Lewis was at the end of his career, out of shape and overweight, and was fighting a young future great. Oh, and he beat him. Bringing up that fight only strengthens the claim that a prime Lewis would dominate this era. Also, Golota and Grant were pretty tall as well.
One time ? You're clueless LMAO because Lewis dominated multiple taller opponents. He destroyed Michael Grant, Tyrell Biggs, Calvin Jones and handled Akinwande to the point where Akinwande started clinching for dear life. All of whom were bigger or taller than him. Lennox Lewis used his size against shorter opponents not taller ones, He was agressive and pressed forward against taller fighters. Let me give you an example This content is protected He looked terrible against Vitali because he was 37, out of shape and took the fight on 2 weeks notice.
If he's fit and motivated he beats them all. Fury is the only one I'd give a decent chance of beating him but I suspect Lewis gets to him in the end. Joshua would be dangerous but is too vulnerable himself and probably gets stopped before he can land the big punch. But we all know Lewis' focus could drift, he could lose to Fury, Wilder, Joshua, maybe even Whyte and Povetkin if he's having an off night like he did vs Rahman.
I would agree, but look at the size of Tyson as a 13 year old. Unless he was roiding then too, I can believe with 2000 sit ups a day he may just be a freak of nature. Not inconceivable his mother played away with a prize winning bull
Sorry, your conclusions are a bit "reckless" lol! Tyson was likely 5' 10 & a 1/2, 214-221 was his prime fighting weight, so you are about right on there. But as a long time weightlifte-& you can check many sources about genetic potential-given his bone structure & how strong & bulky he was by 13 when impoverished & before he hit the weights... He could easily have been natural. Or maybe he did some PEDs later, who knows? With Lewis height & bone structure, he could carry up to the 240s while fairly lean. The idea that everyone *must* be using is as simplistic & misguided as believeing nobody that was not found guilty/tested positive used PEDs.
Hard to see him as not the favourite in any of these match ups. Lennox is a true ATG and arguably the best H2H heavyweight ever. I'd have to predict them all as a win, most by stoppage. Lewis was pretty much the complete package. He struggled to gain popularity for a long time, and in some regards I think he's still a bit underrated by some. He was an absolute monster in his prime.
The Golota fight had me sold. To just destroy and severely outclass a prime Andrew Golota like that is just a feat i see nobody else replicating. The same Golota that got robbed against Chris Byrd and John Ruiz and was literally performing an execution on Riddick Bowe albiet a fat unmotivated Bowe. He is easily a top 5 ATG and H2H the greatest Heavyweight of all time
That Golota fight I think changed a lot of people's minds. It was one thing to do it once when he crushed Ruddock but to again take on the most feared man in the division at the time and walk through him like that shocked many people. I think after the McCall loss people still had doubts about Lewis at the top level, the Golota fight removed those doubts and he again was seen as potentially the best heavyweight on the planet, he just needed to be given the shot at Evander to prove it. When was the last time a heavyweight champion took on his biggest threat and wiped him out like that? I don't think any heavyweight since Lewis has looked so dominant or destructive.
Those suggesting Lewis was nothing more than a weight bully obviously know Jack shmitt about boxing! Lewis had possibly the best Heavyweight footwork outside of Ali, he correctly threw every punch in the book including a refined jab that was whatever he wanted it to be, a rangefinder, a ramrod, a set up or whatever else was needed. He threw the best 1 - 2 in the game, could take your head off with overhand rights, left hooks and was deadly accurate with right uppercuts. He could blow you away in the early rounds (Golota, Grant, Ruddock) box from the outside (Tua, Tillis, Tyson) and he could mix his tactics from fight to fight or round to round within a fight. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his chin as despite being stopped twice he was never knocked out and was arguably the victim of poor refereeing decisions in both as he looked like he could have boxed on both times. He was a master tactician and could dissect a fighter with surgical precision or go toe to toe and slug it out, he set traps, used feints and didn’t have to resort to psychology because his boxing ability was all he needed. After all of that, yes he was also big, weighed in at a natural 240lbs+, unbelievably strong, powerful, heavy handed, mentally tough & confident. He was beaten twice so it’s not inconceivable that he could lose a match but on both occasions he entered the ring unmotivated, poorly prepared and was sloppy. IMO he would go 10 and 0 with at least 8 Knock outs!
Bear in mind that Vitali fans never will accept Lewis as anything great because his legacy and Lewis fans are claiming this as proof that Lewis was better than Vitali. It does not work like this: Lewis initially looks that considered to do rematch and later announced retirement. Lewis was better than Vitali in this fight and because he was serious british cash cow had been assumed that he might beat Vitali also in rematch and touted as something so much better than Vitali. It does not works like this: I do not value Lewis higher than Vitali and Lewis fans might die there by posting how much better Lewis was. All claims about Lewis being overweight are next excuse. For Lewis huge frame he even at 260 lbs had not been fat but with LOW fat. Also Lewis had picked Vitali as replacement not vice versa. Lewis fans might die here by claiming how better than Vitali he was. For me he was not and live with this.
