Does Lewis get to little or to much credit for beating Holyfield and Tyson

Yes you are spot on. Lewis does get far too much credit for beating subpar versions of Tyson & Holyfield. He couldn't even decisively dominate a faded Holyfield as he showed him way too much respect on both occasions. I would have to say Holyfield '92-'97 and Tyson '86-'88 would have beaten any version of Lewis in very impressive fashion, both by spectacular KO's.

 

I don't think he gets enough credit. I know both Holyfield and Tyson were past their best, but they are professional fighters who were training to win the fight. Holyfield still held titles at the time and Tyson while way past his best, was younger than Lewis. As a general rule, I hate it when a fight takes place and there's already a built in excuss as to why fighter x lost. If the outcome of the fight never meant anything, then why even have it?

And other question is if either Holyfield or Tyson won those fights would it have mattered then?

 

I think Lewis deserves some credit for those wins, but they should not be viewed as a defining moment in his career. Both of those guys were mere shadows of their former selves, and Lewis actually had better wins early on. I think his redeaming himself against Mccall and Rahman were big highlights as well as some of his earlier wins against Ruddock, Mason, Bruno, Morrison and a few others. No, these guys were not quite the fighters that Tyson and Holyfield were, but at least they were in their primes as was Lewis. Lennox desereves to be viewed as one of the greatest fighters of all time, but not by the means nor in the context that he is often depicted.

 

Well, some people uses always double standards, if they want to hype up their fighter they come with "He beat this fighter and that fighter, they were near their peak...", if they don´t like a fighter, they say "The best opponents he beat on paper were all completely shot...", IMO Lewis resume was very good and he gets too little credit for...

 

Do you agree that Holyfield's head was as smooth as the helmet on that deep sea diver in your avator?

 

99 % of the guys who say that Holy and Tyson wher past their prime when Lewis beat them . Before the fights picked Holyfield or Tyson to win. this is especially true in the Holyfield case.

 

Where can these stats be found? I never realized that 99% of the people who favoured Holy and Tyson over Lewis, also turned around and said that they were past their primes when it was all said and done. Was there some sort of pole that was taken both before and after these fights?

 

Well that doesnt' change the fact that Holy/Tyson were way past their best. I'm sure a lot of people still bought into the Tyson aura at that point, but it doesn't change the facts.

 

So I take it if Holyfield wins another title he'll still be viewed as washed up, and since he's washed up he shouldn't even be fighting for a title, does that sum up your position?

 

Bingo. The Holyfield that Lewis fought was 37 years old and CLEARLY on the downside of his career - yet he was very competitive in the second fight.

The Tyson that Lewis fought was utterly washed up, as evidenced by his horrid performances after this fight.

These fights, basically, tell us nothing about how Lewis would have matched up with prime versions of these fighters. Too many fans look at Lewis' record and assume just because these recognizable names are on his ledger that these guys - particuarly Tyson - really represented a stiff challenge at that point in time.

 

I thought it was of an astronaut, is it?

 

:good I'm glad someone agrees with me on this.

Lewis gets a hell of a lot of credit for beating Tyson, even a lot of people who never rated him really started to accept him as the real deal at the point he beat Tyson. The Tyson who fought McBride & Williams was not even an ounce better than the one who lost to Lewis. Those same people who always said Lewis was a boring fighter with no excitement and charisma suddenly started to change their tune after he beat Mike. Yet they don't start hailing McBride & Willams.