Lennox Lewis in Today's Heavyweight Division

Gonzalez is an especially silly pick, he built his reputation beating journeyman types

 

Throw in Hide and you have the anecdotal 90's powerpunchers hall of fame.

 

He rose to world class very quickly, beating a dangerous, undefeated Mason in his 15th fight and Ruddock in his 22nd. From there on out, it was almost exclusively top level, dangerous heavyweights for the rest of his career.... And he beat them all.

 

Long but stupid writing. The 41 years old shot version Wladimir Klitschko was total competitive against Joshua and the prime Lewis
was far better than Wlad K. Considering Joshua is the best heavyweight nowadays just an idiota can write similar garbage things like you.

 

Wilder never was harder puncher than Rahman. Rahman destroyed by one punch ko Lewis but the pathetic looking skinny Wilder couldn't knock out a fat glass-chinned Fury. Because Wilder could knock out Stiverne or the old Ortiz this doesn't mean he can punch harder than Rahman.

Is Joshua a very good puncher ? I doubt it .The 37 years old fat Corrie Sanders knocked out easier a better Wladimir Klitschko than Joshua .

 

Lennox had one big flaw he tended to lose focus against fighters who were supposed to be easy wins. eg McCall & Rahman & it cost him an unbeaten record. He still beat every man he ever faced in the pro ring though
He would be Undisputed HW champ today Lennox was second only to The Greatest Muhammad Ali

 

Physically he was a beast. Country strong, not Hollywood muscles, Real power in either fist. He had surprisingly good stamina. For all his size, he didn't have to take every other round off. He could get dirty and impose his physicality.

More importantly,on the mental side, he had a nose for victory. Against some of his larger, more dangerous opponents, he just knew to blast them out. Turn up the heat early until they folded. Against the more agile, skilled boxers, he played the long game.

He wasn't perfect. No fighters are. Just a winner, through and through.

I think the Mason victory is a bit overllooked. Ending the career of an up and coming power punching heavy was pretty special.

 

You don't think Riddick Bowe would beat Wilder or Joshua?
What a ridiculous thing to say.

 

It tells us that the shape many current heavyweights come in is atrocious.

I think it matters less how fat he was, and the fact he was clearly unmoitvated and out of shape.

 

Quite a few reports on the fight highlight that Lewis had been a tad soft around the middle. But, you're right, the key observation is that he was not match fit and had become quite jaded.

 

I'm fairly certain we won't see a heavyweight as successful as Lewis or Wlad were for a while. No one in the top ten at Ring Magazine can compare to either man accomplishments, and I think we have already seen the best from Johsua, Wilder, and Fury.

People may be blind to it, but the game is changing at heavyweight. Almost all of the top prospects are 6'4" or taller, and many of them can box and punch. When you have a field of men this size, it will be very hard to have long term success. The top ten today is full the old, or the not very good in spots #5-#10. The up and coming men have more skills and amateur success.

Lewis used to smugly say, there no one out there like me. For a while, he was correct. Now, he can't say that.

 

Excellent said. I have to add that Lennox of course imposed his size and power, as well as reach on a good number of smaller HWs (in therm of modern standards). If I check correctly, he fought 11 fighters under 220 and avaraged about 225 to 228, something like that, which is a good 10 pounds under his prime weight. Considering these stats, I think he might have to work a little harder nowadays.

But there is something special for Lewis (as well as Bowe) fighting tall big fellows: Both could without a problem throw the jabbing chess gameplan out of the window and impose a "Dogfight" on the opponent. For example, I think both of them would be able to pressure Fury badly and indeed stop him, where WK just threw it away riskless. There is no dangerous power coming back from Fury anyway, so what? Like a George Foreman could too, with the difference that GF never learned chess back then. Lewis definitely could if he had too.

Thats the difference with Wilder. He just isn´t a good fighter on the backfoot, using height, reach and a good jab (at least he won´t use the jab very well). Regarding power, Wilders power is based on loading up the punch along acceleration, the later it hits the spot, the more damage can be done by that long arms. Its limited to free space and enough time. Its no sort of explosive power on short distance, which could be used on infighting as well. In general, I don´t think Wilders power comes where most fighters power comes from: Hip and body rotation. Or at least in less amount. I think he´s limited to some time interval to catch somebody.
What I want to say is that Lewis carried a wider variation of dangerous power, inside and outside than Wilder does. With the add-on on winning a fight by rounds convincingly.

Conclusion: He was what he was. A GOAT without a GOAT-chin.