Lewis is the greatest of all time

What about head 2 head with the ATGs.The only one's I see beating Lenny at his very Best are
Prime Foreman
Ali up to about 1975
Larry Holmes up to about 1983.

 

As highly as I rate Lewis, he was the one doing the running from Tyson even after Tyson lost to Douglas. He was at ringside for Tyson/Rudduck and you could tell he wanted no part of a match up against Tyson. It was only after Tyson was koed by Holyfield and was more or less a shadow of his ferocious prime after that, did Lewis start chasing a fight with him.

 

Not my cup of tea & certainly not the greatest of all time, but a great fighter nonetheless. Saw him open a supermarket in Birmingham back in 1992 with his mum & couldn't believe how bloody big he was.

 

I agree with your choice of Holmes, Ferguson but not too sure of Ali or the mummy. I think Tyson is a good pick and both Klitschkos would match up very well against Lewis. I would risk money on Holyfield and Bowe on having a good chance as well.

 

Exactly!

I'll add that Holy and Tyson had their 1st title fights in 1986, while Lennox at 1993. That's a long period of time.

No wonder why Lennox was world champion in 2003 while Holy and Mike were completely shot, spent fighters by then.

 

The pre-exile Ali (Patterson 1 through Folley) would have defeated Lewis. Ali handled Terrell with ease. He would have had to be more careful with Lewis, but his hand and foot speed would have been too much for Lennox. He wouldn't have been standing still long enough for Lewis to hit him. The post-exile Ali would have had a tougher time. He was never in condition like he had been earlier, even though he still retained all his other attributes.

Also, Ali had the courage and confidence in himself to take on every top challenger that came along. Lewis possessed a more tentative temperament as demonstrated by the calculated way he selected his opponents. I think he would have carried this mindset with him into the ring with Ali.

 

Greatest of all time is a just a unmeasureable phrase, Lewis in my opinion at his best had the ability to beat any other Heavyweight champion ever.

Ali struggled to beat Norton, do i think Lewis would have such issue with Norton i think not, would Lewis nearly lose the title in a fight with Conn as Louis did, again i think not.

Likewise would Louis or Ali lose to McCall like Lewis did, no it not likely.

You pays your money and make your choice.

 

I have him no.3.

 

the problem for me in ranking Lewis higher than 5 is that his tests against other all timers like Holyfield and Tyson are a bit empty, although he won. After Holyfield all I thought was if Holy was younger he would have been able to sustain and mount more attacks and very likely beat Lewis, any time he was aggressive he was having success, he just couldn't maintain it.

As for Tyson, that fight was pointless, Lennox might say otherwise but its pretty clear the Tyson of 2002 wasn't nearly the same as even the Tyson of 91, Ruddock Tyson would have given Lennox big problems imo, he didnt like the pressure fighters. He neutralized Tua because the guy lacked the speed and skill to get inside. he had real problems against mercer who mounted consistent attacks and was aggressive. he even looked terrified at times against McCall in the rematch until Oliver imploded.

Anyway, Lewis was great but he wasn't the perfect heavyweight some make out he was, he had vulnerabilities and as the proof showed, he could be knocked out early with one punch if caught correctly, this wasnt easy when he was "on", but the possibility was there. I believe there are a few all timers that could exploit that.

 

He's definitely in that small pool of elite fighters who have a realistic chance of beating any other heavyweight in history, but to say he's definitively the best strikes me as highly speculative at best.

 

In a nutshell.
It's rare in such a long career to have a fighter who NEVER met ANYBODY who was better than him on ANY night.
Even his 2 defeats couldn't say the other man was BETTER.
Think about it...that's some achievement.
He just lacked defining peak v peak fights .
Eg, Bowe / Holyfield.
You can't compare Tyson and Lewis , they developed at such a different pace.
I thought Lewis came in too heavy as his career developed but that's just my view.
Awesome boxer, great guy, got out in one piece, happy man, wealthy...he did it way better than the others if you look at the mess most end up in.
The man is a credit.

 

Still ducked the Vitali rematch though.

 

I don't think he ducked anything in the true sense although I understand your sentiment.
Let's say you are the champ , you've had a long and great career, at the back end of it you overcome a tough opponent in a match that makes you realise it's time to walk away.
Why do you need to rematch ?
Why...there's no need...by walking away in one piece you are admitting it's done .
Too many people are used to boxers going on until they get mashed.
Lennox broke the mold which was refreshing.

 

I have him #3 as well. I have Ali, Louis and Lewis bedded in as the top 3 now. It gets a lot trickier from there.

Ali and Foreman would be talking H2H i reckon and strictly in that respect i'd have him #2.

 

I doubt Foreman would do well today too small and easy to hit.