Ezzard Charles vs John Henry Lewis?

This is a real toughie?!! Next to no footage of Henry Lewis - have some brief sparring footage of him - other than that about 5 secs of him being flattened by prime time Louis so going going solely on resumes etc I'd say It goes 15 and maybe Ez edges him - but then Archie Moore, who admittedly saw the best of Ez rated John Henry Lewis as THE greatest Light Heavy of all time so what would I know - would at least feel like I was allowed to have an opinion if I had at least seen one good fight of Henry Lewis in his prime??

 

I don't care how much Archie Moore tried to talk up John Henry Lewis... Ezzard Charles was a much better fighter than Lewis. Charles went 3-0 (1) vs. Moore btw.

Lewis has a very good resume, but Charles' resume is much better.

Charles by decisive decision.

 

:goodwell put

 

Charles easily. Lewis was good,but Ezzard was a class above.

 

It's pained me for a while now, how ignored is John Henry Lewis on all-time lists, where he usually features at #80-100; the 'incalculable section' wherein resides Young Corbett III also, as well as Sammy Mandell and Frankie Genaro.

Lewis was brilliant. 2-1 to Charles in a trilogy.

Only eight or nine fighters in history can muster up names and numbers that even compare to Ezzard's list - nevertheless, how's this for a surprise - all wins, by the way:

Yale Okun (x2)
Fred Lenhart (x2)
Lou Scozza
Norman Conrad
Young Firpo
Tony Shucco (x2)
Bob Olin (x3)
Tiger Jack Fox
Jock McAvoy
George Nichols (x2)
Charley Massera
Bob Godwin
Al Gainer (x2)
Red Burman
Al Ettore (x2)
Patsy Perroni
Johnny Risko
Elmer Ray
Jimmy Adamick

Jim Braddock
Maxie Rosenbloom (x2)
Len Harvey

A great record.

 

There are very, very few men I would give a 50/50 chance with Charles at 175lbs. John Henry, fine champ though he was,is not one of them.

 

YES I've always thought that too, and I've underlined all the well noted fighters that I'm aware of from your list of his opponents, some truly great top fighters also.

John Henry Lewis was indeed a Great!

 

if you've read some of my posts before with repect to ratings, I DON'T & I CAN'T...

there are too many "unknowns" when it comes too Ratings,
I DO recognize that ratings can give one a good measure and starting point, but they are NEVER absolute...

I also recognize that there are Elite fighters i.e, Greb, SRR, Joe Gans, Pep, Charles and many, many more (which is the point)... because the difference between Elite & Great is nominal, and the difference between Great and Excellent is also little!

I prefer to think of fighters at their absolute best, and just simply know that on any given night one COULD beat the other, because they are just that good.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to Truly Rate fighters, Truly.

I always say AMONG the Greats, or One of the Best, and JHL certainly was that!

 

No one should say Charles was "much better". There's not enough footage of JH Lewis to judge.
I think his record is outstanding.

I'd stick my neck out and say Ezzard Charles would probably win at least 1 against him if they fought 2 or 3 times. Because Charles beat everyone when he faced them 2 or 3+ times, at LHW.

 

This :good

And I don't put any LH in history in a "class above" Lewis. There may be some who could have beaten him, but never to the point where you'd think JHL was out of his league.