Did Lennox Lewis avoid southpaws?

He took on Gorrell not long after he turned pro. Lewis was in his 6th fight and Gorrell tho nothing special had 21 wins behind him. Barely anyone realizes Lewis even fought a southpaw. How many did guys like Ali, Holmes, Louis and Marciano fight i wonder.

 

Not a big Lewis fan myself but he fought every top fighter who was willing to fight him

There weren't many good southpaws except Moorer and Sanders. Sanders was unknown and Moorer lost to Foreman, otherwise Moorer may have fought Lewis.

 

Byrd too, but my answer is no, he did not. He just got tired of mandatories as his career was winding down.

 

Word was Lewis struggled with lefties I heard that as well, but it’s so long ago I can’t source it. In the past there weren’t many good southpaws but the 90s produced 3, Moorer, Sanders and Byrd. For someone that fought a lot of what the 90s offered it is a little interesting he didn’t meet any of these guys.

 

I would have liked to see Sanders-Lewis and Sanders would be a live underdog. However, Sanders wasn't fully focused on boxing at the time.

 

I guess that is a question that only he can answer.

 

I don't believe any rumours about Lennox struggling with southpaws in sparring. Because there weren't any good southpaws in his era for him to struggle with that he also had access to spar with. The only way it could be true is if he sparred with Sanders. And he called Sanders before Sanders KO'd Wlad so it's possible I suppose.

Not really. Moorer ducked Lennox, as did all the American champions until Holyfield eventually grew some balls. Byrd was only a contender when Lennox was winding down his career and fighting the 2 biggest fights in Tyson and Vitali. He could have fought Byrd but it was a nothing fight for Lewis at that stage

Oh and King said he had paid Lewis £650,000 and a Range Rover to give up his IBF belt rather than face mandatory challenger Byrd.

 

"They should outlaw Southpaws"
Mickey Rockys trainer

 

I partially agree. Byrd was no threat to Lewis

However, I do not believe Holyfield grew anything, he was always willing to fight Lewis. The timing didn't work. When Holyfield lost to Bowe, he was focused on getting a Bowe rematch. Bowe ducked Lewis. Holyfield never did.

 

I don't think a lot of olympic champions would have a issues against southpaws. Lennox fought at international level from an early age, he drove all the way to Brooklyn so he could spar Tyson and was a two time olympian, so I bet he was tested against southpaws. There aren't a lot of elite heavyweight southpaws in the pro's to this day and I don't see Moorer or Byrd beating Lewis, Sanders was really good tho but he became a serious contender at the end of Lewis career.

 

Sanders said that Lewis told him that his camp had had concerns about facing him and had preferred not to fight him. Whether Lewis told the truth or whether he was pumping Sanders up for the Wlad fight is a matter for debate.

 

Gorrell was so bad I don't think he even knew he was a southpaw.

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I suppose you might want to call him a seasoned switch hitter.

 

There really weren’t many elite level southpaws in the division then.