

You're pointing out nothing new, my previous statement already covered what Lewis said, it's just yours doesn't mention HBO when the material I've provided shows HBO didn't view Byrd highly at all and were proved right.