if lewis had?

No, because too many people are obsessed with athletes of the past... not just in boxing.

Just look up threads where people seriously discuss Marciano fighting Lewis or Klitschko (men who are taller with more reach and 60 lbs heavier than him).

 

If he didn't lose to McCall, would someone else have picked up on his balance problems and how open he was when he threw a right hand?

Would Lewis ever have worked with Steward, who helped him with some of these issues?

 

If Lennox had been born in the USA he'd be rated higher by many on this board.

 

If he hadn't lost to McCall and Rahman, he'd be rated in the top five, but still below Ali, and probably Joe Louis too. Maybe even one or two others.

But getting starched like that twice in the heart of his career is a MAJOR blemish, one that should rightfully drop him further than it does on many ATG lists. IMO, Lewis is very overrated.

 

Lewis should have lost 2 out of 3 in a trilogy (and narrowly win the one when the opponent was fat) and have needed 2 attempts to beat a chinny former light-heavyweight. The chinny former LHW would have then lost the title to a grandfather whom Lewis beat 3 years earlier, making Lewis's win over the grandfather look better because the grandfather went on to win the HW title!

 

That is because 90% of your analysis is based on chins. :good

 

If he hadn't lost to McCall would all his next fights be title defences? If so he'd be 43-0-1 with 22 title defences. If think he would be rated the best heavyweight ever.

 

Lewis´losses were bound to happen. His greatest weakness as a figther IMO is his lazyness outside and sometimes inside the ring. IF Lewis would have trained 100% every time and tried 100% everytime he probably wouldn´t have lost to McCall. But Butterbean might also be good IF he wasn´t a fat slob.

 

i think its always hard to compare todays fighters to the past ones.
if we all lived in all the eras we could compare to today but for that to happen we would have to be born in 1890 and live to be 100plus!!!
we can all say who was the best in their era but when you match all the greats up and visulise what could happen, its hard!!!
i believe lennox was the best of his era better than tyson, holyfield and bowe!!!

 

He would definitely be ranked in the top 3, Lewis was a great Heavyweight, but seems to be extremely overrated on these boards. In his prime he also had tough matches against Bruno, who had him severely rocked, Mercer he just barely beat, on my card he was lost by a point, as well as his knockout losses to less than great oppostion in his prime, Rahman and McCall. His only great wins were against fighters well past there primes, Tyson was nearly 14 years past his prime, while Holyfield was about 6 years past his.

Lewis is lower end, top 10 IMO, people wont be talking about him 50-60 years from now, Tyson and Holyfield will be talked about.

 

Why will people be talking about Tyson and Holyfield more than Lewis in 50 years?

Because they both lost to Lewis?
Because Holyfield lost against a man whose claim to fame is, um, beating Holyfield and getting his balls bashed against Golota (who got smashed by that Lewis guy)
Because Lewis never bit anybodys ear off in order to get out of a loss?

Tyson I can understand. In cold hard terms, his achievements are excellent, but he burnt out early. For any Tyson fan to say that he was past prime when he lost to Douglas is appalling. He was what, 23?

But he was exciting and terrifying when at this absolute best.

Holy not so much. The little engine that could really.

Lost his series with Bowe. Lost to a LHW. Got an absolute gimme to get a draw with Lewis.
Gets a pass for being old v Lewis - but credit for beating much older Holmes and Foreman???
A Warrior? Yes
Possibly the best cruiserweight ever? Yes.
P4P better than Tyson and Lewis? Yes.

But in pure, out and out heavyweight terms, he falls short of both Tyson and Lewis IMO.

When do you draw a line under his career for consideration?

He was considered washed up before the Tyson fights, but you want to count them, so not then.
He held 2 of the 3 belts before fighting Lewis, so probably not then.

AFter the Lewis fights? But then you can't count getting a title off Ruiz in one of the worst trilogies ever?

 

Joe Louis got starched in the prime of his career, is he overrated? I think Lennox is a top 5 all time, and he would be a tough match up for anyone H2H.

 

Lewis lost to McCall , and the reviewed his flaws and came back the best heavyweightin the world purely because of that loss, the McCall loss was the best thing that ever happened to Lewis.. He came back even stronger.

 

i dont know why there is ever a debate about lewis's greatness, the facts speak for themself.

olympic gold medalist
british champ
commonwealth champ
european champ
three time heavyweight champ and undisputed
lost twice but avenged both losses
beat all the names out there during his era and the quick blowouts of dangermen like grant and ruddock.