Lennox Lewis' best win...

lewis just outside my top ten, although i do change my mind with regards this from time to time...

1. ali...speed, the era(s) he succeded in, level of competiton, wins over frazier, foreman, liston etc...and his inate ability to find a way to triumph against adversity puts him all time number one for me

2. louis...stalking, powerful boxer/puncher...hard night head to head for many

3. holmes..controversial??...head to head astylistic nightmare for many, even in his comeback his win over mercer and perofrmance against evander show him to be a much better boxer than foreman in my opinion, long title reign, great jab, great chin

4. liston...just cos he is liston i guess....looks to give most top twenty fighters nightmares, ramrod jab with pulversing power, can box or brawl, aura

5. johnston...defensive genuis, great power and accuracy, and big and athletic....

6. frazier...i just think that joes victory over a great version of ali shades foremans victory over him but loss to ali ..in general, i find frazier underrated and although i love big george, he sdeems overrated by many

7. foreman...huge power, great chin, pulverising wins over frazier twice and norton, both fighters who gave ali fits, but the loss to ali and young,and even the give and take brawl with lyle relegate him in my atg list

8. marciano, superb conditioning, will to win, remorseless attack, finishing instinct and THAT record place him above dempsey for me

9. dempsey..ferocity, power to weight, the cruhsing victory over willard and fearsome brawl with firpo put him top ten but innactivity and failure to fight the best black fighters mark him down

10. holyfield...i rank him higher than lewis, who i have 12, and tyson who i have 11 because in my opinion, he is a head to head headache for so many of the top ten..supremely conditioned, can box, or more likely brawl, fantastic workrate, superb chin, could beat fighters he shouldnt on will and heart


now il go hide as y'all shoot me down in flames

incidentally i think the fights where lewis was really up against it, im thinking mercer, klitschko, even briggs and moments agains mavrovich were his best fights..sure blow outs are more impressive on paper but his coming through adversity and triumphing was always more worthy to me...bruno and mason were other examples where he had to dig deep and show he had the requisite cojones to go with his induibitable physical tools

 

No, good list and good reasoning :good

Liston was a beast but for me, his two wins over Patterson, as dominant and brutal as they are, do not make up for a relatively short stint as 'the man' and a lack of real depth in his resume (Folley, Machen, couple of more decent scalps but nothing mind blowing) but, as I said earlier I find it hard to rank him, because by watching him, I can tell that Sonny was one of the Greatest Heavyweights that ever lived.

Johnson and Dempsey were too inactive for my liking, and Dempsey went all out to avoid his no.1 contender in Greb. They were the first celebrity champions of the 20th Century, and there inactivity reflects this. Again, both were clearly brilliant, but I'd have Tunney over Dempsey myself.

I'd say Lennox deserves to be ranked over all three I've mentioned, personally. But good list and as I don't remember seeing you before, good post and Hi :good

 

usually post in the classic section bro, cheers..(or lounge when i fancy a giggle haha)

 

Lewis always found a way to win. Smart boxer, with all the tools.

Fave fight for me was Ruddock.

Soft spot for the Botha fight too but only cos I was there. And it was birthday.

 

i agree with that in his day, but do you really think frazier, foreman, tyson, holyfield, lewis, bowe, klitschko would have been intimidated by him, because i don't

 

Foreman was, he has said as much. He had massive respect for him and has said that his sparring sessions with Liston were very difficult indeed.

 

and that was OLD liston....liston i think is unfairly remembered as the old fighter who surrendered to ali, and for sure, the unsavoury ending to these fights should hurt his legacy..however, having done a wee bit of research, he was a tremendous boxer who could box and brawl, he could fight inside, had great power that he carried throughout fights and i think the best summarisation came from one of his sparring partners who said....'if sonny can touch you, he can hurt you...'.....

remember also, we arent, or i wasnt, making a head to head list..that would be different..i was trying to encapsulate what fighters did, how skilled they were, what they achieved....im sure many of the later fighters may have just been to big, too strong for liston, but thats the enthralling thing about these debates, we will never know....

 

As a matter of fact it's completely the opposite with me. I think Liston matches up well head-to-head, it's the lack of depth in his quality wins that makes it hard for me to justify a lofty ranking :good

 

Golota fight was his best win, Coz Golota looked in great shape in his previous fight with bowe & lewis made golota look like a club fighter!

 

yeah no way on dempsey in the top 10. atsch

 

Im too young to have seen the Rudoock fight but Lennox is a massive hero of mine and I think of the two Holyfield fights as his best. The rematch with Rahman must rank as one of his personal fav's.

If Lewis was American he would be rated much higher.

 

Michael Grant win for me.

 

The Morrison win whilst not his best is underrated quite often. Lennox took Tommy apart that night, it looked like he was having a laugh at times.

 

It depends what your basing it on performance or opponent?

Lewis beat alot of solid fighters in the likes of Mercer, Golota, Morrison, Ruddock, Tua etc. He never got a win over a prime Bowe, Holyfield or Tyson.
But Lewis took care of business in convincing fashion unlike Holyfield who struggled vs guys like Alex Stewart and Bert Cooper. Holyfields entire HW legacy is built on beating a very much past prime Tyson who lacked his old stamina and skill set.

Im hard pressed to pick any of Lewis's opponents over Vitali...so in terms of opponent he might be his best win.

 

Totally agree. Liston was a beast but (IMHO!!) when ranking you've got to ask "Who did this guy beat and under what circumstances?". Otherwise you'll always favour the Darcys, Listons, Pryors over the Leonards, Alis, Haglers.