Corrie Sanders: best wins and career analysis

"no one avoided him that I can remember"

How do you know? Most matchmakers aren't as stupid as K2; they don't see a relatively unknown, 6'4, fast handed, power punching southpaw with lots of amateur experience and think "that's a great fight, let's do it". Roy Jones said of Sanders "Why am I going to fight a 6'4 lefty for no title?" Many others would have thought the same. Botha for instance wasn't going to fight Sanders even though he easily could have in a big domestic South African fight, given what happened in all of their amateur meetings.

I can't imagine Steward was too keen on putting zero pro southpaw experience Lewis in with "the most dangerous one-round fighter in HW history", who he thought would beat Rahman with superior speed and skills.

Boxers/their teams are always ducking and big southpaw punchers are at the top of the list, for obvious reasons.

“I remember Mickey Duff (matchmaker), when offered an opponent, would always ask two questions: Is he a southpaw? Can he punch?" - Adam Booth

 

"In early 2000 Lewis named Sanders, Botha and Tua as possible next opponents after Grant."

How many southpaws did Lewis fight in his career? There is a conspicuous absence however you want to dress it up. He was asked about Sanders (and Byrd) going into the Vitali fight (when he still planned to have another 3 fights) and he expressed no interest:

"Question: Are either Tyson or Sanders possible opponents for you down the road?

Lewis: (Silence)…. I think you have your answer.

Steward: Tyson does not want to fight, so how can you fight someone that does not want to fight? We have gone to court to force Tyson to fight. Sanders is not really established as a fighter. His only claim to fame is beating (Wladimir) Klitschko. If the public demands it, maybe we will fight Sanders, but right now, Lewis is focused on fighting only top notch, quality opponents. I do not think Sanders is exciting right now."

"Question: How you considered fighting Chris Byrd?

Lewis: You cannot put a lion in there with a bird."

"Botha was more proven"

Proven at failing drug tests following a controversial decision that became a NC with Schulz, losing to Moorer, losing to Tyson and drawing with Briggs, who had recently lost to Lewis. Lewis/Steward were looking for an easy, low risk defence (which was heavily criticised at the time) over a far more dangerous one. Sanders' wins over Cole, Czyz, Puritty, De Leon, Williams, Cooper, Nelson and Billups were more impressive than anything multiple time Sanders-victim Botha had done and a couple of those wins had aged very well by that point.

"Truth is he was never really ducked by anyone"

This is like saying "Tony Thompson was never ducked by anyone" or "Ortiz was never ducked by anyone". Good southpaws, especially big southpaws with power, are always heavily avoided and this would have been the case to a greater degree back then when so few heavies had pro southpaw experience.

 

Sanders beat a young Wlad who was vulnerable but very skilled and powerful, hence he shut out and battered Byrd who Vitali couldn't put a dent in over 9 rounds and often missed wildly against before quitting. The Byrd who outboxed Tua and shut out Holyfield, who was coming off a win over Rahman. Lewis mutual opponents Phil Jackson and Mercer got destroyed. A very green Wlad demolished the other mutual opponent he had with Vitali (G. Williamson) in 3 rounds to Vitali's 6. So offensively speaking young Wlad was very dangerous and a stylistic nightmare for many.

Sanders showed a far superior level of offensive ability to Puritty (who Sanders schooled 11-1) and Brewster, it's beyond dispute.

 

"Greg Gorell"

Aside from being a total nonentity like all of Lewis's first 11 opponents, Gorell didn't fight Lewis southpaw. Greg Hardy is also listed as a southpaw but hasn't been boxing southpaw for whatever reason. Whereas Nistor is listed as orthodox but is a southpaw.

"Byrd was simply unmarketable as a fighter"

Wasn't there an $8 million payday on the table to fight him? I've read that Lewis was heavily criticised for avoiding Byrd. Too many coincidences. But Lewis had his career managed well.

"Wlad was seen as a Tony Yoka"

Disingenuous. Wlad was regarded as the 2nd best heavyweight in the world and the heir apparent, had beaten Vitali-Tua-Holyfield conqueror Byrd and made 5 defences of the WBO. Like Lewis, Steward wasn't keen on the fight because, as he said privately: "Sanders is probably the most dangerous one-round fighter in heavyweight history".

"Guess Zhang vs Hrgovic and Joyce didn't just happen"

Zhang was coming off the Forrest draw, looked easily beatable and was 39, thought to be on the slide. What happened? Hrgovic goes life and death, takes big damage and needs an A-side decision. Then Joyce's team set him up and he gets smashed twice by Zhang.

Yours isn't a good argument for southpaws not being dangerous, nor does it mean that Sanders wasn't heavily avoided decades prior.

"You've simply created an inane reason for him being ducked"

Matchmaker Mickey Duff: Is he a southpaw? Can he punch?

How is being a tall, big punching, quick-handed southpaw an "inane" reason to be avoided? If you want to avoid what happened to Wlad, you duck an opponent like that. But the K2 matchmakers were clearly insane.

Lewis never fought a southpaw as a pro, despite there being at least two good ones around who wanted to fight him. Your spin can never change that, it will always be a hole in his record. Even if Lewis didn't duck he has zero record against southpaws. The same can't be said for Holyfield.

"because nobody cared about Sanders"

They cared about Botha though. Lewis didn't have a problem fighting Mavrovic either, despite being a domestic level and journeyman basher.

You're not going to get on the radar if you're avoided. Thompson is a perfect example. He beat some minor names as Sanders did but the only big name willing to fight him was Wlad until he was 41+. Ortiz likewise only got a big fight when he was on the cusp of turning 39.

There are more relevant articles on boxing in the last several years so it's easier to find info on ducking more recently. But I've given you many quotes before regarding Ortiz being avoided and you've tried to pretend it wasn't happening because it doesn't suit your narrative.

 

I mentioned that Sanders was "unknown" (to the general boxing public) in the first post. When a dangerous fighter takes a loss it provides additional justification to avoid him. Du Plooy, Cooper, Billups, Williams, De Leon, Czyz etc. were guys that everyone else was fighting and Sanders was frequently looked more impressive by demolishing them. Ortiz was also unknown prior to beating Jennings. As good as he often looked in his fights, his best win was probably Zack Page by TKO8 prior to Kayode or Jennings.

 

"All of that"

You've been writing essays in this thread too. In fact, you're the one who turned it into a Lewis thread, proclaiming insistently that Lewis didn't duck Sanders. There was a single brief and unrelated reference to Lewis in my original post.

The point of the original post was to detail facts about Sanders' career. Your first contribution to the thread was to mention how he lost to N. Tubbs and Rahman, suggesting you didn't even read my post which included those facts, and then to generally discredit him to the level of a journeyman by putting his win on a par with Puritty's.

"single example of a fighter ducking"

I provided many examples of fighters ducking Ortiz to you (there's less information on the internet from 20-30 years ago) and every time you made excuses, even when the fighter's promoter or the fighter himself said so. So it's pretty futile. You, I and everyone else knows that a big, hard punching, quick handed southpaw who is beating cruiser titlists and well known journeymen and fringe contenders early is generally in the who needs him club.

"All you are doing is stating an opinion based on a logical fallacy"

It's not just an opinion that Lewis never fought a southpaw, despite Byrd and Sanders wanting to fight him.

You are always inclined to attack southpaw heavyweights purely because Lewis never fought any. It's very boring.