Lennox Lewis is "The best heavyweight of all time"

hard to compare heavyweights from different eras, so to objectively compare them as champions, i think the right question should be what did he do? head to head i would favor lennox against both louis and rocky, but as champions they accomplished more. lennox's claim to greatness is that he beat everyone he faced, rocky did the same, but he always got it right the first time around.

 

El B, I agree w/many of your posts - and you have a quirky/funny avatar (that's not you is it ). No real disagreement here. The problem w/comparing HWs is that you can do it (1) p4p, (2) h2h, or (3) accomplishments within thier respective eras. Some seem to combine 2 or more of the above. You're referring to (3). If you go by h2h I think LL is an easy top 5 ATG, maybe #1. He would easily beat most of the smaller CWT to small HW sized HW champs of the older days, and would be very competetive vs any of the other recent guys. He was the best 90s HW, Holy maybe 2nd. If you go by criteria (1) maybe Dempsey, Louis, or Marciano were the best. But even going by (3), Lennox had a top resume - easily top 10 going by accomplishemnts in his era. :deal

Ali was the best in is era, but went many rounds with world beaters like Sonny Banks, Chuvalo (yeah, I know George had a helluva chin), Patterson (great, for a 190+ pounder), Mildenberger, & Terrell. All these guys would be CWT or small HW today. Ali won these fights in his supposed pre exile prime. I bring these up because if Lennox (Wlad too) has a tough fight, or wins, but not in 1-3 rounds, some fans use this to disparage his ATG status. Yet they don't apply the same standards to their fav HWs. :-(

Hard to be consistent when the conclusions go against what you want reality to be. :yep

 

Not even close.
Not all time.
The only time was his time --- when he was champ.
And even then, he never had it all.
Remember when Hasim Rachman layed him out stiff.
That doesnt happen to the greatest of all time.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L9C8ySLNB4

Lewis talking about not wishing to compare himself with the greats but to only call himself the best of his era, as he said, "Id like to walk in their footsteps but ive got bigger shoes. I dont believe in crossing era`s"

 

lewis was really good, but imagine if Evander was his height and weight.....hmmmm

 

Lewis dominated a lot a small heavies. Some larger, like Grant.

 

You can't be serious.

 

h2h i would put lennox at no. 1 all time, he had great size and power, and knew how and when to use it. but, personally, i do not think it is a fair comparison to heavyweights from a previous era [they did not have the same access to training knowledge, nutrition, and resourses ($$$)], so the way i look at it...every great fighter did the best he could with what he had, and against the competition that was available. so, imho, accomplishment is the most unbiased way to evaluate an atg.