How many prime fighters has Lennox lewis beaten?

And let's be honest, that "draw" with Marion Wilson was generous to Mercer.

 

I think 1992 Razor Ruddock might well be described as "prime" when Lewis beat him.
He was rated very highly at the time, many had him as the leading contender for Holyfield or even the best in the world, expected to beat Lewis by a lot of people, was 28 years old.
Only in retrospect do people doubt he was prime, because Lewis completely müllered him.

 

Yes, Ruddock gave an under 30 Mike Tyson one of the fights of his life. That second fight had more than a few occasions where Mike was rocked, in fact that and the Douglas fight are where I started believing Mike truly had a good chin and very good heart.

 

You're still on Ray Mercer ..

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A lot of the criticisms seem reasonable though. Why couldn't he fight Mercer, Holyfield, and Tyson earlier? Had he beaten prime versions of Tyson and Holyfield among others that would significantly boost his resume

 

He consistently came up short in big fights. I don't see why people are supposed to be wowed by wins over Cooper or Morrison. Morrison lost to Bentt and drew with Purrity. Why is beating him evidence of great prowess on Mercers part. The Witherspoon win was controversial and Witherspoon was pretty old by the standards of the day. Describing him as a gatekeeper doesn't seem outrageous

 

The question is was he , at his best, a formidable opponent .. in specific big fights, a title bout w Damiani, a highly publicized fight at the time against Morrison, a big fight against Holyfield when Evander was one of the two best heavyweights in the world, against Lewis the same .. the point is that he was a very dangerous opponent when motivated and a quality win for Lennox which is what this thread is about , nothing more ..

 

There’s a difference between peak and prime.

Peak means at the height of their powers, the point in a fighter’s career where he fought at his highest level with the most consistency.

Prime has to do with when a fighter has become physically mature and experienced. It’s a period of however-many years a fighter is capable of competing with top competition.

I’d argue that Mercer was in his prime by the time he fought Lewis. As noted, he got a late start and has a bit of a spotty record because he was on a learning curve. Larry Holmes took him to school but he learned from that fight. And I don’t think Mercer was in decline when he fought Lennox so he was prime, although the period that he’s at his peak — which is almost always a shorter period of time than the fighter’s prime — may not have been in that span.

The Mercer who fought Lewis was neither still on a physical or educational curve (pre-prime) nor starting to deteriorate (post-prime).

 

Holyfield lost his titles multiple times and had retired due to a heart condition before the Lewis fight really started coming into fruition. He was fights Bowe multiple times and then after getting knocked out he was fed to Tyson (who could have fought Lewis but instead was opted to fight Holyfield by King) Those are a few reasons why. Don King also paid Lewis 4 million to not fight Tyson and allow Tyson to fight Seldon which would set up a Lewis/Tyson fight with each getting 30 million guaranteed from that fight instead of the original amount proposed. And keep in mind Tyson was locked up for about 3 years before getting out in 1995 and obliterating Bruno.

Lewis loosing to Mccall was also a reason.

The reality is more of a case can be made that Lewis was somewhat avoided. Bowe didn't want those hands again, Moorer clearly wanted nothing to do with Lewis, Tyson went the Holyfield route, etc.

 

They didn't want to fight him. Nobody looked forward to facing him. The big names with something to lose always found an easier matchup. That wasn't hard to do.
If you were a heavyweight boxer in the 1990s one thing you didn't want was Lennox Lewis hitting you. He had power but he also had patience and a measure of precision and accuracy. At 6-5 he was a rough nite. Even Holyfield who was a great warrior only faced Lewis when there was nobody else viable.
In hindsight it would have been interesting if Lennox hadn't picked up the vacant WBC belt Bowe tossed away and ran. Then he would have stayed in the other organizations ratings and applied pressure....Tyson had his own issues, Holyfield, Foreman, Moorer, Bowe were able to pretend Lewis wasn't there and the American media helped them..

 

He was certainly avoided. He biggest sin was losing to McCall. It stalled his rise but led to him improving in some areas with Steward.

 

One of Ray Mercer's best wins was against Bert Cooper. On paper it looks like so what? Cooper had several losses. Mercer faced a prime Bert Cooper, clean, focused, well trained, he put Mercer through hell. Doesn't matter that he lost some fights. Foreman has the same name on his record but he didn't fight the same guy Mercer did.

 

That's your opinion, and there's some truth to that.
Foreman's win over Cooper is still better.
Bowe's win over Cooper is better still.

 

Perhaps you can help by telling us when did Lennox Lewis ever duck or delay fighting anyone ? He was the man that wanted all of them from the time of his Ruddock fight on .. he was the one everyone wanted to avoid at all cost. He was the the guy they all ducked be it through the crooked ranking bodies or promoters protecting their fighters . Let';s face the facts , at his best Lennox Lewis was by far the best super heavyweight that ever lived. He fought everyone when they'd fight him .. the very few he didn't fight avoided him shamelessly .. he was not perfect. He got caught twice as we all know but he also came back and dominated both men .. he never faced a man as a professional that he didn't defeat ..He is without question an all time top five heavyweight .. the rest if this is splitting hairs .. Emanual Steward said legitimately and not as some promoting trainer that at his best he felt Lennox would be a horrendous challenge for any fighter, ever. I believe him ..

 

Tommy Morrison was in his prime. Lewis at his best. Lewis for some prime guys, just not Holyfield or Tyson. Rhaman and McCalll were in their primes and that didn't work out to well.