Is lennox overrated? Slightly?

Tyson was third in the division before Lewis kicked his ass. At that time, Fres Oquendo, Rahman, Kirk Johnson, McCline, Ruiz, and a green Wlad were all ranked in the division (or recently removed). Tyson would've beaten some of them...breaking Golota's face and stopping Savarese in a quarter round weren't terrible results.

 

He could've beaten some of them but I wouldn't be too confident. He was a three round fighter. Maybe I'm too harsh on him, I feel he was finished at that point but he could always punch and he was aggressive early that means he was still dangerous even if only for a limited number of rounds. The year end rankings I posted I don't feel confident at all if his chances but the list you provided is a little weaker maybe he wins couple of those.

 

So lets go back to Feb 1990, and imagine it was the Lewis of say 96 - 98 punching Tyson instead of Buster.atsch

 

Lewis no way top 3-5. Debateable top 10. Great fighter tho. Is he overrated or underrated? Depends on your opinion of him and where u have him ranked.

 

Also I don’t think that Lewis needs his opposition to be great, in order to be great himself.

Given his period of dominance, and number of title defences, it is enough for them just to be the best available.

 

This wasn't supposed to be a comparison of Lewis-Bowe. But since you mention it I'll play along.. Lewis fought Mason in his 15th pro fight.. Not in his 23rd as Bowe fought Tubbs. While Tony was more skilled and established than Mason, he was also past his prime and had nothing to hurt Bowe with. lastly, Lewis dominated Mason whereas to this day you still can't get people to fully agree on who won between Tubbs and Bowe.

He was the consensus best contender in the world, 28 years of age and visibly in stellar condition. Losing a decision to Mike Tyson in 1991 shouldn't have been anything that a person got berated for.. And Lewis demolished him in a fashion that no other heavyweight ever did before or after.

Bowe's win over a prime Holyfield may very well be the "single" best win between the two men. But from there you'd have to go through about 4 or 5 of Lewis's best opponents before finally arriving at Bowe's #2. The depth of the two resumes is overwhelmingly In Lewis's favor.

Be that as it may, It was still an emphatic performance over a man who had just ended the career of one of the division's top participants - who incidentally happens to be the man you've created a comparison over.

I will gladly put in its proper context then.. Lennox Lewis was nearly 38 years of age, off for 12 months, a career high 256 lbs, had only fought once in two years and was in the last bout of his career.. Yet he still managed to force a win over highly formidable opponent who established a strong presence in the division during the 2000's period. Wins like these aren't generally used to bring a fighter's legacy down but to appraise them, except in Lennox's case which confirms my point that he isn't "overrated" but quite the contrary.

 

Klitschko, Grant, Golota, McCall and Rahman weren't power punchers. They were good solid punchers who scored some decent KO's (in the case of McCall and Rahman primarily against Lewis himself) but no more than that.

That aside Lewis should rank extremely highly. Was the best heavyweight in the world for the best part of a decade and beat a very, very impressive list of fighters during a particularly strong heavyweight era.

People comparing him unfavourably to Bowe are kidding themselves. Bowe's resume compared to Lennox's is a joke.

 

I would say Lennox is underrated considering he took the Klitschko fight on 2 weeks notice.

 

Aside from not facing prime Mike or Holyfield, he didn't go out with much respect in my book, rematch ordered and walked away rather than settle the issue. Vitali only quit because of two longstanding injuries and came back after 4 years to become a very dominant champion into his 40s and two time emeritus champion. His fans will always squeal he beat Vitali but the wbc did not see it so clearly and he quit rather than face the main man.

 

Yes.