Recollections of Evander Holyfield Vs Lennox Lewis

Just happy for the fight to finally happen really
Expected Lewis to win, felt he could have done more, but still felt he wuz robbed.
If Lewis was on the ball, no man was beating him.
Legend imo.

 

Same with me,Fergy. Lennox was a top 5 all time great heavyweight without a doubt.

 

Definitely, Stevie. Some hate him but which successful fighter hasn't had that.

 

I was in boot camp at the time, so my dad got me a copy on vhs and I avoided newspapers (not so hard to do when your in boot camp) and when I came home after graduation I believe I watched it my first night back. Despite my best efforts, I'm pretty sure I was already aware of the outcome by the time I got to see it.
I remember here in the states, Lennox wasn't as well known to the casuals, so a lot of people were pretty confident in Holyfield.
But I had been watching Lewis for some time and thought he was the heavyweight prototype of the future, and was expecting him to dominate going in.
As for the decision, yeah I thought it was a bad decision (one of the clearer bad decisions I can think of),
But I still thought the reaction to it was a bit overblown. After the Briggs and Golota destructions, I was expecting Lewis to be more aggressive

 

H2H I have him top 1 or 2. Just too many physical tools, too methodical, and able to fight cautiously or bomb you out quickly

 

Actually went to both fights and Lewis was definitely robbed in the first but funnily enough scored the second fight a draw

 

I thought Lewis looked rather ordinary in that fight against a past it Holyfield.

 

Snap. I think I had Lewis by 3 points the first time and the draw for the rematch. Both scored at the time, not re-scored since.

 

I followed Lewis pretty closely since I am Canadian. And was really surprised he did not get the win in the first fight. The second fight by the end I figured it would be a loss for Lewis since it was basically a draw imo, When he was awarded the win I felt it somewhat made up for the robbery in the first fight.

 

I was 16. My best mates Dad ordered it on PPV and so I went to his. His Dad went to bed before the fight started (4 or 5am UK time?), but we were excited to watch the fight.

I was simultaneously surprised by how dominant Lewis was and frustrated that he didnt capitalise on his dominance by being more aggressive, it looked to me like Holyfield was there for the taking at times.

I was shocked and gutted when the draw was announced.

 

Lennox to AJ to make the Wilder fight: “I say 60/40 in AJ’s favour, maybe even 70/30, but not a flat fee. I took less to face Holyfield because I wanted to be undisputed.”