What has Lewis ever done in the ring that shows he didn't have heart? He fought everyone, wanted Bowe, destroyed the guys that beat him (the McCall stoppage was a bit quick, imo) how does he not have heart? That's because Lewis knew, despite Vitali's size & strength, that Evander was much more dangerous in the exchanges, even at his age.
I can't make my mind up in a H2H between Lewis & Bowe, so I'll go with.......a draw Prime Evander beats Lewis imo.
I don't think too many peoplel buy that "knock out" (including the announcers). That fight was stopped early, Bowe was dancing on his feet and waving his arms in the air, he looked quite fine to continue.
I personally do rank Bowe higher. I do understand why people rank Lewis higher than Bowe. Mostly because I think Bowe Accomplished more in his 3 fights with Holyfield than Lewis did in his entire career. I think Bowe at his peak was a better fighter. His win over past prime Holyfield was close to a draw imo. Knocking out Rahman or beating Tua does not equal what Bowe did. Lewis never had as great of performance against as great of fighter as Bowe beat 2x. I rank Bowes loss to Holyfield over any win Lewis has. Lewis draw vs Holyfield in their first fight was the pinnacle of Lewis career.
Lewis also destroyed Golota who beat the living heck out of Bowe twice. The problem is with Bowe is that the Holyfield fights are all his got, and he never fought any of the other dangerous Heavyweights of the 90s especially punchers. Lewis has just so many more quality wins than Bowe.
Bowes whole career is based on one night, one style matchup. If he had fought all the best of his generation all of his flaws would have been exposed, just like tysons lewis' and holyfields flaws were. Has anyone ever actually thought that maybe he just had holyfields number and against other fighters he would have been embarassed like norton was against foreman and shavers? If Norton only fought bums and ali you could also make him a mythical h2h beast. Bowe was outboxed by a fat old tubbs. He was hurt baldy by a shot biggs who couldnt really punch. His chin was nowhere near as good as many think. Douglas looked like he had an ATG with an iron jaw against tyson. He had a great night against holyfield one time. What i saw outside of that does NOT convince me that he would have beaten tyson or lewis. I believe he gets knocked out against both, he just got hit and hurt too easily.
That's a very good point about Norton had he fought the level of competition that did Bowe outside of Ali, Holmes, fights he would be considered a H2H menace aswell. I mean just look at Bowe's fights after Holyfield fights guys like a shot Michael Dokes, Jesse Ferguson, Buster Mathis Jr......
Bowe was shot to bits at that point. Lewis does have more wins, but not the high quality Bowe has. He did not beat a fighter of Holyfield calibre the way Bowe did. Vitali is high calibre but I don’t rank all wins the same.
Bowe beat Holyfield decisively once as did Lewis the draw was BS, Bowe lost a close decision to Holyfield, Lewis won a close decision over Holyfield so I don't understand what you mean ? Lewis on fair scorecards is 2-0 vs Holyfield Bowe is 1-2.
Prepare to be told about how the 3-year age "advantage" a 33-year old Lewis held over a 36-year Holyfield in their first fight, was so much greater than the 5-year "advantage" the 28-year old Bowe held over a 33-year old Holyfield in their 3rd fight. I accept the Holyfield from Bowe 1 had some attributes beyond the version from the 2 Lewis fights, but I also think the 215lbs & 217lbs Evan Fields of the 2 x Lewis fights held some advantages over the 205lbs Evander Holyfield from Lewis 1.
I agree the Holyfield draw for Lewis is his greatest achievement in the ring and it showed Lewis greatness. Their second fight was close enough to a draw for me that I can’t really call it a win for Lewis. Holyfield was well into a downward slide at that point but it’s still a great performance by Lewis. Not long after the Lewis fight Holyfield lost to a to Ruiz, Byrd and Toney. Do you think they should be credited for equaling what Lewis did? I don’t and I don’t think Lewis should be credited for equaling what Bowe did.