Lennox undisputed Title resume - your thoughts

Lewis could have possibly feared looking stupid. I dont think there is anything wrong with that. As I said the general perception of Byrd and Ruiz was that they were non offensive threats who had boring non crowd pleasing styles. Lewis was knocking out all the monsters, he couldnt possibly lose to a guy like Byrd or Ruiz.

 

For the record, if that cyberboxing, pro John Ruiz article is the source then really it is laughable.
The two biggest contributers to the article are a friend of Panos Eliades, who had just been fired by Lennox and was threatening to sue him for about $200mil. The other is Norman Stone. Ruiz ****ing trainer. If that's how easily convinced you are by a rumuor then i give up on you quarry. Maybe it's just patriotism on your part eh.
Has for you Left hook, if you buy that crock of **** i would be dissapointed.

 

It is common knowledge that Lennox struggled more with shorter fighters, so we aren't learning nothing new here. But Ruiz at 6"2 was hardly short and as i've said his grappling would be detrimental against Lewis. No doubt he would spoil for a while but eventually he would come unstuck.
Byrd on the other hand could do Lennox's head in for large spells, but i honestly don't see him winning. Lewis apart from 2 occasions always found a way to win even when looking bad.
I see these two fights not happening more as business decisions rather than ducking.

 

I stand corrected on it not being patriotism. And i will agree with you on the McCall fight. I myself while watching just a minute of the first round felt Lewis was going to lose.
But if you have no agenda against Lewis then why do you feel you need to correct people on his career? Isn't that an agenda in itself?
I for one don't glorify his career because i don't need to, it's there for all to see. Has a fan i am comfortable with what he achieved and am happy with the men he fought. I would loved to have seen him fight Bowe and the Tyson and Holyfield fights could have been timed better, but none of those were hardly his fault. So apart from that who should he have fought in his career other than Byrd and Ruiz?
You have Moorer who he called out, but he understandbly at the time went after Holyfield. You have Wlad who was never ****ing relevant when Lewis was about. The other is Vitali, and i have already stated my views on that.
So apart from one fight not happening, two being ill-timed and the other two being certain poor spectacles. Who you got? Foreman? Holmes?
So all in all i was right about you. You have an agenda against Lennox Lewis, your not happy with him and you want eveyone to know it.
You glorify rumours that make him look bad and downplay anything good his done.
Everyone to their own. I'm a fan, your not, our views won't change, that's it.
I am logging off now because i want my end away. I will be back tomorrow to see what tripe you respond with.

 

Revisionism is all well and good, and Ruiz and Byrd did turn out to become legitimate factors at heavyweight.

But the fact remains is that from the time Lewis became lineal champion in 98 to the point when he fought Tyson in 2002, he largely fought the guys that the general public wanted to see him face.

People were clamoring for Lewis-Holyfield throughout 1998, and following their first fight were clamoring for a rematch.

Following his defeat of Holyfield in the rematch, the de facto number one contender in the eyes of many was Micheal Grant. He was undefeated, coming off wins over contenders in Obed Sullivan and Golota, and was considered at the time to be the heir apparent to the crown. So Lewis faced him, and won.

There was the keep busy fight with Botha, which was what it was, but Lewis capped 2000 by fighting the guy everyone considered to be the hardest puncher in the division- and its number one challenger, David Tua (who, let's not forget, had blasted Ruiz out in 19 secs. ). Lewis beats him. Loses to Rachman in a shocker, and wins the immediate rematch. At that point, everyone started to clamor for Lewis-Tyson fight.

Once again, Lewis fought him, and won. There was that final fight with Klitschko, once Johnson got hurt and that was that.

Had Lewis fought Ruiz or Byrd instead of Holyfield (who probably deserved to go 2-1 against Ruiz), Grant, Tua, or Tyson, during that three year stretch, the uproar would have been deafening, and it would have been deserved. Ruiz didn't exactly shower himself in glory in the Holyfield series, and while Byrd was able to split a couple of fights with the Klitschkos, he didn't exactly impress, even in victory.

Lewis fought the people he had to fight, at least as far as the general public was concerned. Can't fault him for that.

 

Ruiz and Byrd aren't skilled enough to legitimately beat a past it Golota but they are slick enough to give Lewis problems Yes John Ruiz far more skilled than Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko The Lewis hate machine is running strong amongst the bitter American fans who can't accept an outsider beating their champions

 

He didnt beat our champions he ducked two of them.

 

For the record I wouldnt favor Ruiz or Byrd over Lewis either, but I do think the fights could be a little more interesting than his fights with Grant and Golota.

 

First, Lennox Lewis agreed to fight John Ruiz, not Botha, in London in July 2000. Botha was a sub.

The WBA had Henry Akinwande as Lewis' mandatory. Lewis had already won via DQ against the guy, and Akinwande had hepatitis and wouldn't be allowed to fight in the U.S. or England. So the WBA made John Ruiz its top contender.

Lewis agreed to fight Ruiz after Grant. The WBA said it was fine. But about a week before Lewis-Grant, a judge ruled that Lewis had to fight Ruiz before Grant or vacate the title. Not wanting to cancel the fight, Lewis vacated and Ruiz fought (and lost) to Holyfield for the vacant belt.

Here are two articles explaining it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/675628.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sport/711174.stm

In fact, after Lewis beat Holyfield in 1999, he'd planned to face all his top contenders in 2000. He beat Grant in two rounds, he beat the IBF's #1 rated Tua (who had knocked out Ruiz in 20 seconds when they fought), and he planned to fight Ruiz, too, but a judge screwed that up.

Lewis won the Olympic Gold Medal over a future world champ (Bowe). Lewis was the undisputed heavyweight champ. And Lewis beat every man who ever stepped in the ring with him as a pro.

He is one of the top heavyweights of all time, no question about it. No other heavyweight champ in the history of the sport was the olympic gold medal winner, beat everyone he fought as a pro and retired as world champ.

If you asked any fighter in the world if he would like to win the gold medal ... turn pro and become the undisputed heavyweight champ ... beat everyone he faced as a pro ... and retire with the championship, a fortune and their brains in tact ... EVERY fighter would take that ... and that's Lewis' career.

 

You're the biggest Lewis hater going and one only has to look at your pitiful ranking of him at 13 out of fighters still alive.

Here is the fight. Pay attention to the 3:50 mark until the 4:20 mark and tell me where the huge body punch and the "grimacing" is as he walks back and when he's sitting in his corner.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeD40bYbpGI[/ame]