Lennox Lewis Was A Big Puncher

Seems it was Evander Holyfield, not Lennox Lewis, who was the first man to put the iron-chinned Mercer on the canvas, so I'd take that with a grain of salt.

Lewis a bigger puncher than David Tua?? C'mon. This is all revisionist history. Back in the 90s, nobody was calling Lewis a "puncher." Punchers are guys like Tyson, Tua or Shavers, who ANNIHILATE most of the guys they face and go into EVERY fight trying to end it with one punch. Lewis clearly did not do that. It is only since he took out glass-jawed Hasim Rahman so quickly that people have been calling him a puncher - like there haven't been several guys that KTFO that joke.atsch

 

Boxer-puncher with a lot -- and I do mean a lot -- of power.

 

You mean 3. like Lewis, Tua, and Maskaev.

 

Well I'm certainly not saying that Holyfield was a bigger puncher than Lewis, all I'm saying is that if Lewis was such a big puncher, how come it took a lesser puncher like Holyfield to put Mercer down, when the supposed "big puncher" Lewis couldn't take him out. That, imo, is worth more than Mercer's subjective comments that Lewis supposedly hit harder than anyone he faced.

And as I've said in this and the other thread, back in the 90s, Lewis was not considered as a "puncher" in the league of guys like Tyson, Ruddock, or Tua. That just wasn't his rep, at least in the boxing mags I read, and the shows I watched. His power was respected, certainly - as it should have been, particularly after the Ruddock fight, but when most people talked about the "punchers" of the division, Lewis was not, to my memory, usually prominent in the discussion.

I think the fellow who called him a "boxer-puncher" had it right. I don't know about anyone else, but when I think of "punchers" I think of guys who are going into fights throwing haymakers looking to end it with one shot - guys like Earnie Shavers, George Foreman, Mike Tyson and the like. Lewis just never struck me - or a lot of others at the time - in that way.

 

Come on Zak, the shot that Holyfield dropped Mercer with was a body shot. He wouldn't be the first nor the last guy with an iron chin who was vulnerable to the body. Mercer was never down from a head shot until he fought Wlad in 2002, which was also the first time he was stopped

 

Yeah, but the fact remains Holyfield still hurt him and put him on the canvas. Lewis didn't. Not saying that Lewis isn't a big puncher than Holyfield certainly, just that this may be evidence that Lewis is not as big a puncher as some think.

 

Yeah Lewis is a big puncher thats like starting a topic saying Ray Leonard was fast.

 

Lewis was a big puncher. And a boxer. But respected for his impressive power certainly. To say he was not thought of as a big puncher..i dunno what to say.
Definately had 1-2 punch KO power with all types of punches...i don't need to give all the examples do I????

 

Normally boxers like to say that the guy that dropped them, or the guy that knocked them out DID NOT punch as hard as the guy that did. So, I take their accounts with a few grains of NaCl.

However, in this instance I may very well agree with Mercer, due to various other displays of Lewis' awesome punching power.

 

I think most respected his power after the Razor fight.

 

Lewis was a massive puncher...no question

 

if you KO someone for the first time, it doesn't mean you're the biggest puncher he has ever faced. For example, Buster is not the biggest puncher Tyson has faced.

 

I think a distinction needs to made between being a "puncher", which is a power-dependant style of boxing practiced by boxers like Shavers, Tyson (who was in his earlier career more of a puncher-swarmer), Foreman and Tua; and a "hard puncher", which is just hitting hard regardless of one's style. Herbie Hide could punch VERY hard but was a boxer in style (and a pretty bad one at that). Roy Jones Jnr. hit hard but was not a "puncher" in his style.

Lewis was a boxer-puncher who could hit very hard but was often willing to just jab and arm-punch. For instance, if he'd loaded up against Holyfield in their first fight, I think he could have stopped Holyfield in the middle rounds, but he instead opted to jab. Lewis threw very few full-body shots in that fight because he was just looking to pile up points.

Contrast that with Lewis when he's looking to get his opponent out quickly, like in the second Rahman fight, the last two rounds of the Bruno fight, the second Oliver McCall fight, or the Andrew Golota fight. Then he becomes a very aggressive puncher who still boxes quite a bit. In the Tucker and Mavrovic fights he did an interesting mix of both.

The important thing for Lewis was getting the appropriate strategy for his opponent. He boxed too much in the first fight against Rahman, I think, because he was looking to get rests to compensate for his lack of conditioning. He tried to punch too much against McCall which resulted in him getting him caught by a punch he practically ran into.

So, in conclusion, Lewis was a hard puncher sure, but in his style he wasn't a "puncher" (I prefer to use the term "slugger").