Lewis is the greatest of all time

Lewis was a great fighter, no doubt, but the best ever Heavy or top 3.....is pure lunacy......lower top ten, maybe.

You do not get ko'ed by two genuine Palookas with one punch.......

His legacy fights are waltzing 24 with Methusalem Holyfield and beating the shell of a shell completely shot Tyson.

His best win is stopping robotic arm puncher VK.

It is claimed Bowe ducked him.....but I do not recall Lewis yelling for a match........instead of refusing step a side money against Tyson to force a fight he took the dough, I guess he was not too eager meeting a Tyson with some life left in him....he ducked Ruiz/Byrd...while he most likely would have beaten them you cannot be claiming you are getting ducked when you practice ducking yourself.

Mercer was defused by ancient Holmes, Ruddock brutalized by Tyson, so was Bruno or Biggs, Golata quit twice against a severely diminished Bowe....so that leaves us with Tommy Chin,the Octopuss, the Mohawk or HBO hype Grant. I mean a total washed up Tyson finished Golata in two......

Prime vs prime there is no way no how Lewis is going undefeated against Tyson, Holyfield and Bowe.....and you can bet your bottom dollar that he gets stopped at least once.

 

I consider Ali, Frazier and Norton to be contemporaries. I don't look for exactness between the timeframes, within which each of them was professionally active. I am more interested in the fact that their respective careers intersected, over a significant number of years; during which time they fought competitively.

I can judge the relevant specifics around timeline, without having to qualify that assessment with a broad-brush generalization on whether or not one was the peer of the other. Again, it's more about to what extent the contests in question were viable as competitive fights; rather than when each fighter debuted.

Suffices to say, I disagree with your assertions that neither Lewis nor Bowe were the contemporaries of Holyfield and Tyson. The Lewis/Holyfield and Lewis/Tyson bouts, like any other big-named heavyweight fights, need to be looked at in the context of when they were fought, but overall, these boxers were each a part of and shared the same heavyweight era - predominantly the '90s.

 

Top 5 no doubt. Maybe 4th

 

He's #1 easily for me. Other candidates had lot of flaws too.

 

George changes his mind all the time.

 

I started out by stating, "the point in time at which Lewis fought Holyfield and Tyson should be taken into consideration", and I have not indicated that the observations aren't correct - at least not observations of the data. Who would (unless they can't read or have a tendency to unreasonably disbelieve fundamental data)?

As to how meaningful the data is... ...I think that's the question I was putting to you, to start with.


On the relevant period, I'd suggest that Lewis was having a significant impact on the world stage by '92 and whilst both he and Bowe entered the pro ranks later than Tyson and Holyfield, I don't see this as a late entry into the period of top-flight '90s heavyweights.

By the end of '92, Bowe and Holyfield were considered the number 1 and number 3 respectively - with Lewis at number 2. From thereon in, Lewis would remain in the top 5, as would Holyfield, for the rest of the decade (save '94 when Evander took a short retirement).

The influence Lewis had on the division during this time, while Bowe, Tyson and Holyfield were maneuvered around him, seems fairly obvious to me. The fact Lewis would beat Holyfield twice by the end of it, even though it could have happened earlier, is significant and, while I'd agree that the timing does need to be considered, it shouldn't diminish the value of the wins too much. After all, these were hardly the classic 'youth vs experience' encounters.

 

Where do you rate Oliver McCall all time then?

 

I never attempted to rank them beyond top 20. McCall would be outside of 20.

 

Lewis is Top 5 in my opinion.Ali, Louis and Holmes definitely rank above him. H2H I would defintely pick Ali and Holmes over him. Maybe also Louis

 

He has the win over Razor Ruddock, he has the win over Vitali, bad losses to McCall & Rahman (who were beatableand had wins over Golota, Botha, Tua, I think Tyson was past his best as was Evander but most champion fought fighters past their best. I think head to head he had a chance to beat anyone but he showed weakness to recover in 2 fights so against the ATG he may be vulnerable. His record was 41-2-1 so a short career. I think his right hand would take out guys like Holmes and his size may be an issue for some fighters of the past but a good tecnique fighter or a guy who could press you with power shot could be a problem.

Hard to say Lewis may be the best of the big men Vlad, Vitali,Bowe,Primo & Willard and fits into the top. Would he survive Foreman? Louis, could he handle Ali's mental strength. Does he win in a shootout with a young fresh Tyson? or a younger fresher Evander?

I say he fight into the spot from 3-10 for me somewhere in between

 

First they ignore you
Then they laugh at you
Then they fight you
Then they admit that Lennox Lewis was the GOAT.

 

Yeah , he was terrified of Byrd and Ruiz.

 

How many have a better resume?

 

Come on Mac the top 3 are obviously guys from right now. Discount Wilder tho as he weighs as little or less than some of these top dogs from previous era's. Just bypass Ortiz still being Ring rated #3!