Lennox Lewis, Greatest Heavyweight of all time

:nod

That's a great and really fair way of looking at it.

 

I have him in the 3 - 7 range; usually top 5 though.

He never did enough to get into the Louis / Ali greatness bracket but there is so much to admire about his career :

• Great depth to his resume - top to bottom a high volume of quality wins
• Proved himself to be "the man" IMO in a stacked era
• Winning the changing of the guard fight with Vitali
• Adaptable - could out box someone or take them into the trenches and destroy them
• Beat every man he ever faced
• H2H all time top of the pile for me

Just imagine how great his resume would look if the Bowe fight had happened and Lewis had been lucky enough to fit in time to starch Wlad; 2 fights that were realistic possibilities and in which I would have favoured him in.


On the subject of his 2 losses...I understand why people give him a hard time about them; especially the Rahman one.


But I think with HW's you've got to have the flexibly to forgive "accidents" like those. He was caught twice; never out boxed which counts for something for me. I might be in the minority but I'd say being out boxed to a UD by someone like Rahman would have a more damaging impact on how Lewis was rated as a boxer than getting caught with the 1 big KO shot.



The fact that he won his re matches and showed himself to be the better fighter doesn't make the losses as damaging as say Tyson's to Douglas (out boxed and KO'd without being avenged).


Nice video in the OP by the way :bbb

 

Even you can't be stupid enough to claim LL ducked Byrd.

 

65% of people on this forum have him top 5 :

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=499601

 

Why the personal attack, have I called you any names?

Lewis certainly ducked Byrd and I have made a case countless times on these forums. I have countered every damn excuse that has been put on the table, it was duck if there ever was a duck.

I just find it ironic you call Bowe a "gutless bum" for doing roughly the same thing but apparently give Lewis a free pass. If you want to excuse Lewis and take him at his word go ahead, just don't be calling Bowe a "gutless coward" in the same breath. Bowe had his reasons for ducking too.

 

Because of the inevitable nobody wanted to see the fight response I will post this.

An ESPN poll of 30,000 picked Byrd as Lewis' next opponent in 2003. This was after Byrd had just beat Holyfield for the IBF belt and Lewis was still trying to sell the possibility of a Tyson rematch instead. Maybe you can produce a similar article for Bowe/Lewis?

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ellerman_max/1526109.html&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1

The second question asked who Lennox Lewis should fight next. Again, five choices: Chris Byrd, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones, David Tua and Evander Holyfield (I am sure of these choices, because they are still posted on the site as I write this). Again it was a close contest between Byrd and Tyson. Again, Byrd edged Tyson out.
Now, who might be responding to a question on ESPN.com's boxing page? Mainstream sports fans with a passing interest in boxing, or informed, hard-core fight fans? Let's face it, if you're reading this right now, there is a good chance that you are as big a boxing degenerate as I am. And, according to our data here at ESPN, chances are, you believe that Roy Jones and Lennox Lewis should both pick Chris Byrd as their next opponent.
For the record, I think Jones should actually fight Tyson next. I'd also pick both Roy and Lennox to beat Byrd should either ever face him. And certainly I acknowledge that Byrd is a polarizing figure -- nearly as many fans hate him for his slick style as love him for it. Still, Byrd is the most popular choice of hard-core boxing fans as the man they want to see the division's biggest stars face.
So Byrd haters -- enough with the old mayonnaise sham. Stop pretending that no one wants to see the guy fight. The votes are in, and they say that you'd rather see the best fighters around fight Byrd than anyone else.
Can't stand mayo, love Byrd. I have a lot of company on both counts

 

IMO Lewis was one of the best offensive fighters for about 8 rounds (he never got a KO after 8 rounds) I rate Lewis high because of his size, conditioning, Olympic Pedigree and obvious talent, however he was not flawless. Most of his big name opponents were past there best (This is typical of most Champions) Lewis best fights were Rudduck, Rahman 2, Golota, Botha, Grant, as far as impressive and his best scalp was Vitali ( a rematch win would have been greater) but I do feel like Vitali was ahead and deserved a rematch and subsequent fights proved Vitali got strong from the 7-10th rounds while Lewis faded.

Mercer and Holyfield fights were wins but not impressed. I rate Lewis about 4-8 ATG

 

Part of Chris Byrd's never facing Lennox Lewis had to do with King though. I remember watching Byrd's fight with Holyfield, and at the end in the post fight interviews, Larry Merchant literally got in Don King's face and said something to the effect of " The one man in the world Byrd truly belongs in the ring with, whom you won't sign for him to fight, happens to be the one man YOU don't control"

 

King just bought ice in the winter...according to Lewis' own attorney. Lewis never had any intention of facing Byrd, despite the IBF granting him special permission to face Tyson first.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2002-09-05-lewis-ibf-belt_x.htm


Lewis' deal with King was signed Thursday morning when King met with Lewis attorney Judd Burstein in New York.
"This may set the record for the sale of ice in the winter," Burstein said, alluding the fact that Lewis intended all along to relinquish the IBF title.


In the complex contract for the Lewis-Tyson fight it was agreed that if Tyson won the apparatus would be in place for a rematch, without either boxer taking an interim bout. If Lewis won he would be allowed one interim bout before facing Tyson again.
This was designed to enable Lewis to honour his commitment to a mandatory defence of the International Boxing Federation part of his championship. The IBF No 1 contender, Chris Byrd, an awkward southpaw from Michigan, has taken legal action to secure his position.

Lewis, 36, plans to make no statement about his future until August. While it is possible he could retire, he is understood to be leaning towards a fight with Byrd, for which the payday could be in excess of £5 million.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...14/Boxing-Tyson-wants-rematch-with-Lewis.html

Lewis turned down 10 million US to beat the supposedly easy Byrd and sold his title to King for 1 million so it wouldn't get tossed in the trash(perhaps literally). I'm not going to dwell on in it this thread anymore, but just pointing out to the keyboard warrior that called Bowe a gutless coward and me "stupid" that his hero has his own skeletons in his closet.


Come on man, don't be a coward. Fight!" he said. "If I'm such an easy fight than knock me out and make $10 million. You're not going to make much more than that fighting Vitali, who I already beat."

-Amen Byrd Man Amen.

 

Great points MM. Even and old vastly diminished Ali was going the distance with the likes of Lyle,Frazier,Norton and the hard hitting Shavers. Does anyone on here see any version of Ali getting dropped and stopped by Rahman and McCall ???

 

I wouldn't rank Lyle, a vastly diminished Frazier, Norton or Shavers above Vitali. Not even close.

By the same token, I don't rank Lewis above Ali.

 

Maybe you don't have the benefit that I do from being around in Lewis' early days and talking to fighters of the time. Or maybe you talked to more than I did. I am not trying to be condescending. But Mason hit like a ton of bricks. His opponents and sparring partners attested to this. His record attested to this. Lennox Lewis attested to this. Tyrell Biggs and Jess Harding and Big Foot Martin attested to this. He was not a Fancy Dan but punch he certainly could.

 

Heck no Tyson would have beat him at his best.

His main win is beating a washed up tyson and 37 year old hoylfield

 

Lots of heavyweights hit like bricks, the "elite power puncher" tag needs to be reserved for guys with a little more substance. Gary Mason was a "near man" who never got to step up, he was already having severe eye problems when he was sacrificed to Lewis to end his career for good. I'm sure Biggs gave a convincing testimony but Mason will never be put on the same pedestal as an Earnie Shavers or even a Razor Ruddock, guys who were able to break to that next level with really just that one remarkable trait.