They're better than all your American fighters at the moment, far better and the best version Lewis would defeat everyone, and you're all blind to it, would would Holmes have done against, throw a few jabs, you think Lewis with his huge reach advantage wouldn't have been jabbing with him and also following up with the huge right hand? Holmes would be in survival mode, Lewis wouldn't just stand there and be outjabbed, he would overpower him and use his own physical advantages to win
It's probably a case of older posters would go for Holmes, younger ones, Lewis. Both were exceptional. I really can't split them........gun to my head I'd pick Holmes.
Both are my two favorite heavyweights ever. I think H2H Holmes wins but they both deserve respect. I don't think either are overrated personally.
Holmes would never, ever, get KO’d by guys like Rahman and McCall. He actually came very close to beating McCall at 46yrs old not long after McCall upset Lewis.
How is he tougher than Larry Holmes? Larry Holmes was the ultimate survivor, unlike Lennox who never got up off the deck to win a fight.
Getting knocked out twice by lower opposition and beating people similar level contenders isnt better. Larry was 48-0 and didnt lose until age 35 and was still contending for titles at 45. That would be like Lennox still being a contender in 2009
I'm not sure it is. It seems to be a lot of Americans here who would rank him with or above Holmes too. And I'm from UK, and I think they overrate Lewis. Holmes is quite clearly superior, I believe. There are some people on this forum who can make good arguments for Lewis, but none have convinced me yet that he belongs with Holmes. It seems quite clear-cut to me. Like you said, at the very least they beat similar opposition, but Holmes wasn't KO'd by two mediocre challengers, and Holmes performed well in Lewis's era to suggest his 'own' era was just as tough. He actually did much better against Mercer, and better against McCall compared to Lewis's 1st attempt with McCall.
When was that? From what I saw, Mercer gave Lewis problems by fighting him on the inside, the jabs Mercer landed were aggressive jabs, jabs to then throw other punches off of it, like how Bruno was landing jabs, he was stepping forward to land the jab, nobody outjabbed Lewis on the backfoot, especially smaller fighters because that is a terrible idea against Lewis, because not only can Lewis compete for jabs against Holmes, he can throw the right over the jab and when Holmes sticks his arms out after throwing a few punches to keep them at arms length, that works against shorter fighters because they then can't reach you, but that is an awful thing to do against someone taller with a huge reach advantage and who also who's punches best with long punches, that is a terrible idea to stick your arms out, you seen what happened to Rahman when he did that against Lewis
He would've beaten them on points and McCall would have done well for a few rounds because of his short aggressive bursts and he does have decent hand speed and quick feet, until Holmes adapted and he would win something like a 117-111 decision
