Higher in ATG list: Lewis or Calzaghe...

Lewis by far... is this even a contest?

 

Actually the opposite is true . . . I am surprised that Lennox is winning on this poll. JC (Joe Calzage, not Jesus Christ) and the Kbros are the most overrated fighters in the last 25 years. I have read on several occasions that their fans fell that they are GOATs and H2H that they could beat anyone in there divisions. Wow, Maybe it is the few crazy fans that constantly post crap that make it seem like that is all I ever read about these guys. It is actually quite sad because I respect all three men and it is the Yahoos that stop me from becoming a fan.

 

lewis by a country mile

 

You can do what you've just done with ANY former champion from Ali to SRL, but I'll humor you non the less.

Lewis had been talking about retirement since 2000, he came in at his heaviest ever and out of shape. He retired at the perfect time. If people think the Lewis that fought Vitali should have fought on.... well I don't know what to say really...

Conveniently miss out the fact Lewis was also past his best.
MOST people feel Lewis won the rematch, what the minority thinks is inconsequential.

True, but Lewis was around 4 years past prime. Lewis beats any version of Tyson post Rooney imo.

Lewis would have destroyed Bowe as a professional.
Bowe wanted no piece of Lewis.

True, but again the majority think he won, what the minority think is of little importance.

Ali was losing to Foreman before he turned it round, Jackson-Graham, Weaver-Tate, Ward-Sanchez I could go on, I don't get your point.

The one thing no-one can question is his resume. He fought all mandatories/top contenders, ducked nobody.

I'm 50/50 with this one.

This isn't a dig btw, it's just demonstrating that if you want you can do what you just did with ANY fighter.

 

Lewis and its not even close. Calzaghe while undenialbly was the best super middleweight for years, his level of opposition was poor, even Otkke fought better opposition during his reign.

The fact that after beating Eubank it took him almost 10 years to face anyone anywhere near as good as a faded Eubank says alot about his career. And even to this day that win against Eubank along with Kessler are still his best wins. The wins against a shot Jones and a faded Hopkins are **** poor and the fight against Hopkins was still close despite Bernard having one foot in the grave.

While I have no problem ranking Calzaghe as the best supermidlle weight ever it can't compare to Lewis reign and fights during the most competiive heavyweight era since the golden era of the 70's.

 

Spot on. I've always said the same but you won't convince them on here.

 

considering how much i ****ing dislike calzaghe this was actually tough for me.

calzaghe is far and away the number 1 super middle of all time, dominated the b and c level comp of his division for 10 years, when he did step in up he beat the only two viable contenders in lacy and kessler.

lewis however cleaned on the heavyweight division for a 5 or so year period. his resume is drastically underrated by some and his H2H ability is drastically overrated by others. he was a brilliant fighter, who owned his piece of heavyweight history, beat every man he ever faced and retired on top (like calzaghe)

I give it to lewis based on the fact that he fought more legitimate competition over a longer period of time but it's close for me, not quite the blowout that many feel it is

 

personally, think that's fair :good

 

Lewis easily.

Calzaghe only has himself to blame for not chasing better opposition.

 

what? calzaghe WANTED to fight the best. he was just allergic to america. that's a fact, it's in his bio.

 

Most of the guys here in this thread who praise Lewis endlessly weren't around in the mid to late 90s when Lewis was HATED. Nobody gave him any respect although he kept outclassing the #1 contenders one after another. Our opinion of Lewis became much more benevolent well after he retired. Over time, we tend to forget his bad fights, we kindly forget his few weaknesses and we recall only his best fights and his strengths in the ring. It's human nature.

We will view Calzaghe in a much more favorable light in 3-4 years time, trust me.