Is Lennox Lewis underrated?

Are you seriously implying a fighter isn't considered great if they don't definitively polish off a member of the previous generation of fighters?

 

In the heavyweight division its either a really convincing win or a knockout.

Go ask Joe Louis, George Foreman , Clay. This is the level we are discussing. Not John Ruiz.

 

I don't think he's overrated he's ranked pretty highly by those who actually follow the sport.

As for why most late teens/20's don't know who he is. That's because people that age usually know **** all in general. Most people probably couldn't name you the current heavyweight champion. Lewis wasn't that popular compared to Tyson and wasn't American like Holyfield so he never really became as mainstream in the US media and in people's consciousness.

 

Boring to watch. Dirty fighter. Ducked Vitali rematch. Right place and right time. Got bombed by two fighters that had no business doing so. The Mercer fight. Who knows what happens if McCall doesn't have a breakdown in the rematch? Overrated I think. One of the best rights in history though. Fight changing. Best HW in the last 25 years only because Bowe and Holyfield beat the prime off each other. Tyson was in prison.

 

That's about it.

 

I think he rated more or less correctly. I think people overrate the "he beat everyone he lost to" thing a bit thanks to Oliver McCall's brain fluke in the rematch. He came straight out of rehab. But overall the assessment of him being one of the best HWs in history is accurate.

 

This is the truth but it doesnt diminish Lewis as a great HW because he was. I wouldnt put him in my top 5 of all time but hes definitely top 12ish. If he doesnt get flash ko`d twice he problably retires undefeated then the conversation really changes. But thats neither here nor there. His resume is solid and he deserves the respect hes given.

 

100% agree best ever H2H and definitely top 3 all time

 

like which great fighter? who put holy away convincingly apart from bowe? Your yardstick is impossible.

 

must be a different vitali to the prime one whose face he ripped off in less than halftime whilst himself being at retirement age.

 

The "it's not like" part, I don't get. I just said that they both took the fight on short notice.

 

On the contrary, Lewis is extremely overrated. He's a borderline top ten ATG, a guy who got starched twice by second-raters McCall & Rahman, and never fought the greats of the era, Holyfield and Tyson, when it mattered. He also never faced Riddick Bowe, viewed at the time to be up there with those guys.

Some fans actually put Lewis is the top five all time - he isn't even the greatest HW in the era in which he fought, that's Holyfield. Hell, Tyson should arguably be rated higher!

 

what does tyson have thats more than lewis, apart from unarguably earlier, groundbreaking prodigy?

 

Your comment "if I train I ko him" made it sound like he wasn't training and had a short camp. He was already training when he switched to fight Klitschko.

 

Tyson wasn't starched early by mediocre second-raters by lucky punches, he was taken out late by a decent contender who rose to the level of greatness for one fight. He also dominated and destroyed his opposition while champ, instead of, in many cases (Ray Mercer, for example) just squeaking by them, or winning a lackluster victory. It's close, but in my mind Tyson edges him for these reasons.