How do you rate Lennox Lewis as a body puncher?

ohhh that's a dangerous question to ask. the body is not just the key to the head, it can win fights on its own merit

 

Fitzsimmons, Burns, Langford (coloured champion), Schmeling, Louis

 

"Because the body aint got any eyes"

Sam Langford

If a fighter is durable or can guard their chin one way or another then a body attack may be a better strategy for weakening them. While head shots may be all or nothing to an extent, a body attack provides a steady atrition.

I would consider a lack of body attack a verry serious weakness in any fighter. I would also categorise any fighter who relied entirley on head shots as being limited in their approach.

 

countless fighters have said that you can recover from a head shot but not a body shot. it's a long term investment over fights and when properly utilized (micky ward, fitz, jeffries) can provide stunning knockouts on its own

 

vs Tua doesnt really count because Tua and his manager Kevin Barry are on record (I watched the news footage myself pre-fight) saying he had injured a rib in training.
I think it was round 3 that Tua got hurt there

 

When he did it, he was effective. He hurt Holyfield badly with a big looping left to the stomach in their first fight.

However, because of his style of fighting on the outside and his height, it would have been stupid for him to have worked the body. It would have meant lowering his hands and leaning forward, which would have been a bad idea, to put it mildly.

 

Lewis does not have much of a body attack by plan, but this is not to say he could not in fight. Lewis clinched well, and had a heck of an uppercut.

 

Bowe who usually liked to work his way to the inside was a very good body puncher for a tall guy.