Lennox Lewis with an iron chin

I don't think Lennox Lewis had a chin that I would describe as being particularly weak to begin with. No it wasn't as solid as George Chuvalo's and if it had been, he might not have suffered those losses. But throughout his career he took solid shots from men like Gary Mason, Michael Grant, Shannon Briggs, David Tua and Vitali Klitschko, yet still won those fights. That's more than enough verification that he had a set of whiskers.

 

If you focus on the amount of times he went down, and not the result of what happened after he went down, his chin was fine. Probably give it a 7/10, or thereabouts.

 

He would have been unbeaten probably, but his chin is a bit underrated as you say, he took Vitali's shots without going down.

 

Taking opponents lightly was more of a problem for Lennox, Holyfields chin would be less use to Lewis than a healthy regard for a dangerous opponent. He was more circumspect against Mercer, Holy and Tua than against the two that flattened him.

 

Lewis definitely had a personality and he was warranted in thinking he was a level above everyone else. where as holyfield never had that attitude, it causes complacency. But lewis was the best heavyweight fighter of the 1990s and that era, and you need arrogance to get to the top and be the man.

 

He would have a shorter and undefeated career most likely, and I believe he would ghave fought Tyson and Holyfield sooner.

 

I think his chin was fine. I just think that average heavy punches harder these days... or since the late 80's. Bigger, stronger athletes. Everyone gets caught... especially if they have long runs at the top.

 

Possibly could have been the second fighter after Marciano to retire undefeated.

 

Williams used judo to put Lennox down, yes.

But as for other sparring stories with Lennox being knocked down, they are true and confirmed.

As for McCall TKO - Sanders also didn't KO Wlad, he was up at 9, too.

 

Who gives a **** about what happens in sparring. Last time I checked sparring was designed to help fights either work on this weaknesses or prepare for the style of an upcoming fighter.

Now people are wanting to create win/loss records..wtf is that about?

 

Agree here. Sparring or amateur results means nothing to your professional record.
For example, Nick Wells KO'd Holmes twice in amateurs, cold.
Or Gonzalez KTFO'd Rid**** Bowe in their amateur fight.

 

And Steveson stopped Tyrell Biggs in their first encounter.

 

Holyfield used to beat Bowe in sparring, along with that Muhammad Ali got whooped in sparring.

 

Not sure i understand what you mean here.

Johnson - Choynski and Dempsey-Flynn are two clear examples i can think of. Do you not consider Johnson and Dempsey top 10? or i am missing something. I would have thought that McCall and Rahman are at worse similar hitters than both of these two guys.

I think anyone can get caught and KOd by a big shot. I think Lennox's chin is as good as anyones bar the very upper tier (Jeffries, Ali, Foreman, Chuvalo, McCall etc.)