Lennox Lewis or Evander Holyfield who is greater at HW

Evander.

 

Holy ahead here? Surprises me.

Not much in it, though. The decider for me is probably that no one got the better of Lewis over several fights like Bowe did over Holy.

 

If we're talking "greatness" then I can't see how you can rank Holy ahead of Lewis especially if you're only talking heavyweight. Lewis beat Holyfield himself once and arguably twice. The only top level win that Holyfield can really hold up as something that Lewis didn't have is Bowe. And as we all know Bowe dropped the belt rather than face Lewis, who already whipped him in the ams.

Lewis has two losses on record, both avenged.

Holyfield has a string of losses, many to guys that Lewis would have pummelled. Is there a single person who would pick Ruiz over Lewis? I sure AF would not. I wouldn't fancy Moorer's chances against Lewis either.

The main criticism that you could make of Lewis' resume is that a lot of the guys that he beat were ageing.

But in my opinion TKO6 over Vitali, a guy I'd pick confidently over Holyfield prime for prime, erases a lot of those doubts for me.

Lewis held the belt for many years and that consistency means a lot more in my opinion than the fact that Holyfield was a more exciting fighter.

 

When Lewis and Holy faced off Holy was some six years past his prime, so I don't really factor that in. Likewise any of the other losses Hooly had in his late 30's and 40's. The main thing for me is that no one ever got the better over Lewis in or near his prime. I also give Lewis a plus for that his wins often came easier than Holy's.

But it's really close and you can make arguments for Holy like that he only got KO'd once anywhere near his prime and that his three top wins are better than Lewis's.

 

Lewis. I have to ding Evander a bit for all the losses post prime.
Lewis was more talented & I willl take his best wins, even though part of it was just that he was naturally bigger.
But even if you thing Holyfield was a little better, methinks you gotta choose Lewis because only one used PEDs-& without them Evan Fields would not have been nearly as good vs. the best big men/in modern times.

 

Mirror mirror on the wall,
Who is the altest of them all,
From the depth of a ban he comes,
to rejoin ... his former chums?

 

The title of the topic is such that it automatically cancels Holyfield CW's career (for example Oleksandr Usyk only as a heavyweight).

 

It's close imo.

I take Lewis based on being more dominant & having avenged all of his losses.

 

Yes. I just tend to agree with the quotes Oliver McCall made about Lennox. (It was a thread from earlier this weekend) I feel that for all of his natural advantages, Lewis was often overcautious in the ring. He was up against an absolutely shot Mike Tyson and Manny Steward had to literally yell at him to fight more aggressively. Lennox Lewis' physical gifts made him a force to be reckoned with. And, in spite of my misgivings about Lewis, I still cleary have him in the top 10 heavys of all time. But, he wasn't half the warrior that Evander was.

 

Eh, I'll forgive him there. If you had been one-shotted twice, would YOU want to fight anything but super cautiously against ANY version of Tyson? He did NOT want to be caught flush by Tyson, not even once.

 

who was though? Guys like Ali, Frazier, and Holmes were in the ring, but they lived soft outside of the ring until it came time to train for a fight. Holyfield busted his ass year round training and maintaining proper nutrition. I looked at his crazy dedication at the time as being like a Spartan warrior.

 

I went with Lewis but it’s close

 

My vote went to Lewis