Lennox Lewis

Lewis has some devastating knockouts to his credit. Highlight reel, youtube sampler kind of stuff. He's done everything an ATG is supposed to do. But he's nowhere near Louis and Ali when rankings are concerned. That coveted 3rd spot is occupied by Larry Holmes...for now.

At the moment I've got Lennox at #7, which seems a bit too low for me. But the guys I have above deserve their spots. Depends on criteria, which always has some bias. Right above him is Tyson with Foreman one place lower.

 

no, its a list of heavyweights.

 

What he is not given 1 iota of credit for is how he took the tough road instead of the easy road in his fights. The other guy's around were all taking the easy road fighting who and where and when they wanted.

Lennox was taking his act on the road early in his career. He was the guy taking on Dangerous guys like Mason. If you didn't follow the sport at the time, lots of folks thought it was a career suicide match for Lennox at the time. A big big risky fight giving up tons of experience to an undefeated heavy.

Then everyone is in love with Ruddock. He even had that amatuer victory over Lewis so it was a foregone conclusion he'd blow Lewis out. That's why he was a 2-1 favorite. And Lennox came right over the top of that lazy jab Ruddock threw and it was all over.

Then, Lennox takes on some DKP fighters in WBC title fights and title eliminator fights. How many other heavies out there doing that? You can count them on your thumbs. How many guys win?

A guy like Butler is casually dismissed these days. But it was a very very risky fight that other guy's never sign the contract for. They aren't fighting a DKP fighter with 16 straight ko's. Never. They're fighting a sloppy defense guy with a history of being stopped and not winning the big one and poor recent form.


Then Lennox is taking on guys like Morrison and Mercer. In non-title fights even. And not making them take the role of road warrior and fight oversea's.

I'm glad to have seen Lennox take on the guys he did. It would have been far easier to fight guys like Alex Stewart. Joe Hipp. Jimmy Thunder. Buster Mathis. Herbie Hide. A big bout could have been trying to get a Moorer to sign a contract and then destroying him.

What we saw instead was a guy doing things the hard way. Way too many least path of resistance the last 5 decades for my liking. This guy isn't 1 of them. On the contrary.

 

There's a lot to be said about your post. Lewis did whatever he could to avoid DK getting his hooks into him and that was no easy route.

 

The only nitpick I have about Lennox's resume is that it doesn't have the stylistic diversity of other heavyweight greats- it's just not as well rounded.

I can understand not wanting to take on the Ruiz's and Byrd's of the world because they're simply not as profitable as banking in on an old Tyson, but even one or two fights there would've rounded out his resume nicely.

I'm not saying he'd have lost to those guys or that he was poor against southpaws- we simply don't know because he never fought any. Put him in when he's focused against an orthodox slugger, and we've got plenty of evidence for how he'd handle that.

 

Is Ruiz Southpaw? I rarely watch his fights? I respectfully disagree,
Lennox has beat just about every type of fighter, however really
slick tough guys like Biggs and Tucker were shot at the time.
I believe Lennox was versatile, but not fearless. Manny had to scold
Lennox to be more aggressive against a dead Tyson. Makes you wonder
how would Lennox handle Foreman or Liston? Not to well imo.
A motivated Lennox was scary though, although I was a Morrison fan
Lennox's performance was so dominant. I was 11 back then what were
the thoughts of yourslef and the boxing public pre and post Morrison bout?

 

Great post zadrfak..lennox did it the hard way..cant believe he gets knocked on here...shameful.

 

If Lewis had been gifted slightly better recuperative powers, then he might have been the most destructive heavyweight of all time.

As things were, he cut his coat according to his cloth.

Yes, when he turned tiger, he was absolutely incredible.

In addition to the fights mentioned, look how quickly he wrecked Vitally Klitschko when he realised that he wasn’t going to outbox him!

 

Ruiz was orthodox, that's just an example of a potential fight with a different style to what Lennox typically fought that never got made because there were fights available that were easier to sell.

I should emphasize again, that's just me nitpicking Lennox's resume. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but other contemporary heavyweights did fight southpaws (particularly Evander and Wlad) and should get credit for it. Lennox, Mike, and Riddick didn't.

Doesn't mean Lennox wouldn't have beaten the Moorers, Byrds, and Sanders' out there, it just means he's got no historical track record to base it off of either way.

 

yeah haha who in their right mind would fight Sanders. 6 foot 4 Southpaw with speed
and dynamite in his fists, Cant see Lewis, Bowe, or Tyson troubled by Moorer or
Byrd. Sanders could pull the upset though.