Is Mike Tyson greater than Lennox Lewis on the all time greatest heavyweight ranking?

It's all fun and yes a bit of a merry go round.

 

You are embarrassing yourself Sonny.....

Those fights were two years prior to the Lewis match.......Golata was a bum who never ever won a meaningful fight in his life and he quit......Saverese was a D level journeyman.......Nielsen was a bum of all bums who also quit despite a fat whale of a Tyson winged for the fences and still could not KO him................a obese Tyson "trained" on weed in Hawaii and vandalized a Hotel lobby in Havanna......nothing but prime focuse here , lol.

Are you a product of the liberal school system? Counting not your big thing ? Because Tyson reigned from 86 to 90 which is a lot longer than 18 months you claimed.....

I accidentally called your Boxing knowledge Nil..............believe it or not it is actually less than that, complete utter MIA.

 

This is the most brilliant post of the new year. I am merely a conduit for these great thoughts. All praise be to Yahweh.

 

Yes, and Nielsen was old and in awful shape himself. And don't forget that when Nielsen was in his prime he was beaten by 47-years-old Larry Holmes, but got a gift decision.

 

I agree with @Unforgiven on most things boxing. As I've mentioned on previous threads, on balance, I do far more reading than I do posting on the forum and he, like yourself, has offered perspectives on some topics, which I had not considered before - so, always worth a read.

Lewis seems to be the only bone of contention.


I do find that, as Lewis' legacy appears to have gained ground since retiring, after what was a relative lack of recognition while active, his career comes under irrational criticism - some of it further off the reservation than the rest.

No boxer is beyond reproach, but I find certain interpretations of the facts about Lewis' career are stretched beyond reason - some of them almost 'sloganized', as if to represent and be repeated as truisms.


With Lewis detractors (and I am NOT referring to Unforgiven, specifically, here), it almost always seems to generally boil down to:

- Lewis' two [avenged] defeats from 44 fights
- Holyfield and Tyson being dribbling geriatrics, by the time Lewis faced them
- the magical thinking that presumes Lewis was in his physical prime, throughout his entire pro career
- that Byrd was an almighty career miss for Lewis (and Ruiz before that, as well, if one is prepared to forget that King had no intention of letting Lewis/Ruiz happen)
- that Lewis was too scared to rematch Vitali, despite him having already beaten the poor heir apparent's face to a pulp
- the '90s being a generally weak era

Oh - and I've recently discovered that there's an 'out-of-the-box' thinker or two on the forum, convinced that Lewis was scared of Tyson and avoided him until 2002.

 

No doubt but many people base decisions on emotion. If you review their records coming into the fights in the previous two years there are apple and orange differences. Jeffries was the odds favorite and Ali close to even money. In Tyson’s case the men were the same age and he was active.

 

Who dis ?

 

Still he dominated every round, dropped him and stopped a Neilsen who had defeated every man he ever fought and only lost once by exhaustion ..

 

I'm a big fan of both, but I gotta rank Lewis higher, both in terms of accomplishments and because I say Lewis would beat Tyson under most circumstances...

Lewis had a great quote after he beat Tyson, that Tyson was a grown man at 19, and would beat most HWs in history, but that Lewis was a fine wine who maintained his talent and experience into his late 30s

As far as accomplishments go, Tyson had a very protected career after returning from prison.

Lewis was still fighting dangerous opponents late in his career, like Tua, Rahman, Klitschko....and say what you like about Andrew Golata or Michael Grant, but at the times Lewis fought them, they were ranked very highly and considered dangerous opponents...

Also Lewis fought the dangerous Ray Mercer, who Tyson never faced...

But of course Lewis's two fights against Holy were far more successful than Tyson's two fights against Holy..

As big of a Tyson fan as i am, I rank Lewis several spots above Tyson, for all of these reasons I listed, least of which that Lewis actually kicked Tyson's a$$ inside the ring, just to prove his point

 

Just looking at the last 18-months to two years of Lewis' career - three fights - a spectacular, comeback KO of Rahman; a dominant performance over Tyson (albeit a faded version) and the repelling of the division's would-be king, Klitschko - all achieved between the age of 36 to 37 (not far off reaching 38 years old).

A fine end, to a mostly steady and successful career.

 

Basically two columns here .. who had the better career, clearly Lewis, and who would have done prime for prime and that is a tough call.

 

Do you actually rate Neilsen as a fighter? Tyson looked awful in that fight. It's actually why Lewis wanted the fight badly, he didn't want to risk Tyson losing unexpectedly and hurting his chances. I recall Tyson wanted a fight with Ray Mercer in 2001 as a tune up for the Lewis fight, but Lewis sued and as a result they forced the fight.

 

Sure. He was a big, strong, durable top ten contender for sure with decent skills. He looked like a slob but he was a decent fighter.

 

Apologies, I must be confusing you with someone else.

For me Lews = Top 5. Tyson and Holy top 11-13, Bowe Top 14-17.

 

I was a huge Tyson fan and I hated Lewis, but I would consider Lewis greater.
If Tyson has retired after he annihilated Spinks, he probably is considered the best of all time.
Tyson until that point has become youngest ever Champ, and undisputed by 21/22 and was considered unbeatable.
I also think at their respective bests, Tyson is better and would have won.
However the losses Tyson took, the fact he never overcame adversity, and that he went out the way he did, as opposed to the way Lewis did, and then went out, makes him greater IMO.
I believe Tyson was better, but not for long enough. Lewis for me.