Most overrated HW of all time.

Excuses, excuses. Why is it that SO many excuses have to made to justify his "greatness??" He wasn't prepared. He wasn't at his best! The ref called it off to quick. He "avenged" the losses (big deal, the greats don't get starched in the first place by second raters TWICE). And his victory over mental cripple McCall isn't all that impressive anyway. C'mon. This guy is the most overrated top line champ ever. The greats don't get laid out TWICE by B-level fighters. Period.

 

Lewis really didn't avenge his loss to McCall, sadly. He "beat" a drug addled ffight who had been dragged out of drug rehab.

I like Lewis, just saying.

 

Lennox Lewis and Larry Holmes,
Both products of a a very weak division (and still lost)

 

Joe Frazier. He was great, but his record doesn't impress me that much. Apart from beating a close to his prime Ali, he never had much longetivity, and proved nothing after Foreman handed him a lesson.

Frazier's legacy lives off his trilogy with Ali. While Ali has other impressive wins apart beating Frazier twice. Liston, Foreman, Norton, and beating Spinks at the age of 36 when past his prime. Its all about coming back and proving the doubters wrong, and Frazier does not impress me in that regard.

 

Lewis also has an underated chin. He was TKO'd by McCall, but got up from the booming right hand that floored him to be stopped on his feet. And we all know what Rahman's right done to him. So he was defeated twice from more or less single punches. But he showed a dynamite chin against Mercer, Holyfield II, and Klitschko. Two of those fights were wars where he took many punches.

Your right, "Lewis' weakness allows specifically for lesser fighters to beat him". McCall and Rahman. But in that weakness he also gained a strength. The ability to come back and win against fighters who had previously defeated him. He beat them both in rematches. Which in my opinion is one of the main ingredients of greatness.

 

Statements like that are EXACTLY why Lewis is so overrated. He's not a "lock" for the top ten at all. Hell, he's not even the best HW of his own era!!

 

Where & when did I say I didnt like him?

 

Spot on duodenum. In this post you have captured nicely what gets debated on this forum all the time.

 

Hey Muchmoore,

The Mercer fight is key and worth dwelling on for a moment.

You should take another look at it. Mercer is grossly out of shape, he looks like a guy in the local pub, not a trained pro boxer. He is so fat that Manny Steward actually comments on it to Lennox in between rounds in an effort to calm LL down.

The fight is on Youtube as far as I know, you should check it out again...

Ive said this a million times before but will say it again (!), the Mercer fight is a damning performance for Lewis, especially bearing in mind fossilised Holmes stellar performance against him at roughly the same time.

 

LL's era 1988-2002 was covered by: Tyson, Bowe, Holyfield and Lewis among others.

There is absolutely no way I would agree LL was clearly the best of his era.

Legacy wise I have him 3rd after Holyfield (for obvious reasons) and Tyson (youngest ever HW champ, brilliant sweeping unbeaten run).

Head to head, prime for prime I have him 4th behind '88 Tyson, '91 Holyfield and '92 Bowe.

 

I think prime Tyson goes exceptionally well versus prime Lewis, perhaps getting an early KO.

Utterly spent Holyfields performances against close to prime Lewis lead me to believe Prime for Prime a Holy points win is most likely.

 

Judging an "Utterly spent" Holyfield's performances against Lewis gives you the idea that He would beat him if they fought earlier?


Going by that judging Holyfield by his performances against ancients from the 70's, he doesnt belong in any type of atg discussion unless it's strictly as a victim.

 

No one said "chump" guy - that's hater talk, and silly. Lewis is an ATG, no doubt. But those KO losses, to substandard opposition, in the heart of your career, when you've SUPPOSED to be the best, are MAJOR deficiencies that count HEAVILY in evaluating alll time status - and it makes the term "Lock" way overstating it.

So does not facing the other top guys of the era when they were even close to their best - particularly Tyson - and not facing Bowe at all. Yeah, I know there are a million excuses for this stuff from Lewis boosters, but that's all they are, and irrelevant for evaulating all time status.

The bottom line is that Lewis is borderline top ten. "Lock" is overrating it. And, like I said, he's not even the best HW of his era, who is a lock - especially if he wins another belt.

 

As much as it pains me to say it because he was one of the good guys in boxing (and I'm glad he was champ), Floyd Patterson is usually overrated when it gets to ATG heavyweight lists.