Rated Higher - Foreman Or Lewis?

Lewis is distinctly in the second tier with Holmes. Beat every man he faced, depth of resume, length of continuous excellence at the highest level.

George is in the next group, not quite as versatile, not as deep a resume.

And I have Lewis beating Foreman head to head if that were part of the discussion.

 

This always come across as pre-empting the big ugly elephant in the room that is him getting knocked into oblivion when he was apparently #1 in the world, by second raters.

 

Apparently, Ring Rated “second raters”, nonetheless.

 

I'd assume so, unless their rankings skipped over the number between one and three!

 

True.
And the The Ring ratings page is, of course, holy scripture.

 

So sayeth the Lord, Lennox Lewis (and his disciples).

 

Revelation 5:5:

"And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

 

Trouble is Lewis wasn't #1 when stopped by McCall. He wasn't even #2.

 

That's not what Lewis fans were saying at the time.

Who are you saying were #1 and #2 ?

 

Only because people can't be bothered. I'd say you rate Tyson comfortably below the median. I'd have to go back but i'd be confident Bojak rates him higher. His posts can be critical bu they are devoid of bias or emotion. Morlocks doesn't rate anyone post the early 80's.

Well it all has to be seen in context and perhaps there's a good reason people want to argue. Perhaps they rate Lewis as a better H2H fighter than Holyfield. It's hardly an outrageous thought.

Perhaps they are just seen as better. Perhaps your rating of them is not the norm.

Well many rate them that much higher and obviously have higher opinions of them than your good self. Perhaps what you see as sacred is simply where they sit.

Now we are down to serious business!

Did you ever see a better punch from a heavyweight moving backward??? Page KO'd a guy that went 15 with Ali and lasted more rounds against Holmes and Spinks. No-one ever knocked him out as fast and as convincingly than young Greg. And what about the finish???

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Holyfield and Bowe were both rated higher at this point. I have a publication here somewhere predicting he would fall flat as he simply had too much wrong with his game. They were right - at the time.

 

Bowe was rated higher by some, Americans of course, but had lost to Holyfield 10 months previously, and had just fought a lame fight with Mathis Jr where he didn't impress at all and was lucky not to get DQ'd (corruption).

Holyfield was assumed retired, with 'heart trouble ', looked absolutely dreadful against Moorer, was written off, doubt he was even ranked.

 

It was more likely Moorer and Bowe, by the time Lewis met McCall.

 

Well, that's what I think too.
As long as people are consistent in there statements and criteria, that's fine.
Some people are, some people aren't.
I've spent lots of time explaining my standards and criteria that I apply universally to all fighters. And, yes, I have questioned others who seem to lack consistency. Not everyone will have the exact same criteria.
There's no right or wrong, as long as someone can explain how they arrived at the ratings.

Even more impressive when you consider that Evangelista went on to beat The Great Snipes, (as did Super Greg, of course).

 

Ironically I feel like defending 1994 Lennox Lewis now, saying he should be above Moorer.

But, anyway, regardless of whether he's #1, #2 or #3 at the time of the McCall fight, he was a prime heavyweight with a world title and was already established with wins over contenders. If he'd lost to McCall in 1990 or even '91 or perhaps any time pre-Ruddock fight, before he'd arrived fully at world level, I'd see some reason to disregard its importance.

Lewis in 1994 is pretty much the same career stage as Foreman 1974.
Lewis loses to McCall.
Foreman loses to Ali.

True, not many 'experts' thought much of Lewis in 1994.
Which was unfair.
But I reckon some have swung too far the other way, based on what Lewis did 1997-2001, we can assume.
Based on The Ring ratings page, perhaps.