Better career: Lennox Lewis or Joe Calzaghe

Very seldom do I bother voting in polls. Usually only in predictions.

I really don't like comparing fighters from two different weight divisions. Especially if one is a heavyweight. Lennox didn't have an opportunity to move into another division to win another title as Joe did. Joe on the other hand was in a division that doesn't get the sort of limelight that the Heavyweight division does. So, his opponents have been exposed a lot less to the general public, and don't get the same name recognition.

Also, Lewis became a better technical fighter as he got older, and was actually fighting at his best when the world finally came around to him. Joe Calzaghe, imo... was clearly on the slide himself by the time that he hit center stage, and although he still looked brilliant... he really wasn't at his best. He had REALLY taken a lot of steam of his punches by that time.

Both of them are great fighters, both of them had great careers. I really don't feel the need to chose between them. If you have noticed, I really don't even like ATG lists. I would much rather rank each fighter according to their own weight class... in their own eras. It's the only real way to do things. Everything else is just guess work.

 

Yeah... I never give Lewis credit. I guess considering him an ATG just isn't giving him credit. I have said MANY times that head to head, he is a threat to anyone. However, as far as his reign as Champ goes.. it honestly wasn't that impressive. I don't even see how it is arguable.

BTW... Joe Calzaghe wasn't seen as a real danger to everyone in his division?

 

Not even close :rofl
Lewis defeated Tyson-holyfield-Tua-Golota-Briggs-Grant-Bruno-Ruddock-morrison

calzaghe beat Kessler and lacy :happy 43 yrs old Hopkinsatsch 39 yrs old Jonesatsch

 

Calzaghe beat the top guys around at his time and so did Lewis. Calzaghe never got caught by second level guys though, so I'll go with him.

What's with all the "Lewis by far" posts?

 

So if American fight fans think Lewis has better career and UK fight fans think Calzaghe has the better career,why do you think this is?......maybe because Lewis fought so much in America and Americans have little interest in fighters who fight outside of America.

 

Exactly, he was surely able to beat any fighter in his division but was never called the most feared man in his division. Even Kessler, before being schooled by Joe, was seen as a greater threat. Joe was the king but not the feared ruller Lewis was between 1997 and 2003. Except the lost to Rahman, but this was the upset of the year in 2001.

 

Lewis didn't even make his first defense as undisputed Champ until the year 2000. He wasn't the ruler since 1997. Are you talking about punching power or something? What the hell does that have to do with the greatness of one's career? Look at Pernell Whitaker. BTW... Calzaghe had 32 Ko's in 46 fights. Lewis had 32 knockouts in 44 fights. Not a big difference. Also, if you don't remember, Lennox was actually considered a very vulnerbale fighter due to the nature of his losses. Everyone and their mother used to call Lewis out.

 

As i said erlier, its so easy to twist the reality and then say its a FACT. Since the destruction of Golota in 97, for the WBC heavyweight title and after the great match between him and Shannon Briggs, yes he was a fearsome ruller. I know you dont agree but even Ali and Foreman agree on that.

Even 'The Greatest', Muhammad Ali recently paid tribute to Lewis' excellence. Ali was with Lewis at a Canadian Football League ceremony to celebrate Lewis' KO of Tyson. "I'm here because I was the greatest," he told an ecstatic crowd in Toronto. "I'm now no longer the greatest. He's the greatest, he's the champ," he said, pointing to Lennox Lewis.

Lewis may actually be the greatest heavyweight champion of all time, or at the very least, among the elite pantheon of masters such as Ali, Louis, Holmes, Marciano, Dempsey and Johnson. George Foreman agreed with this idea. "Lennox is beyond doubt the greatest heavyweight of all time," Foreman said. "He is not second any more. He is there at the top of the tree

 

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Errrrr....Kessler and Lacy then Hopkins at LH who was ring champ.

 

Why did you just copy/paste 2/3 of that post from an article on the web? You also act like it backs up your statement about Lewis being the ruler of the division since 1997... when the article if I remember correctly was from 2002 after Lewis beat Tyson.

BTW... the only part of the post that you came up with yourself, you were once again wrong. Lewis didn't become Champ by beating Golota.atsch He became WBC Champ for the second time by beating McCall in their second fight for the vacant WBC title. Don't you remember McCall being taken out of Crack rehab and having a breakdown in the ring?

 

Lennox by a landslide.

 

I know its possible to find the same kind of praise for Joe, but its much harder.