What has Lennox Lewis gotta do to earn some respect round here?

I think he gets ample respect on here. In fact, I have seen some british posters overrate him.

BTW: He never fought Bowe in the pros, and he beat Holyfield and especially Tyson when they were past prime.

Yes, they were close in age, but Tyson turned pro in early '85 and Holyfield in late '84 fully four years before Lewis. So, they had much more wear and tear on them then Lewis did when they fought.

By the time Lewis turned pro, Tyson was the undisputed hw champion and had left his trainer Kevin Rooney.

Holyfield had by that time unified the Cruiserweight title and moved up to HW, with a few fights at that weight completed.

Vitali really troubled him and the cut decided the fight in Lewis's favor.

One punch KO losses to Oliver McCall and Hassim Rahman should not be overlooked.

 

I have Lewis at #3 for what it is worth. Beat every man he faced. Fought in the most dangerous era of the division's era. Almost everyone punched like a pallet of bricks. Almost everyone was a superheavy or near about.

 

In my book he was a top 5 ATG hwt with an asterisk that he was koed twice by singe blows. On the plus side of that asterisk is that he avenged both losses in dominating fashion.

 

He needs to threaten everyone on twitter and announce his comeback at least once a month.

 

I'd say Ali, Holmes, Louis and Foreman at their best would stop Lewis over a 15 round fight. Foreman and Louis early, Ali and Holmes via late fight TKO.

 

LOL. Easy there.

I think prime Foreman (the 70s version) would have a very good chance of stopping Lewis.

Prime Ali (mid 60s) would utilize his excellent hand and foot speed to box around a plodding Lewis. Ali by easy UD.

Prime Frazier is dangerous with the hook but Lewis is too big and strong and has the power to hurt Frazier. I think Lewis beats Frazier but there is always the chance Lewis gets caught and hurt. But, probably not.

Holmes could outpoint him with guile and ring generalship. It would be a good battle because both had great jabs and excellent right hands. If I have to choose, I'll go with Holmes by decision.

Prime Tyson (86-88 version) could slip the Lewis jab, and counter with devastaing power to Lewis's less than stellar chin. I see that version of Tyson stopping prime Lewis.

Peak Holyfield would still have the big size disadvantage and the lack of one shot power to hurt Lewis. Prime for prime that mathcup would be close and could go either way.

Prime Bowe would have been very dangerous for Lewis. In fact if they had fought in the '92'94 time frame, I'd pick Bowe by Stoppage. Lewis was very easy to hit and didn't use his height as well as he did later. Bowe was also easy to hit. It probably would have been a war. Too bad it didn't happen. I think Bowe's better resilency would win the day for him.

 

Top #5 was common here some years ago when we had many a serious poster on here. He fluctuates between about 3 and 5 for me.

 

A reasonable TOP 10 ATG Heavyweights or slightly outside it. I still think Holyfield beat him the 2nd time.

 

Punching power is the single most overrated attribute in boxing. All heavyweights can punch like a pallet of bricks.
Beating SKILLFUL BOXERS, the more skilled the better, is more impressive.

 

I generally agree. However, with the gains in strength and power of the 90's heavies (for whatever reason you want to suspect), it really becomes more of a tightrope walk for any boxer. And not only could these guys bang but they knew how to get their shots to land. They weren't skill-less oafs. Thus, caution takes over. One mistake can have increasingly disastrous consequences. Lewis got lazy at times and unfocussed but so did many greats... Ali, Johnson, Louis... But in the end, he beat everyone he faced and those he faced were a motley crew of bangers and highlevel skill guys.

 

Fair enough.
I don't rate his resume as high as Holyfield's, who despite being a more ring-worn fighter and about 5 years into his career on Lewis's pro debut, inhabited about the same 1990s era with great success.

 

I think that's a fair call.

I vacillate between looking at Lewis' record and thinking "daaaammmn! This dude could be #1" and "daaammn, this dude really cherry picked everybody at the right time."

Sometimes Lewis looked sensational, and other times he really looked pedestrian.

However, to give the man his due, his record is what it is, and consistency in itself is to me the stuff of champions.

 

Fair call.