I would have to say Holyfield. He fought everyone. He might not have always won them; but he still got in the ring. He fought Bowe. Thats something Lennox and Tyson never did.
Lewis by a long shot. Tyson had the worst......well that he beat. Tyson lost to every great fighter he faced.
Yeah, but Lewis took on faded versions of the great fighters he did face, which isn't much better. Only Holyfield has wins over two of the other four top guys of the era when they were formidable opponents.
A fighter gets old over night in this sport. Tyson and Holy, both have losing records after taking on Lewis. Holy was considered shot in 96, Tyson wasnt in much better shape as we found out. Holy's prime was around 90-94. Tyson's prime was somewhere between 88-92. Lewis fought Holy in 98-99, and later faced a shadow of Tyson in 2002. :yep Lewis just doesnt have any signature type wins we would expect of a HW Great. Especially considering a lot of people on this forum are rating him in the top 6-7 all time. To be rated that highly he would have to have beaten Holy, Tyson, or Bowe, in their prime. At least 2 of the 3 in significant fashion. For that type of rating, Lewis would had to have beaten at least one HW great contemporary, -to even be mentioned. There is nothing in Lewis's career that is anymore special than what Holy and Tyson had already done. Ex. Holy beating Foreman and Holmes....etc.
Beating old Holyfield and old Tyson (by Lewis) is on the same level as beating old Holmes and old Foreman (by Holy and Tyson), and maybe a little more than beating old Ali by Holmes .... Ali was much more faded than others mentioned above when he fought Holmes in early 80ties.
Holyfield's career resume is better than either Lewis's or Tyson's, but his heavyweight resume isn't better than Lewis's. Holyfield fought similar, perhaps even better comp, but against Bowe and Lewis he won 1 out of 5 fights. Throw in Tyson and he's 3 out of 7. So while his comp is better than Lewis's his RESULTS, aren't.