This is a bit of a fantasy as at the heavyweight division ANYBODY can be knocked out with the right punch. But Lennox Lewis with his size, boxing IQ (punch n hold tactic) and strength, beats any heavyweight more times then not. Alot of so called All Time Greats were good fighters with personality or a back story and didn't always have the skill to be called an ATG like Julio Cesar Chavez, Rocky Marciano or Mike Tyson. For example JCC had the basic Mexican style of fighting where you take 2-3 shots to land 1 shot, anybody with that style should never be considered an ATG, but because he over 100 fights, he caught the publics attention. Rocky Marciano fought an a primitive era of boxing, Marciano had absolutely no defense, and although he was tough, his flat footed, easy target way of going about things would get him killed by good heavyweights like David Tua, Ike Ibeauchi or Earnie Shavers. Mike Tyson was a one dimensional, front runner fighter with poor cardio, which of whom if he couldn't knock you out within 3 rounds he'd just start throwing 1 punch at a time. (The combinations he threw fighting nobodies coming up through the ranks don't count). There's not a heavyweight who's ever put on a pair of boxing gloves who would best Lennox Lewis in his prime 2/3 times. People also forget that Lennox had speed in his prime.
Don't know if greatest but he's up there. It's really a shame the Bowe fight never happened. It would have done wonders for the winner.
Idiot. JCC, Marciano, and Tyson all had very high skill level. Prime Tyson was a machine and one of the most skilled boxer-puncher HW's I've ever seen if not THE most. LL was unquestionably an ATG and amazing fighter though, along with being THE H2H monster at HW.
In his prime, Lennox was very good. Not the most exciting fighter but he learned how to maximize his physical skills. Not an ATG, but the best British champ for sure.
I have him at 3 or 4. I agree that head to head, he is the greatest fighting man ever to grace the heavyweight division. Thing is, greatness is determined by accomplishment. The heavies of old are cruisers today, and if you go back far enough, some were LHW. We don't compare them on head to head. If you wait long enough, there will come an era when every subsequent champ will be a guy capable of knocking out Joe Louis in one. It is just the march of genetics. Louis with 25 defenses, or Ali with the greatest number of great heavies under his belt, are the two contenders for GOAT. Lewis might be 3. Very arguably Marciano with the "0," Johnson for ruling Murder's Row and breaking the color barrier, Foreman for his amazing accomplishment of ruling over two era's, etc. You have to make the argument based on what was accomplished.
This has always been my position. Lewis was the total package and had the physical tools to beat any HW in history.
I put him top 5 as well. Totally disagree with the comparisons though. Tyson as far as I know was the only switch-hitting HW champ. He just stopped doing it when his original team got broken up. His hook was lethal. His overhand lethal. His ability to bob n weave. His numbers system allowed him to show a cagey defense inside the eye of the storm- inside fighting. His quickness allowed him to throw from practically any position. It's not Lennox' fault Tyson no longer had that when they fought, but it doesn't negate the history that once upon a time Tyson was A. Fast. B. Could hurt with either hand. C. Switch-hitter D. Nasty hook followed by patented uppercut.
Top 3. Let's not forget.. because I remember American boxing fans and American Boxing Media slaughtering him for years and years, because apparently he was "negative", "boring" and "safety first".
He is active & healthy...George Foreman came back for greatness....Avoiding a Vitali rematch doesn't make you the G.O.A.T If Lewis wants more Cred, he gets in the ring vs (Wilder, Joshua, Fury) all are much better than (Hasim Rahman & McCall)
I don't rank Lennox in top 5 in my ATG rankings since the biggest names in his resume were either past prime (Holyfield) or totally shot (Tyson) and he never gave remtches that he promised to Vitali and Mercer. H2H, however, he was fantastic fighter. Very big, strong and powerful, skilled and well balanced. And not only his boxing skills was very good, but his holding/clinching skills was one of the best ever, so he could smother smaller guys' attacks in the clinches which he successfully did. H2H I'd rank him in top 5 or even top 3 among the best heavyweights ever
H2H Excellent vs Smaller Old-timers, he gets beat by the top 3 Heavyweights today Fury is poison to Lewis & the biggest favorite to expose Lewis as a size-boxer Wilder will come looking for a KO, Lewis is slower, smaller & has the inferior stamina Joshua is a 50-50 fight, both fighters won the rematches & have questionable stamina
He was sure great, but wlady beats him 7 fights out of 10 fights. He is Lennox, just way faster with more power and better boxing skills, just mentally weaker. But lewis big problems was his focus. He is always undisciplined and too arrogant to be the greatest. He overestimated his skills and payd the price.
Emanuel Steward was possibly protecting one of his legacy fighters, but no Excuse for both fighters, especially Wlad who had nothing to lose by facing LL...Wlad already got beat up, so he had nothing to protect & would have been a slight favorite to KO Lennox Lewis if he can land clean before Lewis catches him.
