Lennox Lewis underrated or overrated?

Lennox Lewis had good offers to fight Bowe in 1993 too, as reported by the international press, and even admitted by Frank Maloney, Lewis's manager.

 

Overrated by some underrated by some, for me he was one of the best offensive fighters for 8 rounds,size,power and skill but I can not forget that he was starched 2X by Rahman and McCall (punchers but not elite)

Also his best wins were over Razor Rudduck (impressive,Golota,Botha and Grant and he fought Holyfield past his best. He also fought Tyson past his best but was impressive in his victory. I was also a little disappointed that he did not rematch Vitali for a couple of reasons, for one that fight gave Vitali confidence, The cut was bad but a little hold and hit tactics did not leave me with closure, I am not sure Lennox slipped too far from his best (he was only 38, had only 40 fights,not many wars. I thought it was a must decision to stop the fight (Bad cut) but a rematch was in order

Lewis as a fighter was one of the best offensively for 8rounds but on the negative, never got off the floor to win and never stopped a man after 8 rds. I rate him from 5-10 because of his head to head but I can see him getting stopped by lesser heavyweights because he did 5% of his 42 fights

 

Very good boxer for sure. GREATEST S-HW no doubt, Greatest HW NO.

 

What was he stripped of?

 

Wlad Klitschko is definitely superior in using height/range imo. People can't even lay a glove on him most of the time

I've ranked Lennox in the top 3 in the past. Haven't made a list in a bit but might be inclined to put him there again, usualy he fluctuates between 3-7ish. I think that he's over rated head to head a little though. He's one of the greatest but not Louis-Ali-Tyson level of h2h imo

 

^^^ Agree.

 

Lewis was a very good heavyweight. But, I feel he is now being a bit overrated these days. The Tyson fight was of zero value as Tyson had nothing left at that point. (Tyson went on to lose to ****ing Danny Williams and Kevin McBride shortly thereafter. Two fighters that would NEVER have lasted 2 rounds against a prime Tyson). Lennox also had life and death with Frank Bruno. In fact, he was getting outboxed and outfought by Bruno until Bruno (like he always did late) ran out of gas and got caught by one of the most amateurishly wide punches to ever land on a top level fighter. Lennox had all he could handle with an over the hill Holyfield, and went life and death with Ray Mercer. (And this was AFTER Mercer had already been embarrassed by 40 something Larry Holmes, lost to Jesse Ferguson, and had a draw with Marion Wilson!!!). Lennox also failed to stop hapless fighters such as Zelko Mavrovic. Oliver McCall was a tough fighter with a great chin, but, a bit below true championship calibre in skills. And McCall knocked Lennox out fair and square. In the rematch, McCall was having some sort of drug induced mental breakdown and Lennox still didn't drop him. And, this was not out of compassion or pity. In the post fight interview, Lennox said he was fearful that McCall was "setting a trap" even though he hadn't thrown a single punch back at Lennox for more than a round.

Bottom line is: Lennox was a very good heavyweight. Riddick Bowe was a huge ***** for avoiding him, because that rematch in the pros would have told us a lot. But, as the evidence currently stands, I have Lennox falling just outside the top ten. (I have him below both Tyson and Holyfield in spite of his record against them respectively because he did not fight either of them during their primes.) He would be competitive in any era, deserves his place in the IBHOF, but falls a bit short of the ultimate accolade of "All Time Great."

 

Say what? It wasn't his best punch, that's for sure, as he was tired as usual in the later rounds, but to call that an amateurish punch? :roll:

Mind if I ask you for your top 10 heavyweights all-time?

 

Stripped of the WBA title for fighting Grant instead of Ruiz.

He vacated the IBF belt to fight Tyson instead of Byrd, and he vacated the WBC, IBO and The Ring titles when he retired.

 

The punch Lennox landed on Bruno was certainly hard, but it was very wide in its delivery. The fact that it landed has more to do with Bruno's defensive liabilities than Lennox's skill. Most top level fighters would have easily avoided that shot.

As for my top 10: Ali, Louis, Holmes, Johnson, Dempsey, Foreman, Liston, Holyfield, Tyson, Marciano. Not necessarily in that order. But, pretty close. In all fairness to Lewis, i think he might be too big for a fighter like Marciano head to head. But, that doesn't necessarily make him a greater fighter in my estimation. And, although I might favor Lewis over Marciano head to head, if Marciano lands Susie Q, Lennox would definitely be knocked out.

 

So he was only stripped once, to give one of the belts back to Don King?

 

Tyson's prime ended before Lewis even reached the world scene. Tyson was sent down for **** earlier in the very same year Lewis destroyed Ruddock to announce his arrival to the world stage. You cant hold the fact that Lewis didn't fight prime-Tyson against him when Tyson was in prison before Lewis was even considered a credible opponent.

As for Holyfield, well, if he had beaten Bowe in 1992 then he would have fought Lewis in 1993 but he didn't, and if Holyfield had beaten Moorer in 1994 then he would have fought Lewis that same year or in 1995 but he didn't. Prime-Heavyweight-Holyfield lost to both Bowe and Moorer when fights against Lewis were being discussed. Then he retired for a while and when he came back he was more occupied with his rubbermatch with Bowe, his two fights with Tyson and getting his revenge on Moorer than he was with anything else.

So prime-Tyson was faded and in jail when Lewis reached the world stage and prime-Holyfield was losing to Bowe and Moorer when the opportunity came for him to fight Lewis. Neither man really was in any position to fight Lewis or for Lewis to fight when in their prime.

 

I am not accusing Lewis of ducking fighters like Tyson and Holyfield when they were in their prime. But, the fact remains that he did not fight them in their prime so we can only learn so much from those matchups. Therefore, we are left to judge a fighter who in his prime was cleanly knocked out be two mediocre fighters (MCCall and rachman) and whose best wins are really over fighters like Bruno, a fat Tua, and Ruddock. Because he beat all of those people, took care of business against over the hill Tyson and Holyfield, and stopped Vitali Klitchsko, he deserves his spot in the Hall of Fame. But, based on his overly cautious style and suspect chin, I feel justified in ranking him just outside the top 10.

 

Out of curiosity, who do you rank above him and based on what criteria?

 

Wlad does use his height well. I would have to see him do it against Lewis level of competition before I could say he does it as well or better than Lewis.