Lewis is the greatest of all time

Terrified of losing to them? Maybe not. Terrified of not making good showing or looking bad, absolutely! As we saw in another thread, Lewis certainly did not seek out southpaws. Quite the opposite. IMO, he did not like unorthodox type of fighters.

Byrd and Ruiz at the time were better than Grant or Tyson. Like it or not, Lewis dropping belts to avoid Ruiz and Byrd slightly diminishes his overall legacy.

Either man would have added more to his legacy than Mike Grant.

 

Except Grant was ranked number 3 when Lewis fought him, Byrd was number 10, and Ruiz wasn't ranked at all!Lol

 

No

Ali beat Foreman, Frazier twice, Liston, Patterson twice, Norton twice.

Liston and Foreman were considered prime and unbeatable but he easily handled them.

Avenged his loss to Frazier-twice
Avenged his loss to Norton-twice

Those were his only two losses until losing to Leon Spinks when he was way past his prime, but, still Avenged that loss.

The losses to Holmes and Berbick are meaningless because it is known he already had Parkinson's and was an empty shell.

I would rate Joe Louis higher, as well.

 

Except Lewis' belt rated Byrd higher ( and likely Ruiz ) and Lenny dropped his belt rather than face either them! He gave up his belt, Riddick Bowe style rather than fight who his belt asked for. Yep. To add insult to his ego, Ruiz called him a girl.

Grant rank of #3 was a big time joke. Who did he ever beat, Golota who never won a big fight in his life, and a decision win over Savarese who was never even top 20 ( probably not even top 40 for that fight ) ?

Grant was a big USA guy, very soft, and not too skilled. An early version of an American hope at the time when the sun was setting on Foreman, Tyson, and Bowe and others. He was meat for Lewis, and Lewis fouled him for the KO, Holding his head and then upper cutting him.

 

I'd say he's just outside my top 5 heavyweights. But anybody who thinks the greatest is anyone but Louis or Ali, needs to rethink

 

Lewis is overrated on here, but he would have destroyed Ruiz and probably caught up with Byrd as well. They didn't have the strength, size, and most importantly, punching power, to worry him. And they were both vulnerable to a hard puncher, and Lewis had exceptional punching power.

 

Lewis' list of pelts is quite a bit better than Holmes'.

In Holmes you have an old Norton, white dope Cooney, green Witherspoon... a pretty thin crop after that thin beginning.

In Lewis, you have Ruddock, Bruno, Morrison, Golota, Holyfield, Grant, Tua, Briggs, Tucker, Akinwande, Vit... Not a Nancy in the bunch, almost all prodigious punchers. Just about as deep a resume as the division has witnessed.

 

Just keep that hate going.Lol you really are predictable and pathetic!

 

I do agree that Lewis was fresher, when he and Holyfield met - even if I strongly suspect that Lewis himself was not at his physical peak, at that point. And, if we are talking physical prime, I'd say that, by '99, there was not as big a difference between them, in terms of physical condition, as one might infer from your observations.

I don't think one can be absolute in defining when a fighter's prime started and ended. It is also difficult to account for the rate of a tail-off and I would suggest Holyfield's 'phoenix' routines and the fact he was able to compete at world level for a few years beyond his two fights with Lewis, muddies the waters a bit; neither supporting such a specific window nor providing much insight into how far past his best he was, in '99.

Much of the commentary I see on Lewis and his progression, focuses on how he refined his skills over time. Obviously, becoming the finished article, technically, doesn't slow down the natural effects of age on the body.


So yes - I think it's fair to say Holyfield was past prime and Lewis less so - but Lewis had also developed into a more complete boxer, during the mid-90s; much to the detriment of his peers, including Holyfield.

I have not made an attempt here at elevating Lewis' victories over Holyfield [as "era deciders"] - the fights speak for themselves and I don't think either of the contests reflect a decrepit, war-weary Holyfield against the fresh-faced, prime Lewis, either.

 

Champions rarely meet each other prime for prime so let's drop that nonsense. Champions also do not go undefeated when they toil among the best in the division for more than a handful of years... in all but the most depleted eras. Lewis fought in possibly the strongest era the division ever witnessed, bigger athletes, more recruitment across diverse talent pools, juiced opponents, heavy f*cking punchers... Name me the champs, outside of Ali and maybe Louis, who have a deeper resume.

 

I don't disagree that Lewis would win, but both were better than Grant or a shot Tyson.

The optics of dropping belts to avoid Byrd, or Ruiz isn't good and I'll say both had the ability to make Lewis look bad. Lewis was very much about ego. His ego could be as big as a weakness as his chin.

 

Don't be daft.

Bruno, Ruddock, Grant, Tua, Morrison, Holyfield, Mercer, McCall, Tyson, Vitali, Golota, Rahman, Akinwande, Tucker, Briggs... You can deliver a PhD thesis in whataboutism on this list and try and explain away why each victory meant so little but the sheer preponderance of quality here, and especially punching power, the prize element of heavyweight boxing, really stifles any rebuttal.

 

Holyfield was small and not a heavy puncher. Two others on your list one punch kod Lewis. The others had big flaws in their game. And he was big or bigger than any of them except Grant and Akinwande were taller.

 

Terrified ? No.. Embarrassed to share the ring with puff'd up 175 pound feather duster who he would blow away with ease? YES.
A lion is not 'terrified' of a bird , k?

And ... His trainer did not take that fight seriously either.

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LOL,say what...................HBO hype Grant was a joke, you rip on Morrison relentlessly but now he is a major scalp for Lemmie, one trick Pony Tua could not even get a ABC belt , McCall was Tysons Heavy bag in sparring,Golata never won a meaningful fight in his life, a shot STONED Tyson waxed him in two, Akinwho ?,Tucker was 1253417 years old, Briggs is another never was.......Glass cannon Rahman......

Lemmie timed his arrival perfect................there is not ONE PRIME talented fighter on your list......most of them were old, washed up or had beaten the snot out of them previously by non describe fighters.