Does anyone have LL out of the top 5?

I have him at #6 currently. Wouldn't argue too strenuously with any rating from #4 to # 8 head to head, to be honest.

 

I would favor;
1 Ali
2 Louis
3 Holmes
4 Marciano
5 Foreman
6 frazier
7 Liston

Even odds:
1 Holyfield
2 Bowe

I would favor lewis:
1 Tyson
2 Dempsey
3 Johnson
4 jeffries
5 Patterson

Since I rank him 8th it fits in my rankings:
I rate dempsey higher, but favor LL head to head
I rate Lewis higher but favor liston H2H

 

I do have him outside the top 5.

However I do see where those who rank him higher are coming from. My abnormaly high ranking of fighters like Johnson and Jeffries (for this board) perhaps bumps him out of the top 5.

 

You can make a case that he's not top 5, but personally, I have him in my top 5 (top 3 actually).

 

He's outside my top five. I think if I were to compile a "theoretical round-robin record" of my top 25 or so, Lewis would probably come in around 10th.

 

Guys like Dempsey, Marciano, Louis, Ali are probably rated higher historically. But I believe the only one out of those four who would have had a chance against LL would have been Ali. Lewis is physically gifted and I cannot picture smaller heavyweights like those first three beating him. He's an amazingly athletic big man who could box and punch. He's not like the big stiffs like Willard and Carnera who were around back in the old days.

 

Its funny how this size thing comes up every day. The two preeminent skilled super heavys of the last 20 years are Lewis and Bowe.

Ray Mercer was 6 1 and a fat 15-16 stone. Joe Louis is a similar size to Ray Mercer - if anything, factoring in lean muscle only, Louis is probably a tad bigger. Mercer did not have enough 'size-related' problems with a prime Lennox to suggest for one second that Louis is too small to face him.

Evan Fields was a cruiser for a reasonable portion of his career. He was 'naturally' a smaller than Dempsey, Marciano and Louis. A (admittedly muscled, but still very small-framed) Holy beat an excellent version of Riddick Bowe in their second match.

 

These are the guys I think could beat Lewis at his peak

Muhammad Ali
Mike Tyson
Larry Holmes
George Foreman
Joe Frazier
Hasim Rahman
Oliver McCall
Evander Holyfield

 

Inside the top 5.........

i have no doubt a few could beat him, but that would probably be the case that on a few occasions Lewis could beat any one of those too.. Lewis is a deserved top 5 er . or you really in some sort of denial.. 260 pounds , at his best , beat every man he ever faced as a pro, a few may have beat him, but he did go and beat them too.. Did Foreman go back and beat Ali..? NO..
Did Frazier go back and beat George?? NO...
Did Johnson go back and defeat Willard.. NO... For gods sake Ali lost to Holmes .. I hear you say he wasn't in his prime.. (But Lewis wasn't when he faced McCall ) Foreman lost to Morrison (but but but..) There is always going to be a time that a fighter loses now and again, but over 10 fights i am sure that Lewis would have beaten almost any heavyweight through history more than once..

 

bert sugar has him at number 12.

 

Bert Sugar is a numb nut, who shouldnt be taken too seriously.

He is definately in the top 5. He had the genetics and the skills to dominate most heavyweights ever. Not to say the likes of Liston, Tyson etc wouldnt have a great chance of beating him, I think overall with a cool head pre fight Id pick Lewis to beat most of the guys out there.

Holmes jab and power gives Lewis fits imo, and I would side with Holmes, Alis speed could also be a problem as he had a good jab also, not sure if id pick him to beat him straight up though. Imo out of all the Great Heavys they have the best chance of beating Lennox on his best day.