Lennox Lewis InThis Month's Ring

So he didn't fight Moorer or Byrd because he'd of beaten them......great no need to fight anyone then is there Lewis

 

Maybe not directly but Byrd was one of the premier fighters at that time and I do believe that Lewis never fancied the fight.

Not that he'd lose, but Byrd would make him look bad.

 

Yes, for "some" reason he wanted to fight Kirk Johnson, but didn't want to fight much higher ranked Chris Byrd.

 

Didn't Lewis have to defend against Ruiz who was the WBA mandatory after his win against Holyfield and he agreed then declined straight after the fight, therefore was stripped?

Hence why it was Holyfield v Ruiz for the vacant title.

 

I'm correct in regards the Ruiz situation, as well. I've already briefly explained why this is. The detailed reasons are common knowledge.

The salient points are that:

Ruiz was offered a shot (but was unavailable) and Lewis decided to fight Grant first.

Perhaps other important points are that the WBA agreed to sanction Lewis/Grant but then Don King challenged that ruling and won in the courts forcing the WBA to withdraw their original agreement.

Thus, Lewis didn't drop the belt. He was eventually stripped by the WBA, because of Don King's interference.

Lots names get banded about in conversations, interviews, by commentators and the fighters themselves, in passing; most of them are pie in the sky, until the relevant teams get in a room, hammer out a deal and a contract is in the offing. Equally, lots of opponents would have taken the chance at Lewis, if given it, I suspect. However, Sanders was never viable during a time it would have mattered.

 

No. Lewis didn't decline. He agreed with the WBA to fight Grant first. This agreement was subsequently quashed by a case brought against the WBA by Don King.

It was a farce. Don King's case was on the basis of the WBA breaking their own rules, whilst King himself had forced the timing of that Mandatory defense, by means of a clause in the Holyfield rematch contract.

I very much doubt King wanted Lewis to defend against any of his fighters and intended for Lewis to be stripped.

 

You can make a case and be correct.

I would say looking at the optics, dropping belts to Ruiz and Byrd, who were better than Grant and Botha looks pretty bad. If Ruiz was busy, why not offer him a title fight next? I would have paid for that one, hoping for a repeat of Tua vs Ruiz. Ruiz called Lewis a girl.

All Lewis had to do was fight them. Had he done so, the boxing world would not have seen these jab / grab & foul performances by John Ruiz in title matches. Lewis' legacy, barring a loss would also be better. So in the end, he hurt himself and didn't win any new fans.

 

He chose Grant over the agreed fight prior to Holyfield which is why he was stripped.

"Last month before Kaplan, King accused Lewis of reneging on a contract that called for the winner of Lewis-Holyfield to fight the WBA's leading contender.

The WBA had authorised the Lewis-Grant fight, but King said that it was a violation of its own rules for mandatory defences. Grant - with 31 wins and no losses - is the WBA's number five contender.

Ironically, it was Lewis - 35 wins, one draw and a loss - who had initiated the court case in a bid to have his deal with King overturned.

Lewis claimed that King had coerced him into signing a fraudulent contract to fight the then number one contender Henry Akinwande or the leading "available contender" even though King knew that Akinwande was suffering from Hepatitis B and not likely to fight any time soon.

Lewis' lawyers later went to court seeking dismissal of their suit, but King fought that move and once again became a player in lucrative heavyweight title fights".

Ironically Ruiz would of been a better legacy win.

 

I'm not sure what it is you're not getting here.

I can explain it to you; but I can't understand it for you.

 

Lewis agreed prior to the Holyfield to fight the WBA mandatory next (or the winner had to).

After the fight Lewis renegade and fought Grant.....it's really quite simple.

 

That's a truly 'cup-is-half-empty' look at things. And, I'm being generous.

There's no universe in which Ruiz is a legacy-building opponent. I seriously doubt that he and his promoter King really wanted to fight Lewis. It was the whole point of King having Akinwande in the frame, initially.

Ruiz - was, at best, a paper champion.

More to the point, once the WBA stripped Lewis and allowed Holyfield and Ruiz to tie-up that belt for the best part of two years, in the most dire of trilogies, at what point was Lewis supposed to fight Ruiz? Lewis had Tyson to deal with by then.