If this forum were around in 2000-2001 everyone would Lewis after his KO loss to Rahman

I was on a boxing forum at that time. It was called Boxing Wise. It was one of the first boxing internet sites that had a forum. It began in the latter half of the 90s. It was very popular. But someone hacked it. The owner didn't have anything backed up. So it went from thousands of fans on there to just shut down overnight. Sucked.

But I was a fan of Lewis back then. To say people turned on Lewis when he got stopped by Rahman was an understatement.

First, a lot of fans in the US didn't like him. They thought he acted arrogant in his interviews or that he thought he was better than everyone. I didn't. But that seemed to be the gripe. There hadn't really been a great heavyweight from England before. So that was different. But even Brits seemed to have a hard time with him, because he was also Canadian. Lots of tribal loyalty going on.

HBO didn't seem to really care about him much, either, given he was a mainstay on their network. When Rahman knocked him out, you could hear Jim Lampley's excitement that a fighter from the "US" beat him. It was weird, really. And Merchant was downright insulting to Lewis after he beat Vitali Klitschko in the postfight interview.

Anyway, Lewis lost to Rahman. I went on the board (as a big Lewis fan) and people were saying "I told you he wasn't a great fighter." For some reason, the fact he lost twice by ONE PUNCH seemed to be a big deal. You could lose a lot of times, but the "ONE PUNCH" loss - not once but twice - seemed to disqualify him in their minds from ever being anything.

Like getting beaten up round after round, fight after fight, was better.

I was never so happy when he came back and wasted Rahman with ONE PUNCH and then beat Tyson and Vitali.

But Lennox was a guy who really people didn't appreciate until he was retired. Even after he retired, the fans who hated him were both pissed he retired, because they wanted to see Vitali beat him, and sure he'd come back and lose (and they couldn't wait for that so they could bash him again).

In the end, he was arguably the greatest of them all.

No heavyweight in history really had a better career. He won the Gold in the Olympics from a future Hall of Famer and Lineal Heavyweight Champ(Bowe). He beat everyone he faced as a pro. He stopped a Hall of Famer and lineal champ in his last fight. He retired on top as champ. Retired a wealthy man.

Nobody - Louis, Ali, Marciano, etc. - ended their amateur career with a gold medal win over a future hall of fame heavyweight champ and their pro career against another Hall of Famer, and beat every man he fought as a pro in between. Just amazing.

But you would've had a hard time convincing just about anyone of that when Rahman stopped him. They were all sure he was a bum and there was no getting around it.

 

I agree. It's just that I don't see it as a robbery.

 

Rahman has two fights like that—Tua II and Toney I. He fought sloppy fights in each and was really fat for Tua. Neither really helps him even if you had him ahead. He was more impressive in losing to Tua the first time

 

I agree 100%. And he was definitely cheated against Tua the first time.

 

I wasn't too thrilled when it happened. The fact that he'd been knocked out by two second tier fighters...

To me Lewis is a great example of how a Champ can redeem himself, even if it's more than once.

 

I thought Rahman clearly won in region of 8-4/7-5.

Rahman was very hard done by against Tua in both of their fights. The 1st fight Rahman was clearly hit after the bell in the 9th round and that punch turned the whole fight around not to mention the stoppage being a total farce.

And of course Tua getting a gift draw in their 2nd fight.

 

I understand your view.
I think there was a lot of close rounds during the 2nd fight, and that Tua landed the harder punches but Rahman had a better workrate. The pace was slower than the first and they seemed in lesser shape.
I agree that Rahman was cheated in the first fight, first by the late shot (he didn't have the 5 minutes to recover) and even the stoppage was dubious to me.

 

Then after he had avenged the Rahman loss and beaten Tyson, some people were talking about him as a potential GOAT.

Then as now a fighter was only as good as their last fight.

 

That was a good board.

Ah yes, Lewis KO2 Tua. I've been nailing those predictions for 24 years. That's why I don't gamble.

I usually blurt out something like that when I get tired of arguing with people for days on end. (I was tired of the Tua fans insisting he'd blow out Lennox.)

I knew I've known you for a long time. Didn't know how far back it went.

 

I wasn't in THIS forum. But I was in another one at the time. And there was a lot of Lewis bashing - especially when he lost.
I thought it was clear he had underestimated Rahman and would win the rematch pretty easily.
But you have to remember the context in the 90s \ early 2000s ... Lewis was not viewed that highly - in some quarters - when he was active. His stature really only grew after he retired. I think he suffered, yes, from some hot and cold performances. But also because he was jostling for position amongst big personalities, the likes of Tyson, Holyfield and Bowe. And, I have to say, a lot of the US media and fans were incredibly biased towards American fighters at the time, and tended to rubbish Lewis.

 

For context, Tommy Morrison was thought to be better than Wlad Klitschko at CBZ way back.

 

I was on that board, too.

The arguments with people on that board over Roy Jones - Dariusz Michalczewski went on for years.

 

I agree he was robbed blind vs Tua but nobody would even recall his name without the Lewis win. He got done by 40-year-old Holyfield.