Ruddock. The Grant win was very solid. He was shaping up as a major contender and was hyped at the time. Tucker, Bruno, Tua, Briggs, Morrison, Akiwande. All excellent wins. Golota, with the way he dispatched him, especially after his performances against Bowe less than a year earlier. Mercer. Came to fight that night and would of given hell to any champ. Very solid resume. It's a who's who of 90's stars. Only names missing from his period were Byrd, Ruiz, Yellow Bowe and maybe young Wlad.
Really great resume. Like Blake Rayne said the only big names that are missing are Bowe, Byrd, and Wlad. And we can only blame him for the Byrd fight not happening. Bowe ducked him, Wlad lost to Sanders. His biggest name wise opponent has to be Vitaliy or Holyfield. Tyson was shot, everybody else were just not as good as these two.
Mercer - Top contender and was in his prime having given Holyfield a very tough fight in his previous performance. Could be inconsistent but this was a focused and ambitious Mercer that Lewis faced. Golota - Despite being mentally fragile Golota was seen as a beast at the time having ruined Bowe in 2 losing efforts and would go on to give title holders Byrd and Ruiz very close, tough fights so clearly Golota was a very good top contender. Tua - Number 1 contender and a good record going into the fight with wins over future title holders, Ruiz, Rahman and Maskaev. Bruno - Perennial top contender and future title holder.
