Lennox Lewis - What Are Your Thoughts?

He's #4 all time at HW based purely on what they all achieved in their own era, i.e., discounting predicted results in cross era fantasy fights, for me.

 

Probably discovered some natural aptitude once they tried it out. Fast hands, ability to hit a heavy bag hard, quick reflexes, etc.

 

Or being big, like Willard and Carnera.

 

Without a doubt one of THE best heavyweights of all time, either by record or H2H.

 

Second best Heavyweight based on resume imo and a H2H menace would give any other boxer a hard time

 

Great Lennox Lewis,
Sold undisputed, defense missed,
Resume's truth persists.

 

I missed the early part of his career but started following him around the time of the Mercer win. I was a!ways a big fan - He is top 5 for me; athletic, great power, great boxing brain and had a lot of dog in him. I think he's a tough night for any heavyweight great.
His weakness was complacency. Lewis was capable of retiring undefeated. But I do love the way he showed steely determination to come back and starch Rahman in the rematch. I also thought he was smart enough to quit at the right time when he recognised he was sliding. Lewis didn't get enough praise when he was active. But I was really pleased to see that quickly change after he retired.

 

Lewis tends to get slightly overrated on these boards in my opinion. It can be difficult to rate guys properly because so many posters have a different criteria on what constitutes a great fighter. Usually a person will create a framework of standards that benefits the fighter they like to accentuate their claim for said boxers lofty position. For example most posters that are fans of Lewis always point to the fact he beat Everyman he ever faced - but truth be told so did Ingemar Johannsson and nobody is putting him on any pedestal. My own set list that I try not to deviate to far from is - is the champion winning consistently and is he taking on peak level contenders.
Lewis was unfortunate but the big 3 of the 90s /Tyson was really 80s, he missed out on their prime. He never fought Bowe. He got a past prime Holyfield that had already lost to Bowe twice quite savagely. Tyson was a mentally shot ghost of his former self. Some 14 years and a prison sentence removed from his best year.
He did clean out one era’s worth of late 90s contenders and he had some qualities that were great. He was a warrior. He’s on my top 10. I only find him overrated in context of people that say he is top 3 or H2h goat. He peaked late and his run as best man wasn’t that long before he retired.

 

I thought him as a boxer was quite underwhelming while what he achieved was great for his division.
I don’t think he’s quite the monster he’s become now I think speedy fighters with good jabs would undo him like Larry Holmes and some of the best punchers would overwhelm him some of the time.
Joe Louis would be his reckoning for a certainty in my opinion.

 

Soft fighter albeit with a soft element.

 

And being able to perform while getting hit in the face. The ability to get hit in the face is probably the number one asset for being a boxer but it is rarely mentioned.

 

Also it’s a sport with weight classes that has a professional path if one has the ability (or just wants to box and make money even if they aren’t championship material, which the vast majority of people who take up the sport find out the hard way they are not).

How many other athletic careers can one pursue at 118 or 126 pounds? You’ll find some spots in pro sports for guys say 160 and up but most of those require a good deal of foot speed and athleticism. I seem to recall Marvin Hagler running the 100-yard dash against other famous athletes on The Superstars and … well, he wasn’t cut out to be a sprinter, much less a running back, wide receiver, defensive back and certainly not an NBA point guard at his height nor probably suited to soccer or baseball unless he took up those sports very young (then … maybe).

 

#3 or #4. He has the most dangerous resume of powerhitting heavies there is, perhaps because he had to run the gauntlet during the prime juiced era. Either way, you stack up the punchers he faced and it is just a deep, deep list of guys who can sleep you, no matter what else they can or can't do. He avenged his losses. He went after dangerous fights, never threw his belt in the trash. And he held it together for a long time, had a long career during a halcyon era.