Lennox Lewis is the GOAT Heavyweight

That's not what happened though.

 

Prime Lewis (late nineties, trained by Steward) beats any other HW in history at least 7 times out of 10. Ali has the greatest resume. But when it comes to who is the best HW ever H2H? It's Lewis, easily.

 

I’m so bored with the Ali Fan Club. Dance, jab, hold. Dance, jab, hold.
Spinks, Evangelista, Wepner went 15 with him. Lewis would have crushed all of them in a couple rounds on the same night.

And here come the Ali excuses…

 

LOL Zhang beats one more top ten guy, you'll start hearing "(insert ATG name here) couldn't deal with lefties!"

Excuses? Different points of view are 'excuses'?

 

Knocked out by average fighters in his prime. Can't be the goat, bub

 

thats exactly what happened

 

Well most of those fights you mentioned took place in late 70s, when Ali was badly fading at this point with parkinsons that's factual not an excuse.

 

If were on about H2H then yes Lewis has a strong argument to being the best Heavyweight based on his size and skills.

 

I repeat: no.

If you know anything about Lewis, you know that he has always been a mama's boy. His mother, Violet, was ringside at every single one of his matches. Also, his mother was there in every of his training camps too - he cooked for Lewis there and watched him sparring. Lewis never went anywhere without his mother, she has always had a mega influence on him. And both Manny Steward and Vitali confirmed that Lewis' mother forbid him to fight a rematch. And in Lewis' world, what his mother said was gospel. He obviously never admitted this as boxing is not exactly the type of community where a 250 lbs man can just say "my mother said no".

According to a recent interview with Lennox’s former master trainer Emanuel Steward, Lennox’s wife Violet Chang did not want him to ever box again, giving him an ultimatum to choose: it’s either boxing or her.
“I told Lennox after the fight: I feel like we owe Vitali a rematch. Lennox agreed with me. Even after a year since Lennox left boxing, we talked about that fight. She didn’t want him to continue boxing, despite the fact that Lewis still wanted to fight.

[url]https://rb.gy/6ntxi[/url]

“I come to his office I was really surprised Lennox was not alone, with his mom. We talk about the next fight, I guess two hours and mum doesn’t say one word. They scanned me with the eye, and the mom from Lennox was bigger and wiser…I know his mom was always in camp, mom was always by Lennox’s fights. I leave the office, Lennox called me and told, ‘Vitali, sorry, I no fight you’, and I understand. His mom don’t like me and tell to Lennox, ‘Lennox, better not to fight Klitschko again.’

[url]https://www.ringtv.com/537710-vitali-klitschko-says-lennox-lewis-promised-him-a-rematch/[/url]

Also, Lewis' girlfriend at the time (who later become his wife, incidentally also called Violet) gave Lewis an ultimatum after the Klitschko fight. He either retires or she would leave him. Given the fact that they have been happily married for almost 20 years and have children together, I don't think anyone in their right mind can say Lewis made the wrong choice.

In any case, the bottom line is: the two most important women in Lewis' life categorically forbid him to continue boxing and give a rematch to Vitali. This was the real reason, not because he wasn't confident he could beat Vitali. He beat him while ring rusty, undertrained and overweight. He didn't know the first thing about Vitali, he had to figure him out in the ring and still managed to turn the tide and TKO him. But he was always a mama's boy and when his women said to him "stop", he stopped. It's not a very alpha thing, it certainly wouldn't have won him many new fans in the boxing community so he never admitted to it, but that's what happened. Unless you want to claim both Steward and Vitali were lying, of course.

 

Agree with the Lewis comment but 'The new AJ!!!!' Did I miss something, tell me what improvements you saw during his last fight!

 

How can you duck a rematch if you retire afterwards? Lewis retired, he doesn’t owe Vitali or anyone else anything.

 

Agreed. He was what I call a balanced fighter! By this I mean, good ring IQ, mentally grounded, excellent athleticism, respectful, powerful, a boxer of pugilistic levels. Not many HWs have this or achieve it, much of these attributes are natural. He was a naturally balanced fighter in my opinion.

 

No

 

Nahhh! Can’t call Lewis the ‘goat’ heavyweight. Hell to the mother ****ing NAH!!

NEVER fought a good southpaw and was SCARED into retirement by Vitali Klitschko. Even after AGREEING to that rematch.

Also felt the need to call Corrie Sanders to give him a pep talk before he fought Wladimir. WHY?? If Wlad was so easy to “Knock out in two rounds” Why hope Corrie got your easy payday???

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GOATS don’t behave like that. Lol But Lewis was no doubt a very good heavyweight. H2H top 10 at his best and All Time Ranking he’s definitely top 10.

 

ATG Lennox's competition wasn't at its peak at the time he fought Lennox (except maybe Vitali, so the cut was a fortunate circumstance; I'm not discounting Lennox's success).
Those who were at the peak of their careers when they fought Lennox: Hasim Rahman, David Tua, Michael Grant, Zeljko Mavrovic, Henry Akinwande, and Ray Mercer (I may have missed Bruno).
Lennox Lewis' resume is not as deep as it seems.