Totally agreed mate. Yeah I can understand what you're saying and that thread would be pretty good I imagine:good
Lennox wouldn't make my top 10. I think people who have him in the top 3 or top 5 are overrating him by a lot, but it's all just opinion.
Like I said, it's all just opinion. :good I didn't rate Lewis particularly highly 10 years ago. I don't think I will revise that opinion just because it's become fashionable to call him a top 5 all-time heavyweight. I remember the mid-late 1990s and early 00s being quite a dreary heavyweight scene, and Lewis was quite disappointing at least half the time. Now often I read about how wonderful the likes of Mercer and McCall and Tua were in their alleged "primes". I suppose I need to get myself a pair of the rose-tint specs, that'll sort it out ! :good Again, that's just my take.
I'm not sure theres a giant conspiracy taking place for everyone to rank him in the top 5 mate. A lot of people just happen to think that, and not without reason IMO. I think around about 5 is probably fair. Or including him lower in a top 10 would be reasonable. Whereas I really struggle to see justification for him not seeing a top 10. I want to see the other 10 names in that scenario.
I wasn't implying there's a conspiracy. Yes, whatever the reason, a lot of people have him in the top 5. I didn't think he was anywhere near top 5 all-time back in 1999 or 2000 or 2003, and I haven't learned anything new about him since then, so I'd be a hypocrite to just follow the crowd on that.
Wasn't Holmes' reign seen similarly? Now it would be blasphemy to have him outside the top 10. I read that Facing Ali book a couple of weeks ago and it made out that Holmes was only just being considered an ATG in 2000. I don't remember as I wasn't around in his prime and only started getting into boxing around 2005.
Distance in time gives a bit of perspective. Holmes and Lewis probably benefit from that while Tyson suffers,
Agreed with this. You need that distance to be able to judge the era as a whole and get rid of the hype/emotional attachments. That's why I don't like seeing people trying to rate the likes of Wlad, Vitali, Pacquiao etc. now. Give it a few years then we'll see.