Is lennox overrated? Slightly?

Tyson was completely shot and would lose 2 of his next 3 fights to Danny Williams and Kevin Mcbride before retiring and saving himself from further punishment and embarrassment.
Tyson was a name but he was long finished as a serious fighter.
Holyfield was dominated by Lewis in the first fight but actually fought very competitively in the rematch. He too was well past prime and would engage in the terrible Ruiz trilogy after the Lewis bout and would begin to lose as frequently as he would win thereafter.
So yes Lewis's signature wins are overstated. However he cleaned out a very good mid/late 90's division. Unlike Bowe Lewis faced top competition and often won in spectacular crushing fashion. He is an all time great. Not because of the Tyson fight. He gets more credit for Holyfield who was also diminished but still formidable.

 

Ruddock destroyed as he never was before or would be afterward.

Rahman rematch... the most brutal KO in heavyweight champeenship history?

 

Lennox Lewis was a two time Olympic medalist. He defeated a 35-0 ranked contender in only his 15th pro fight. In 1992 he completely dismantled a strong member of a triumvirate that was expected to wrestle over the lineal heavyweight title.. He defeated several household names who despite whatever stage their careers were in, were still very much alive on the scene.. He humiliated a powerful challenger who had just finished thrashing R. Bowe from pillar to post on two consecutive occasions. He rebounded from two horrible losses to avenge both defeats and resume his reign in dominance. Lastly, he finished his career by overcoming a formidable foe who would have great relevance in the division for years to come and retired having beaten every man he ever faced..

So the question... Was he overrated ? My answer is no.. He is more commonly critiqued for his defeats to lesser fighters which are regularly used In fantasy debates to make him a loser to whatever said ATG.. He's routinely criticized for opting to pass up on fights that had no meaning to boxing or to give certain foes rematches when it they shouldn't have been necessary.. Lennox Lewis is one of the most unduly berated heavyweights one can think of...

 

Very fair post.

 

Name the ATG heavyweights who beat a supposed ATG heavyweights with better records against top contenders than Lewis.

Generally, timing doesn't work out that ATG's meet other ATG's at their respective primes.

Lewis still beat Holy and Tyson, two ATG's. He still faced the greatest line of powerpunchers that any champ of the division ever faced... Weaver, Ruddock, Morrison, Tyson, Klitschko, Grant, Golota, Tua, Briggs, McCall, Rahman... It's an embarrassment of riches.

 

I don't think he's overrated. He was a deadly combination of size, power and skill. Perfect? Nope, but who was?

 

Great breakdown. :thumbsup

 

He is rated fairly. Top 10 heavy.

 

No. I think the 1995-2002 version of Lennox Lewis was a huge problem for any heavyweight in history, he destroyed everything in his path during those years. Emmanuel Steward made him into a monster. One of the best boxing coaches in history, I've always liked to have seen what Steward could have done with George Foreman. I think we saw a good indication of it with Lennox Lewis, he is what Foreman could have been in the early 80's with his speed still in tact and more polished.

Yes, he did fight Tyson and Holyfield past their primes, but he also destroyed some strong young upstarts easily, like Golota, Grant, and Briggs. Rid**** Bowe if anything is a testimony to Lennox Lewis being great, he blatantly ducked him and made ridiculous excuses for it despite his big talk. I was a Rid**** Bowe fan at one time and this always disappointed me. Lennox was without a doubt the real deal.

 

Bowe would have beat him. Wtf was he thinking?

 

If anybody is overrated, it's Bowe ...

 

He at least has one win over a prime ATG.