Is Lennox Lewis's record & resume grossly, disgustingly, extremely suspect & overrated?

Let's evalute his best wins over the best opponents he's faced in his career:

1) Washed up Mike Tyson: Already demolished by Buster Douglas whilst he was still in his prime = better win against better version of Mike Tyson than the version Lennox Lewis beat. Otherwise, even a bum like Danny Williams managed to beat the washed up Mike Tyson that Lewis beat but did so quicker and in half the time.

2) Washed up Evander Holyfield: Chris Byrd beat the same version of Evander Holyfield far more convincingly and decisively than Lennox Lewis did. And also didn't require two attempts to get it done. And James Toney demolished that version of Holyfield via stoppage and dropped him multiple times. Something Lennox Lewis failed to do in 24 rounds against Holyfield, despite being a super heavyweight and despite being significantly larger in size than Toney or Byrd.

3) David Tua: Had already been defeated by Ike Ibeabuchi prior to fighting Lennox Lewis. Otherwise, Chris Byrd beat the same prime version of David Tua just as, or nearly as impressively / convincingly as Lewis did.

4) Ray Mercer: Arguably lost that fight or that fight was arguably a draw. Meanwhile, an ancient 40+ year old Larry Holmes that was way past his best by many years defeated the same prime version of Ray Mercer far more widely and it was an indisputable win, unlike Lewis's win over prime Ray Mercer a few years later which was questionable and in dispute. Furthermore, even a journeyman with double digit losses like Jessie Ferguson managed to beat Ray Mercer more convincingly and widely before Mercer fought Lewis.

5) Michael Grant: Never was that good to begin with anyway. Lost to Jameel Mccline right after his fight against Lennox Lewis. Lost to Dominic Guinn too, whilst still in his prime. And lost to a natural light heavyweight in Tomasz Adamek to top it off.

6) Hasim Rahman: The guy Lennox Lewis got brutally one punch KO'ed by and needed two fights and a rematch to win against. This is the same Rahman who was previously KO'ed by Oleg Maskaev who needed only one fight to get it done as well. But fought him again and beat him twice whilst Lewis only beat him once. Hasim Rahman was also stopped by Povetkin in just 2 rounds. And has many other losses to lesser opponents.

7) Tommy Morrison: A guy with a suspect chin. Lost all his fights via stoppage. And was stopped far more impressively and quickly by the other two guys who beat him previously before he fought Lennox Lewis. Which were Michael Bentt (who only needed 1 round to stop Morrison whilst Lewis needed 6) and by Ray Mercer. The same Ray Mercer who arguably beat Lennox Lewis in the first place.

8) Oliver McCall: A guy who dropped and stopped Lewis in humiliating fashion in just 2 rounds. Meanwhile, Lewis in the rematch failed to avenge his loss in equally impressive fashion because he failed to drop McCall after landing 6 rounds of kitchen sink, the same way McCall dropped Lewis in the second round in the first fight. And Lewis's stoppage victory was extremely controversial because McCall was mentally unstable for the fight and Lewis couldn't even drop him once and instead needed a weak standing stoppage. Furthermore, this is the same McCall who has lost 14 fights. Including to the likes of Orlin Norris and Mike Hunter among many other low level opponents. So hardly a special boxer anyway.

9) Frank Bruno: A decent win. But prime Mike Tyson had already demolished Frank Bruno far more easily, impressively and brutally than Lennox Lewis did. And Tyson did that before Lewis fought Bruno. Furthermore, a younger Bruno had also already lost by stoppage to two other opponents prior to facing Lewis anyway as well. Which makes Lewis's win over Bruno not that impressive anymore because it wasn't a special or an unprecedented victory.

10) Tony Tucker: A guy who was dropped like a yo-yo by a small, natural cruiser weight Herbie Hide and stopped in just 2 rounds by Hide. Whilst the much larger super heavyweight couldn't finish off or stop Tony Tucker in 12 rounds and needed a decision victory. Plus, Tucker had already lost to Mike Tyson before facing Lewis years ago. And he also lost to the likes of Orlin Norris and Bruce Seldon afterwards. Two guys who weren't great boxers by any stretch by modern standards.

11) Henry Akinwande: Won by a questionable disqualification. Considering Lewis used the exact same excessive clinching tactics against Mike Tyson and got away with it without getting disqualified himself. Whilst Akinwande wasn't allowed to use this tactics against Lewis. Thus, if Akinwande deserved to be disqualified against Lewis for excessive clinching, then Lewis's win over Mike Tyson shouldn't count as he also should've been disqualified. Otherwise, Akinwande was never that good to begin with, or beat any / many top level opponents. He feasted on bums / journeymen and got knocked out brutally by another journeyman in Oliver McCall who also stopped Lewis and beat Akinwande more convincingly than Lewis did.

12) Shannon Briggs: One of his best wins against an actual prime opponent. But before he was stopped in the 5th round by lennox Lewis, an undefeated Briggs had already been stopped by Daroll Wilson. A bum with 10 losses out of 27 bouts. Briggs then lost to multiple non-elite boxers such as to Jameel McCline and Sedreck Fields. Even in his prime. Along with the total one sided points defeat to Sultan Ibragimov and Vitali Klitschko. Thus, Lewis's win over Briggs doesn't remain great or special any longer.

