Anywhere between roughly #5 and #8 at Heavyweight seems fair for Lewis. Outside of Ali, Louis and Holmes (my personal choice for #3) they're all much of muchness with serious flaws in their records. But Lewis is easily top ten and closer to the top half of that list than missing out altogether. Ali and Louis are deservedly the two golden standards, the top two in more or less everyone's lists. That's understandable. I do think, however, that of all the guys who have come along since, Lewis all the things in his favour to be the guy who could break that duopoly. He had the size of a genuine 'Super-Heavyweight' but could match it with athleticism, a good punch, decent ring intelligence and he also had the potential fights and contemporaries around him (the 1990s, in terms of the quality of Heavyweights around at various times, is second only to the golden era of the 1970s - more on that in a tick). Lewis really should have been the guy to make us consistently question the water-tightness of the Ali-Louis top two combination, but he didn't quite manage it. Some of that was down to bad luck. Though the 1990s was an outstanding era in terms of potential available fights and big names, things got in the way which prevented it matching the 1970s, particularly Tyson being locked up 1992-95 and Bowe eating himself to an early retirement. Both of these denied the division some historic moments and fights, and neither are Lewis' fault. BUT - while timing dictated he would never have faced a peak Tyson, even if they'd boxed in 1996, Lewis only has himself to blame for not making himself an absolute must for one of Holyfield or Bowe (or both, preferably!) long before he eventually did fight Evander in 1999. The loss to McCall meant he had to start the round-robin routine again and he was a bit of an afterthought between 1994 and 1997 while Bowe, Holyfield and a released Tyson were making all the headlines. He should have been right there with them. Once is understandable, but then there's the Rahman loss as well. Yeah, it's boxing, it's the Heavyweights, it can happen to anyone and all that jazz. But it didn't happen to just anyone. It happened to Lewis - twice. Says a lot about what a quality fighter he was that, even with those two disasters, he's still easily a top ten man and for my money nudging in to the top five. But if his professionalism and concentration hadn't deserted him at those moments I think he'd have a serious shot of unseating Louis at #2. Have said it before, but in a nutshell that's why I can't bring myself to put Lewis above Holmes. Both had similar longevity, both beat a similar level of opposition, but the difference is that Holmes wasn't poleaxed twice in or around his peak championship years by relatively average fighters.
Foreman, Frazier would have been a huge problem for Lewis but his size might let him down, Liston had the reach and power to KO Lewis but couldn`t cut the ring off, there is no comparison between Ali and Lewis`s resumes at all. Who did Lewis beat that Ali couldn`t?
I stated guys with the same size and ability two of those guys were heavily flawed. Vitali for me was beating Lewis and then it became a brawl, Lewis struggled and would struggle with any heavyweight Vitali`s size and with his ability, that was clear to see.
I think he’s a dangerous fight for anyone in history, and any praise higher than that is just icing on the cake.
Do you know I cant think of a single heayweight who fought more big guys than Lewis! Rahman 6'2.5" 238lbs Botha 6'2" 237lbs Grant 6'7" 250lbs Briggs 6'4" 228lbs Golota 6'4" 244lbs Akinwande 6'7" 237.5lbs McCall 6'2" 237lbs Morrison 6'2" 227lbs Bruno 6'3" 238lbs Tucker 6'5" 235lbs Ruddock 6'3" 235lbs Williams 6'5"233lbs Garber 6'6"224lbs Quarless 6' 4"221lbs Mason6'1.5"235lbs Jones 6'6" 243.25lbs Biggs6'5" 231lbs McCrory 6'4"221lbs Dascola 6'3"223,5lbs I really don't think you have an argument!
Quite true, but it’s worth noting that two of his toughest fights were with a guy who weighed 212 and another who wouldn’t weigh much more than that without his spare tire.
He's a definite top 3 for mine. He could be a wrecking machine when the situation warranted it (Golota, Grant, Ruddock), box masterfully and cerebrally (Tua, Tyson,Rahman 2, Holyfield 1) and gut it out when the going got tough (Mercer, Vitali). Whilst he had flaws, namely a chin that wasn't up to his other qualities, he was one of the toughest heavyweight champions to beat. I'd pick a few to maybe catch him and beat him in a one off fight (if he wasn't switched on that is) but very few take a series of fights over him. One things for sure, he rides roughshod over today's scene.
