Lennox Lewis' opposition

You can pick apart anyones resume if your biased! Lewis retired at 38 not 37.
Dont you think Bowe would merit the title of average also, he never beat anyone else of any standard. The mccall loss was a tko not a ko. Average fighters maybe mcaal and rahman but more than 10 years later mcall is ranked number 3 today. As for Rahman history will show him being a 2 time champion, people talk up sanders soley for knocking out wlad, Rahman stopped sanders, in fact he did it a rd earlier than vitali did and put him down twice which vitali failed to do once!
Holyfields best ever unbeaten championship run was in the lead up to the lewis fight. No doubt your one of the posters who think he merits a title shot now at age 45!
Tyson was coming off the golota fight where people said he looked goodand neilsen which he said wasa his best performance since his comeback. You cant really say so what that he lost to lewis because he lost twice afterwards. Everybody saw the difference in demeanor in him after the lewis loss, e stopped trying to be the monster or to put up a front, he had such a beating he knew he couldnt get away with that behaviour5 anymore and from the post fight interview on we saw that. It was almost a year later tha he fought ettiene, it was a year later, 2 years and a month after the lewis fight that he fought williams. Everyone said how good he looked then he supposedly blew his knee. The mcbride fight was a year after the williams fight, 3 years after lewis and without a trainer, fenech is no trainer, he quit, he wasnt stooped, he quit. Without the viciousness that lewis knocked out of him and the injury and age he then found he didnt want to fight even for the money by this time. Williams and mcbride were meant to be easy quick wins, not fights wheras he knew lewis would be. He wanted to redeem his place in history by eatn lewis, he talked about wanting to be remembered and of wanting the glory but being dissapointed that all he got out of that loss was money.

 

Anyone can make up excuses to make a fighter's resume look bad...Since you were using Holyfiled as the comparison. Let's take a qucik look at his fights:

Buster Douglas: Unmotivated fatman.

Geroge Foreman: Any fight against a 40+ year old man can't hold much weight.

Larry Holmes: See "foreman". Also of note, Iron Mike KOed a younger Larry than did Coammander headbutt. and for some reason Tyson gets no props fpor that victory, so niether can Holyfield.

Bowe I-III: Bowe has proven to be a nobody. His only accomplishment was beating Holyfield twice. Bowe had the tar kicked out of him by Golota.

Bowe II- Holy wins, but if you want to play the "let's nit pick and come up with every excuse game, theres the bizzare fan man incident...

Moorer: Moorer has a china chin, yet Holyfield let him go to the 12th and get a victory.

Ray Mercer: Good win.

Tyson: This is Holyfield signature win. A good win over Iron Mike.

Tyson II: Well, this one was a head scratcher. A win for Holy, but more of a meltdown from Iron Mike.

Moorer II: This is what Holyfield should have done in the first fight.

Lennox Lewis I - II: Lewis (really) beat Holyfield twice. No shame there, Lewis is an ATG. On the hateraide side... If Rahman was able to stop Lewis, Holy couldn't...Holy must suck.




You can play this game with anyone. I can make Ali look like a chump by being all selective with my memory. Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, they are BOTH great fighters. Lennox Lewis' heavyweight resume is more impressive. He defeated more dangerous fighters, and had fewer losses. You convienently discounted some of his opponents in hindsight. (Does old man Golota's loss to Brewster, demean Lewis defeat of a MUCH fresher Golota?)
Now, when you add in Evander's reign as the greatest Cruiser weight EVER, then you can say that Evander has a better resume than Lewis. But at heavyweight, Lewis was king.

 

A weak chin?

You're telling me a man who goes 19 rounds with a prime (not peak but still prime and prepared) Tyson and has a weak chin? The stoppage in their first fight was bull****.

Gotta love ESB, you go two fights with a prime Mike Tyson without being stopped legitimitly you still have a weak chin.


And what is overestimated about him? He scored a clear knockout against Bonecrusher Smith. Smith went the full distance with Tyson without being hurt or down. Beat Weaver and knocked out Dokes and Page.

It's hard to find Lewis' best win outside of Holyfield twice.
But one thing is for sure to me: Mercer is not it.
Klitschko probably. Tua was also a great win. Let's not forget that Tua lost only once to Ibeabuchi (who himself was spectacular) by a close decision; many people including myself scored that fight for Tua.
Lewis won all 12 rounds against him in a shutout win.
The Golota and Ruddock wins should also be considered. Ruddock gave good showings against Tyson yet was blown away in 2 by Lewis.

Golota had just thoroughly beaten the guy who Holyfield fans hype up to an ATG to excuse Holyfield for losing to him (Bowe). He was seen as one of the best current fighters and had not "really" been beaten at that point. Lewis knocked him out in 60 seconds including the 16 seconds Golota got to recover when he was wobbling around the entire ring, if only Lewis was fortunate to receive that against McCall. The Brewster stoppage came a full seven years later when Golota was past his best yet still had very close fights with two belt holders Byrd and Ruiz, who Lewis "ducked".

 

Lewis was still the champion in 2004. It was only AFTER Klitschko destroyed Johnson in two that he announced his retirement, at which point his age was 38.

 

Of course Evander has a better resume andybody who thinks other wise dont have a good set of eyes.

 

Because it's NOT. Overall the resumes are VERY similar. The difference lies in who was starched twice in the early rounds, and in who actually beat two of the other top fighters of the era when they were dangerous opponents.

Lewis, of course, was rendered unconscious or unable to continue in the early rounds by two VERY ordinary HW contenders - which never happened to Holyfield, ever. In fact, the only time HE was knocked out in the heart of his career was against one of the best HWs of the era in Bowe - and it took EIGHT rounds to do it in a competitive fight!

And, of course, Holyfield faced Tyson and Bowe when it mattered, not when they were either past their prime or washed up, as Lewis did with Holyfield himself, and Tyson.

When you examine the records clearly, it should be quite clear who has the greater overall resume - Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield!:yep

 

Looks like someone woke up with some good coffee this morning, Zak is that you?:huh

 

mason 35-0 (34 ko) could you imagine the hype of a fighter like that today.

ruddock, you do know the tournament was created because holyfield did not want to fight his mandatory (ruddock ) so lewis had to fight him after rock newman also said there was no way bowe would fight ruddock.

butler, again you might not remember but i do, butler was on a winning streak of something like 16-0(16 ko) and there was no one in the division who would fight him , until lewis agreed in a final eliminator.

also one point that should be noted.

lewis would not sign with king and had to fight all the fighters everybody elase stepped aside for and whats more he had to do it in his opponents backyard time after time after time, whereas hoilyfield had home advantage his whole career .

 

Yeah, I actually got in so late last night I woke up early!! But dig this, the bar I went to had Friday Night Fights on the big-screen! They musta known I was coming!!

 

Um anyone who thinks ruddock had a weak chin watch the morrison fight it is a wonder ruddock is still alive.

 

Interesting thesis. How do you justify this? Personally, I can't see it with regard to Holyfield. Unlike Holyfield, Tyson lost to any great fighter he ever faced. Holyfield's only prime loss was to Bowe who was one of the best fighters of the era. Tyson, on the other hand, was beaten by Douglas, who no one is gonna put up there as one of the best.

I can see Tyson over Lewis on grounds of dominance and not getting laid out early by second-raters. Holyfield, no way.