Top 25 Heavyweights OAT

Are these Lewis's biggest fights? Then you assume Lewis was in the best shape of his career against the paralyzed Golota, who didn't land a single punch and received a million dollars from the doctor after the fight, who administered a lidocaine injection? Or in the fight with Akinwande, where Henry didn't fight? The first fight with Holyfield, Evander was significantly weaker than the first fight with Moorer.

The fight with the asthmatic Briggs, where he was beaten severely, but Cannon couldn't manage his strength and went down without a punch? Who did Briggs actually beat? Vitali didn't give him a single second, a single round, and Lewis was saved by the ropes...

But okay, honestly, you didn't surprise me. Every time someone tries to convince me that Lewis was a great boxer, I present arguments convincing me otherwise.

 

You asked who the best version of Lewis was fighting against. His physical prime + being under Stewart would have his apex stretch from 1996-2000, all of the opponents in between. Also Briggs got his ass beat after Lewis adjusted.

Vitali was saved by the doctor stoppage, he was visually impaired, It was just going to get worse for him. Lewis won the 3rd and had the momentum in the 6th round, you are being dishonest. You still haven't gotten over the Tyson fight, we all know he was shot and nowhere near his prime, so let it go. And you have the nerve to put someone above Lennox who not only lost to an old out of shape Lewis but has an even worse resume than him ?

Do you know how idiotic this stance is ? You can die on this mound, I'm done here

thanks for mentioning that, Holyfield avenged his loss in the run-up to the Lewis fight.

 

I won't break the bank either, as they say here, take it easy. I respect your opinion. Oh, and remember that before Lewis, Holyfield didn't win against Moorer, he just had a hopeless fight against Beane. The Moorer fight was two years before LL. But I understand that only Lewis could have aged in two years In the rematch, Holyfield gave LL a fight that was more or less as even as he gave Ruiz 10 months later. That says a lot about the greatest Lennox.

Anyway - have a nice day

 

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Holmes
4. Foreman
5. Lewis
6. Holyfield
7. Liston
8. Frazier
9. Mike Tyson
10. Marciano
11. Usyk
12. Wlad
13. Dempsey
14. Johnson
15. Wills
16. Langford
17. Jeffries
18. Norton
19. Schmeling
20. Charles
21. Bowe
22. Vitali
23. Witherspoon
24. Walcott
25. Tunney

 

Stupid take. There's more to rankings than if fighter a beats fighter b. Tyson has more title defenses. Tyson was the youngest HW champ in history.

 

Tyson is the only guy to unify three heavyweight titles and the lineal title in separate fights.

 

Correct, it's like when morons get upset that Duran is ranked p4p above Leonard, Hagler and Hearns even though he lost to them. Casuals and newbies are ridiculous.

 

Any other lists?

 

That’s interesting, given that Lennox found out he was fighting Vitali with only two weeks’ notice.

 

You can gain a lot of weight in 2 weeks. He was 7 pounds heavier than he was when he fought Tyson.

 

I gain four or five pounds on a good day and I’m barely a middleweight without cutting weight.

 

Agreed. Lewis’ added weight in that fight hampered his technique to the point that he was sluggish in everything he done against Vitali. Mobility off. Timing off. The only way he was going to win that fight was by doing exactly what what he done—fighting his ass off in the trenches. No way did he have the attributes in his locker that night to outbox Vitali and dominate him. Not technically tidy enough, which knocked him out of sync.

Here is another thing about Lewis. While McCall and Rahman both stopped him out with one punch (although he was actually TKO’d on his feet vs McCall), outwith those two fights he was durable with a good chin and solid recuperative powers. Check out Mercer, Briggs, Holyfield 2, and Vitali.

 

On Lewis not granting Vitali a rematch then retiring.

A wise move, and the benefit of hindsight has shown it to be. Enough was enough. I’m more than sure Lewis himself would’ve been confident of coming in lighter for the rematch and getting himself into shape to perform far better than he did first time around. In his own mind anyway. But coming back solely to prove the doubters wrong that the cut was a fluke would’ve been a high risk decision. I just think he thought, there is only so many times I can push myself during training to get to where I want to be to perform at the high level needed.

The older you get, the more prone you are to the wheels coming off. And when they do come off, you want to put them back on again. Such a vicious circle so many fighters get themselves into, and most want to go out with a W rather than an L.

 

The Rahman KO was mainly due to Lewis showboating also.