13) Donovan Razor Ruddock: Probably Lewis's second best stoppage win of his career. But Ruddock has almost no wins over top 10 ranked heavyweights or highest level heavyweights. Thus, Ruddock was relatively unproven at the highest level and therefore, this win isn't that great or impressive for Lewis.

14) Andrew Golota: Probably Lewis's best stoppage win out of his career. However, Golota has 9 losses and never did anything great or beat anybody at the highest level, before or after losing to Lewis. Basically inferior to his countryman Mariusz Wach. And was also stopped by Tomasz Adamek, a guy who is a natural light heavyweight who isn't a heavyweight great. Was also stopped in just 1 round by Lamon Brewster, a contender level boxer. Thus, Lewis beating Golota isn't a very impressive win since Golota doesn't have a very impressive career with impressive wins himself.

15) Vitali Klitschko: Undoubtedly has the best heavyweight record compared to any other opponent of Lennox Lewis. However, most seem to think he was just a stiff, European robot that was never that good to begin with and fought in an insanely weak era. Not my words, but the words of many Lennox Lewis fans / fan boys / fanatics. And they could very well be right, because facts are, this is a guy who lost to a natural light heavyweight in Chris Byrd. So how good could he really have been, if that's the case and how much credit can we really give Lewis for beating Vitali with that being the case? And this is also a guy with multiple professions who was also a part time boxer who never prioritized boxing as much as his other professions. So much so, that boxing was one of the least significant activities in his life / career. Then what does that make Lennox Lewis, the fact that he went life and death against this stiff Euro robot who was practically a part time boxer that lost to a natural light heavyweight that competed in supposedly the weakest heavyweight era?

That, ladies and gentleman, is Lennox Lewis's supposed 'great' or 'all time great' heavyweight record / resume. Make of it whatever you may, but to me, it seems grossly and extremely suspect + overrated!

 

Where's klitschko?....it should be added for posterity/for arguments sake....personally I don't count it as a win....wins from head butt cuts are not "tko's".....especially when you're losing the actual fight

 

Get off boxrec and watch fights.

 

The other day whilst out walking, I saw a dog about 50 yards in front of me. Suddenly, the dog began circling multiple times when, all of a sudden, it appeared as though he decided to sit but it’s butt wasn’t quite touching the ground. After a couple of seconds passed the dog got up and walked away. As I approached the spot where the dog had done his half sit I noticed there was a brown pile of something in the grass and flies were buzzing around it. “That’s ****!”, I said to myself, somewhat proud of my detective skills. And rather than bend down and pick it up I needed the old adage, “Never touch the poop.” I offer this sound counsel free to the others who might think of replying

 

Why have you ignored Vitali.

 

Golota was a supremely talented boxer, he beat Bowe twice convincingly before hitting him below the belt to throw the fight... twice. His head was gone after that

 

TKO6

 

His best career win on paper is tko6 but it doesn't bear too much examination given it's manner meant the wbc ordered an immediate rematch that Lewis ducked out on. Ducked $50m and retired but still his best win. 2nd would be decisioning old Evan in the return fight. 3rd his life and death win on Briggs. Lewis almost did a McCall in that fight. 4th Bruno which was a good knockout but he was hardly the first guy to knock out Bruno. 5th Ruddock which looked a good win but Ruddock was never that great. 6th Golota which looked spectacular but Lewis knocked out a guy who'd a full blown panic attack in the ring. I'd rate Mike 7th as he was shot to bits. Danny Williams did as good a job almost. 8th I'd go for Grant as he was a proper prospect that Lewis stopped in his tracks. 9th. Rahman 2 for avenging a horrible loss. 10. Mavrovic who went toe to toe for 12 and took a few rounds.

 

Lewis tko6

 

I think you should make the exact same style of thread on both Klitschko's, Loma, Ricky Hatton and others too.

Your arguments would be much more convincing and the lemons will definitely be not as bitteras the ones you have already had.

 

He avoided Corrie Sanders: That would have been a fight.

 

Poor trolling and wrong forum - should be in classic.

 

H

How old are you?

Who studies that many Lennox lewis fights?

 

I remember in Lennonexs era nobody ever ever mention that his record was padded
The news papers had all the power back then and if this was true it would have been on the back page every week but it was not

Mc call was a real dangerman who was at his best in the first fight he could have took out most heavyweights if he landed one
That second fight should have never gone ahead even back then Mc Call was not Mc Call he was somebody else
I have the greatest respect for the late George Benton but you can be sure he knew Mccall was in a bad way in camp This was a sad incident and fortunatly would never happen now .

Bruno rocked Tyson at his best Bruno could bang

Briggs was a risk

Bowe was at his best
He never avoided anybody he could only fight the active fighters of that time

 

Spurious. You can do this with anyone's record I guess. Ali took two fights to knock out Frazier, who was knocked out twice by Foreman, who lost to Holyfield and Briggs, therefore Shannon Briggs > Ali.