Emanuel Steward did a lot to improve Lewis as a fighter. Before he had Steward, he frequently fought in a very wide stance, always off balance, and giving up his height and reach. Even though I rank Lewis ahead of Wladimir Klitschko, I believe Steward did more in improving Lennox. I think with Wlad, Steward improved him more from a confidence and psychological standpoint.
Excellent points. I will add that Steward brought professionalism into his camp. He couldn't believe how bad his preparations were including the quality of his sparring partners.
There was a sense that the Pepe Correa days were just guys hanging out together, with the gym as the venue/backdrop.
Exactly. Lewis did well to get as far as he did around that time. One mag i have picked him to lose badly at any point and he did - next fight. He was sloppy and flawed but had aggression and massive power.
Or Tyson, if he didn´t have that long amateur career. Nevertheless he had some teriffic offensive abilities combined with his size for sure. I see him easily rushing through some older eras like that....
Well in the first McCall fight, it was Pepe Correa yelling "go out there and knock the bum out!" Lewis went out for the second round, and HE got knocked out. Ironically, Emanuel Steward was in Oliver McCall's corner that night.
Very good post. The one thing Steward could not improve on Lewis was ego, which at times was a greater weakness than his chin.
I think people tend to overlook how "raw" Lewis was as an amateur due to him winning the Olympics. Bowe for example was more polished and was tehnically superior in their fight, but Lewis pretty much bull rushed him after losing the first round with the benefit of a typically hasty amateur stoppage. At the start of Lewis' career he was very much a specimen with all the right ingredients, but clearly had a lot to work on. Pepe gets a lot of stick for Lewis' development as a pro, but Lewis was with John Davenport for longer and in the early part of his career. Davenport was a curious choice and seemed to focus on Lewis being a slugger who stayed in the pocket rather than someone using his physical advantages to keep the fight at range and create room for the right hand that we're all familiar with. Commercially as well Lewis struggled to capture the public's imagination in the UK. Part of this was the national obsession with Bruno, but his team also struggled to position him as an attraction and develop his identity. There is a cringeworthy video out there of him trying to trash-talk Mason before their fight, which is completely at odds with his later persona. It's obviously easy in retrospect and it all worked out in the end, but I think the early stages of Lewis' pro career on all fronts left a bit to be desired.
Shoot, that didn't last long enough to take much away...other than that Tua's sledgehammers were with him from the start.
