I have Lewis as an all time great, dominated his division, beat everyone put in front of him, avenged his losses in style (Rahman, we all know Mccall should never beed allowed to fight), had impressive win over other big men, could have competed in any era, but there are still some naysayers...in 20 years will he be more or less appreciated?
i think he will probably be appreciated more to be honest fighters seem to get more credit the longer there career is over, no doubt he was an ATG the best heavyweight i have seen since i have been watching boxing, but to answer the question i think in 20 years he will appreciated more as a top10-20 heavyweight of all time
I hope he will be more appreciated, although you never can tell with these things. Most of the greats have gone through times where they fall out of vogue for large periods of time and other's where they are overvalued. I suppose it depends to a certain degree on what direction the division takes, if nobody comes forward and dominates people will always look back to the last great champion, that being at this moment in time Lewis. Trends aside he will always be top 15 of all time.
His amazing career should age well and get better/be seen as better, with time. Lewis is like a fine wine. One thing that will help him over time is that his desire to slam other current British fighters who are getting attention will fade and be forgotten, so we can then only remember what a great fighter Lewis was, and not remember who jealous he can be over someone else getting the spotlight. LOL Not many fighters have beaten so many great opponents, as well has having avenged both his loss. That is something, right there.
I have him at #3 greatest HW of all time. Many people today are hesitant to give him that ranking for whatever reasons but eventually they will realise this guy's achievements. He should be rightfully be #3 greatest HW of all time.
lennox lewis was awesome, he had it all, he is without any doubt one of the best 10 heavyweights of all time , no arguments!!!!!
But will his legacy be diminished or will it increase, the trend is for boxers to be more highly regarded as time goes by, but if you look historically Marciano is sometimes criticised for fighting in a "weak" era, will the same happen for lewis.
Lewis will be rated higher and higher as time goes by, and even more so because he was dominant in a golden age for HW's. The 90's was second only too the 70's.
Maybe i shouldn't even say this, but is there an argument to say that the 90s would have been better without him, lots of big fights, no one dominating presence? more excitment? maybe??? no???