The chinny Lennox Lewis myth

For all intents and purposes both were one punch kos.

 

I can't tell what is being argued here. If its that Lewis had a iron chin, there is just no way I could get behind that. It just isn't true. If its that he had a average/slightly above average chin, I could get behind that.

 

Are you kidding me?

He only had three more fights (all stoppage wins - all against bangers - Rahman, Tyson and Klitschko) and retired at the age of freaking 39.

How does a 36, 37 or 38 year old .... John L. Sullivan, Jim Corbett, Bob Fitszimmons, Tommy Burns, Jack Johnson, Jess Willard, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Jack Sharkey, Max Schmeling, Primo Carnera, Max Baer, Jim Braddock, Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Ingemar Johansson, Sonny Liston, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Mike Tyson or Michael Moorer ...

Do against Hasim Rahman, Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko in three straight fights?

Think any of them win all three by stoppage? Think any of them even WIN all three?

Or would they be too old?

Jesus. Give me a break.

 

Just like the referee saved Larry Holmes from a beating against Renaldo Snipes?

The Holmes knockdown against Snipes and the Lewis knockdown against McCall are the same. Both get up at the same time. Neither has legs.

Lewis just stumbled into the ref ... while Holmes crashed head first into the corner. If Holmes had stood and lurched head first into the referee's chest like he did the corner, he'd have been on the floor with the ref when it got waived off.

Both were fine seconds later.

If Holmes had crashed into the ref, or he didn't crash into the ropes and fell down twice from one right hand, it'd been waived off.

Holmes was lucky regarding what he stumbled into. Lewis wasn't. That's all.

 

Idiotic. Fighters, all athletes, age differently. The debate is not how well Lewis aged which was very well.

Lewis was koed by one punch by Rahman and then had two of his best performances in his next two fights.

Lewis was the only true hwt champion to be koed by single blows twice. Of course this effects his rating all time.

 

But why should it affect his ratings more than losing at least 5 times throughout a career or getting completely outclassed in a fight before getting stopped?

 

How does that prove he has a bad chin, when only TWO PUNCHES ever put him down?

Would it be better if he got hurt and dropped 21 times, and he was stumbling all over the ring in a half dozen fights, and he had to keep climbing up from a daze off the floor in one fight after another?

How the f*ck does a guy who gets floored a DOZEN TIMES OR MORE have a freaking better chin than a guy was only down TWICE in a Hall of Fame career ... and then beat those two guys in return fights?

You guys are so hung up on ONE punch ... when 99.9 percent of all KOs are the result of ONE punch.

Tyson knocked out Holmes with one right hand. He hurt him with others before that. He knocked him down with others before that. But he knocked him out with ONE punch.

Had Lewis gone down THREE times against Rahman and three times against McCall before losing would that have proven he had A BETTER chin?

Are six knockdowns before getting stopped better than two? ON what planet?

What a load of crap.

 

It doesn’t in my opinion.

It just raises certain questions about his durability.

 

I think his legacy takes a bigger hit for those 2 knockouts than other fighters have for losses that didn't end so drastically.

 

I agree with your argument that some of the greats of the past might have suffered additional stoppages, had they fought under more sensitive officiating.

I actually give Lewis a bit of a pass for the McCall stoppage.

The Rahman loss is more damaging in my eyes.

I don't really buy your argument regarding Lewis's age, because a significant chunk of his claim to greatness, rests on his accomplishments in his late 30s.

If Lewis was genuinely great (which he was), then this was when it happened.

 

You don't think there's a difference between getting KD and getting back up to continue and being unable to continue? One certainly reflects a worse beard/recovery powers than another. There are no two ways about it. So yes, if a fighters gets KD 21 times but is never put away, he was a better chin than somebody who was KO'd twice and unable to continue. There can be no other way.

 

He beat everyone he fought and retired as champ at 39.

How was he not durable?

 

Who got knocked down 21 times and was never put away?

YOU seem to think losing by stoppage by one punch IS WORSE than getting dropped a lot of times AND THEN LOSING by stoppage.

Getting dropped several times before getting stopped IS NOT better. And it doesn't prove you have a better chin. It proves that you can't stay off the floor because your chin isn't as good as guys who DON'T go down.

No trainer in the world thinks getting dropped twice before getting stopped is BETTER than losing by one punch.

NONE do. Especially if you beat the guy who stopped you in the rematch.

 

McCall and Rahman were bums?

 

So was Corbett