Lennox Lewis P4P

When Lennox was fighting (pre Tyson fight) not many people were giving him the respect he deserved. Me included. But, when you see Lewis' fights now, I just tell myself, why didn't I realize how good he was. I think he was a good champion with lots of power and size. And when you see his fights, you notice when he got mad, he became a much tougher fighter. I think because he is such a nice guy, it may have affected his fighting some what. I don't put him in my top 5, but I have him like #9 or #10, only because of his not so granite, but underrated chin. But, anyone like you who put him in the top 5, should never take any flack for that. I would have put him at #10 on the p4p list. I always put a good HW champ there.

 

When we get into that territory where we look at Lewis based purely on his tools, and not his size, the question marks start showing up. This is a guy who used his height and reach as much as anyone the sport has ever known. If Lewis was a 6 foot Heavyweight would he have been the Lennox Lewis? Me thinks not.

 

P4P means 'pound for pound' not inch for inch though. If we shrink him down in scale to welterweight, he'd be Paul Williams's size.

Lennox's whole style is based around using his height, 'fighting tall'. You can't separate his style from that, and can't judge him as a smaller fighter. If he wasn't so tall, he'd fight in a different style. And judging by how well he eventually fought as a tall fighter, you'd have to assume that eventually he would have become as good if he was shorter.

 

I appreciate your inch for inch angle, it's something I have literally had in mind myself. However, no, I can't assume that Lennox would have been as good at a more average height in any given class. Lewis did alot of "cheating" with hs style in my view. And while he was very good despite his physical advantages, people don't cheat for no reason. Some of history's greatest fighters were undersized for their divisions - guys like Rocky Marciano and Henry Armstrong.. This is boxing, height and reach are considerable advantages in this sport as much as any other save basketball, and wide receiving in football. How am I going to assume somebody who fought like Lennox Lewis could have been one of the best ever P4P without his tremendous height and reach, again? Automatically? Hell, it seems like his height and reach are the reason he garners any consideration at all if you ask me. What if I gave all the guys in the top 50 or 100 P4P of all time an extra 6 or 7 inches in height, and an extra 10 inches in reach? How great would they be? Most of them were average height. No advantages.

 

Lewis was tall and big so he fought accordingly. That is the brilliance of Lewis. There were other big men, but none of them had the command of the ring that Lewis did. When faced against other big men, Lewis could adjust. Lewis was able to follow a game plan, and when required, Lewis could dig deep and just fight it out too.

I believe that during his career, Lewis did appear in Rings' P4P lists, I recall seeing him within their top tens.

 

I have Lennox as my #7 All Time Heavyweight. His resume is very deep he did not duck anyone the only questionable thing about his resume is not giving Klitschko a rematch but it was at the end of his career. With time Lennox is looking better and better.

 

Vitali had every opportunity to win he fell short live with it, Lennox Lewis would have knocked him out in another round or two, its clear as day especially when you see these uppercuts that Vitali ate before the end of the fight.


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My p4p ratings favour guys who have suceeded at multiple weights, particularly smaller guys like Langford, Barbados Joe Walcott and Walker who are much smaller than the majority of their opponents.

That's why despite how highly I rate Lewis in the heavies, he would struggle on a p4p basis. He would make my top 50 though but wouldn't push much higher than 35.

 

I reckon Lennox will always be underrated, like a previous post said he never ducked no-one and I would always have him in top ten heavies of all time and certainly in his day he was very near the top of the p4p list.

I was always screaming at him during certain fights to unleash because some of his bouts could've been over a lot sooner.

But I have to admit I had a massive grin on my face when Rahman got ktfo by Lewis in a devastating performance. ****ing punk Rahman.

 

all this p4p **** is a load of crap. the question should be...

will lennox lewis be remembered as a legend of the sport for years to come?

the answer is yes .

 

Prime, motivated, Uncle Manny trained Lennox was a beast. He could beat any man who ever put on a pair of boxing gloves

 

Good post. Does Hearns get less respect as a fighter because he was taller than the likes of Leonard and Hagler? Should people say 'if he was Duran's height the outcome would be different'. Of course not.

BUT...

...while 'inch for inch' should not be taken into consideration, you do have to remember that size/weight is a far bigger factor at the limitless weight class of HW.

Taller fighters in lower divisions give up stockiness, bulk, etc to compensate for making the weight, they are skinnier, possibly weaker, possibly less well balanced than their smaller opponents.

At HW you can have a big height AND weight advantage. Therefore it is difficult rating HW's on a p4p basis, particularly the bigger ones.

On the one hand you can say 'without LL's height, he would be crap, shrink him down to 6'0, and he will lose' but on the other hand, without the height his style would be completely different, he would be essentialy a different fighter.

Plus, its not as if LL was one dimensional and limited, and relied pretty much solely on his weight and height to beat his opponents. Like for example Nikolai Valuev.

Here is a guy with a monstrous right hand and uppercut, a great arsenal of textbook punches, a superb jab, and a great defence. This is a very skilled and talented pugilist.

However

When it comes to that argument, his monstrous power is partly due to his size, his jab is made better by his long reach and height, and his defence aint hindered by being tall either.

So as you can see, it is very difficult rating HW's p4p. TBH, they should not be in p4p lists at all, because of this.

 

What I will say is that Lennox Lewis was a superb fighter, and among the very very best of his generation. End of story.

 

Lennox was great, but I think Foreman would have something to say about what you just said. I think I would pay $1000 to see Foreman versus Lennox. Get up Lennox!!! Get up and fight!!!! That's what Foreman would tell him.