Re-examining The Record of Lennox Claudius Lewis - Is The Lion Being Overrated?

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by CST80, Feb 16, 2015.


  1. CST80

    CST80 De Omnibus Dubitandum Staff Member

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    :nusenuse:Was Lennox Really That Great? :nusenuse:
    Vitali was leading on the cards, he was scared to rematch him, his wife begged him not to rematch him, the cut was opened up by his laces on his glove. TKO6 will forever be a blackeye on Lennox's record.

    Mike Tyson was a shell of his former self and it was a 6 years removed from his TKO at the hands of Evander and 5 after biting off Evander's ear, he hadn't boxed in 9 months prior and 3 of his 4 previous opponents were bums. The difference between 80's Mike and 2002's is a massive gap.

    KO4 Rahman was average Heavyweight at best, he'd already been stopped by Tua and Maskaev, he had no great single win, and he still knocked Lewis TFO it took Lennox two tries to get the job done, although that doesn't keep his defenders from trying to make Rahman into a world-beater.

    David Tua was a decent win but he was outboxed by Ike before and Chris Byrd later, not that hard to outbox especially for a Olympic Gold Medalist with a 7 inch height advantage. Tua 70 inch reach, Lewis 80 inch reach.

    Botha no big deal, he'd already been stopped by Tyson and Moorer, he was never that great.

    Michael Grant was undefeated but his best win was over a post Lennox KO Golota who dropped him twice in the first, other than that no notable wins.

    Evander Holyfield was a good win but it would have been a hell of a lot better had it not been right after his 3 wars with Bowe, the last war Bowe stopped him in. And after his two matches against Tyson. And still Lennox barely beat him the first time and didn't do too much better the second time but he beat him.

    Zeljko Mavrovic was a decent win. he took his 0. but Mavrovic didn't have many notable wins and retired after the loss so no one knows how good he could have been post Lewis.

    Briggs' biggest win before the Lewis match a decrepit George Foreman and he'd been KO'd in 3 by Darrell Wilson and followed up his match against Lewis with a draw against Botha. Briggs was overrated.

    Golota was decent win but it came directly after his two DQ foul riddled wars against Bowe which certainly took their toll on him. Add to that he'd been injected by lidocaine before the fight and was most likely effected by it.

    Henry Akinwande was undefeated against losers and went on to lose to anyone he fought that was half decent. no big deal.

    Oliver McCall's best win was a decrepit Larry Holmes he had 5 points losses and decent power but not great, yet KO Lewis in 2, Lewis a basket case version of McCall and KO'd him in 5 in the rematch. Really should be looked at as a pathetic KO Loss for Lewis, as embarrassing as the Brewster KO.

    Ray Mercer had 3 losses one against Ferguson with 9 losses, one against old ass Larry Holes and one against Holyfield, yet he came close to outboxing Lewis. Average win.

    Tommy Morrison had been KO'd by Bentt and Mercer and KD quite a few times by Carl Williams, okay win but nothing great.

    Ruddock, Lewis stopped him by Jaco and Tyson already had, no big deal.


    In total 4 of Lennox Lewis' opponents were undefeated, and only 5 had 1 loss, the majority of wins would be looked at as cherry picking of exposed fighters with glass jaws by today's standards, is Lewis' record really that great. What do you think?:think

    Just for the sake of comparison 12 of Wlad's opponents were undefeated, and 12 only had 1 loss.

    While Lennox on paper has wins over the quality and name opponents, what shouldn't be ignored is their shoddy records by the time Lennox got to them and how past their prime many of them really were.
     
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  2. Bobthepen

    Bobthepen Active Member Full Member

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    Undefeated don't mean **** though. All depends on the quality of opponents
     
  3. lepinthehood

    lepinthehood When I'm drinking you leave me well alone banned Full Member

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    If you rate vitali, then you rate the fat lewis that beat him. Because he bust vital up.
    especially as youre a fan of carl froch who has behind in alot of fights and come back strong.
     
  4. CST80

    CST80 De Omnibus Dubitandum Staff Member

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    Which I pointed out and question as well, the opponents were quality but a little past it in most cases, or overrated in others.
     
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  5. CST80

    CST80 De Omnibus Dubitandum Staff Member

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    Lewis retired instead of rematching him:deal Lewis was looking a little better at the time of the stoppage not that much better though.
     
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  6. lepinthehood

    lepinthehood When I'm drinking you leave me well alone banned Full Member

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    why didnt vitali rematch byrd. he got his superior skilled brother to do it. why would you rematch someone you beat.
     
  7. Zakman

    Zakman ESB's Chinchecker Full Member

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    Lewis is very overrated, no question about it. He's an ATG, but nowhere near as great as his supporters like to assert. Based on a critical assessment of his record, he's borderline top ten, not the top five or the GOAT as the most delusional like to suggest.

    Face facts. He fought an old worn out Holyfield and a washed up Tyson and didn't fight Bowe at all. And he was taken out early twice by second rate contenders. He's the only ATG HW to have that happen to him when he held the title, the only one.

    Overrated? No question.
     
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  8. CST80

    CST80 De Omnibus Dubitandum Staff Member

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    He was leading on points against Byrd and Lewis at the times of stoppages. Maybe he thought that spoke for itself. :conf I have no idea why Vitali didn't rematch him, that's not the point of the thread.
     
  9. Vanboxingfan

    Vanboxingfan Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    how can anyone take you seriously when you talk about his win over Vitali being lucky. Like Monte Cox says on his website, it's not lucky when a fight throws a punch intent on hurting his opponent and does exactly that. The TKO isn't at all a black mark on Lewis, if anything it's a black mark on the Vitali for not stopping him in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or 5th round.

    As for Lewis wins at least we know their names, that's more than can be said about Wlad's non descript opponents

    Does Wlad have a Lewis on his record, a Holyfield, a Tyson, a Tua, a Morrison? no he has just no name fighters, most of who nobody has seem fight and nobody cares about the outcome.

    Personally I stopped watching Wlad after that pathetic hugfest he displayed against Povetkin. Worst fight I've ever seen.
     
  10. ellerbe

    ellerbe Loyal Member Full Member

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    Depends on what you mean by overrated. Name one person at HW who's had a better resume than him since the 90's. You mentioned 12 guys that Wlad foguht were undefeated, but the majority of those 12 guys beat absolutely nobody. Lennox resume is far greater than Wlad's, who hasn't fought one HOF caliber guy.
     
  11. Jennifer Love Hewitt

    Jennifer Love Hewitt Boxing Junkie Full Member

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  12. Vanboxingfan

    Vanboxingfan Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    If you think about it, you're talking about perhaps 5 placements from your assessment of where he should be rated and most others. In the scheme of things that's not much.
     
  13. lepinthehood

    lepinthehood When I'm drinking you leave me well alone banned Full Member

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    Lewis was 38, out of shape, unmotivated and probably fought vitali would beat him the 2nd time out. He was close to retirement anyway.
    Lewis beat some old past prime fighters. But he beat some very dangerous fighters, no he destroyed most of them including briggs, ruddock, bruno,mason, golota, grant - super heavy weights he massacred them. win vs prime vitali was great.
     
  14. Zakman

    Zakman ESB's Chinchecker Full Member

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    Those are five important spaces my friend!!!:deal:lol:
     
  15. Vanboxingfan

    Vanboxingfan Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Hard to argue that. :rofl