Lennox Lewis - Whats The Lowest He Can Be Ranked?

Basically you have presented my perspective better than i did. Good post.

Spell check on 'two' though.

 

Number ten, if you want to be harsh,and give the maximum censure to his two ko defeats.

 

Haha, i'm not bothered now mate, i meant at the time. Hindsight can even change fondness, not quite here though.

Couldn't you respond to the 'good post' part of my reply to you? ****.

Only kidding.

 

I just can't seem to put together a top 10 Heavyweight list. I find it impossible. I'm certain that Ali and Louis are miles ahead of the competition, but after that, how do you compare a fighter like Jack Johnson or Lennox Lewis. Holmes, who didn't reign in a great era, against Marciano, another fighter who dominated a weak division.

I'll have to watch more of Marciano, Johnson, but as for Lewis, I think he could be ranked as low as 10 with enough reasoning. He beat old versions of Tyson and Holyfield, lost twice by devastating knockout against B level opposition, and often had hard nights with the likes of Bruno and Mercer. Lewis wasn't as dominant as many people like to think, he was the best the 90s had to offer, but he was very vulnerable, which is why I've never gone along with the theory he's the best H2H Heavyweight ever.

 

I'm in a good mood, ie i'm taking the high road.

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Nar he's definitely not the best h2h in my opinion. Still i see more of an argument for him to be ranked alongside the greatest than i see against his claim. Think Sonny Liston, i reckon he could ko Lewis possibly, and i'd pick Ali over him. On paper it looks as though the jab of Lennox Lewis is a great weapon against the speedy outboxer, but that style hardly gave a prime Ali problems, so effectively i don't see it. Ali is faster and that mobility as we know is unreal, i could see him dealing with the strength of Lewis and winning a decision personally.

 

I can't see him outside the Top 10.

 

Didn't know you were much of a Lennox Lewis fan, i don't even dislkie him, i don't dislike any fighters bar Hatton, it was just a thing about liking Tyson a lot.

I've given my opinion on Lennox, he's one of the greatest for me, hard to do placements because there's all kinds of arguments and i'm a bit busy right now.

 

I would pick prime Mike Tyson over Lennox Lewis, also. It's all to easy to watch their fight and say, that would always happen. It makes no sense. The Tyson of the late 80s was different. Significantly more head movement, the confidence of an unbeaten fighter, fast combinations which he had neglected upon fighting Lewis. It took more than just guts to beat this guy, ask Razor Ruddock, Tyson in his day was every bit as talented as Lewis, perhaps even more so. If Mercer can work well on the inside against Lewis, so can Tyson.

I'd also pick Muhammad Ali, Joe louis, and Larry Holmes against him.

 

Ill give you my perspective on Lennox Lewis. Take it how you want. Lennox Lewis for me is hard to rank near the top. He never defeated another great fighter in their respective prime. On top of that he started off his career at the tail end of what I consider a technically solid group. He came into his prime against one of the most technically challenged era's. It was the first wave of "big men", but guys with little skills. There was no marquee fighters that were above the pack. All the contenders could beat each other on any night and were just mediocre at best. You saw washed up versions of Tyson, Foreman, and Holyfield competing very well against the very same group that Lewis was cementing his legacy on. Golota was beaten by Tyson. Tua and Grant were getting worked by Holyfield in sparring Holy outboxing Rahman fairly easily. Briggs was outboxed by Foreman, etc.
The flaws that Lewis showed against some of the technically better fighters he faced early on, leads me to believe he would not have accomplished as much had he come into his prime in the late 80's or early 90's had he been challenged by Bowe, Holyfield, Tyson, at their best. Struggles with guys like Ray Mercer, and Frank Bruno and being knocked out by Mcall and Rahman were also tell tale signs. Lewis was never a good brawler, and some of these fighters were capable of taking Lewis into uncomfortable territory where his vulnerabilities came out.
So in my opinion were evaluating him on how well he dominated a technically weak group, somewhat like Tyson's career but against a weaker group in my opinion, and for that, I dont see how he can be ranked so highly.

 

:good

Me too, I admit with time he probably improves on my list. Ranking him #3 or even in the top 5 feels like quite a stretch for me. It's the same with people ranking Liston #3 or #4, it's completely insane. You've got to have a pretty messed up, skewed, and unbalanced criteria to actually rank him that unreasonably.