How big is Lennox Lewis' "run"?

He couldn't beat Marciano.

 

Nobody can!

 

As long as we can all admit that.

 

It's a very good run, no question. Would loved to have seen Holyfield v Lewis I directly after the second Moorer bout. Time certainly caught up with Evander before the Lewis fights.

 

The two sides of Lennoxs run is that while he didn't fight possibly Bowe, Moorer, Foreman or Wlad(who was a champ when he was) he probably beat 18 of the top 25 HWs of his era. However his reign(s) were shorter than Louis, Ali, Wlad and Holmes. Of those 4 Holmes is the only one missing multiple top opponents. I think they'd all at least match that 18/25 figure.

I have Lennox fighting 23 title contenders. Everyone else with a comparable reign has fought 30 as has Holyfield because he was gifted so many title shots. Tyson had a shorter reign but he fought 25.

On the flipside Wlad is the only HW whose debuted since 1990 whose fought 20 contenders(he fought 33). In this timespan the most anyone has fought is 16 and thats Derek Chisora whose lost most those fights. So Lennoxs "list of names" really dwarfs the current era. Maybe things change but its possible no one approaches Lennoxs resume for decades.

I have always found it odd that people care that Lennox didn't fight Chris Byrd. Wladimir Klitschko was a champ for the last 3 years of Lennoxs career but he didn't fight Chris Byrd. Dempsey and Wills 2.0.

 

I recognize it starting in 2000. When it becomes major is a grey area. But at least they weren't stripping their champ and giving it to someone that champ beat!

Anyway he beat Chris Byrd for that belt!

 

What happened to Frank Bruno , Gary Mason, Vitali Klitschko, Rahman 2, Tyson, Akinwande ? I'd say Lewis has as good a heavyweight resume as anyone ...

 

For me its got to be weight class by weight class. Because the belts worthiness is not uniform.

For me Wlad v Byrd, Shufford, Botha, Mercer, McCline and Corrie Sanders are major title worthy matchups in that era. More worthy than the Brewster era that started in 04.

 

Even if we look at it division-by-division, the WBO heavyweight strap was still a B-league championship, and remained so until mid-to-late '00s.

The only fights you mention that could be considered - with some stretch of the imagination - as "major title worthy matchups" are the Byrd and McCline bouts. But, in reality, there was little to nothing "major" about them.

I'm also not sure why you've put a 41 year old Mercer in that list. He was some way off world class by that stage and stands out here as somewhat of a case in point.

 

Mercer won 7 in a row before that fight and won 4 in a row after it. I think Mercers overrated to high heavens by some but he was a worthy title challenger in 2002.

Brewsters reign is more the minimum for "major title worthy matchups". Wlads 1st reign was a bit better than that. Higher quality then the 2010s WBC matchups thats for sure.

 

It was a decent run. But Lewis’s all time greatness lies within the FULL body of his career from the amateurs all the way to his retirement. And not just one run between defeats