i think tyson; i know for the hardcore they recognise that is was a formality due to tyson being shot and lewis being near the peak of his powers,however if lewis had not fought tyson the world would be talking about for decades of how lewis ducked tyson ... i think it confirmed lewis as the greatest heavyweight of his generation.
Was he beat, yes, dominated, no. Thats like saying Calzaghe dominated Kessler, who was beat in a simlar fashion.
i consider a win by 6 or more pts a domination. not only that, he hurt holyfield several times and put him into a defensive shell.
Some of the rounds were close, which is probably why some of the judges decided to give Holyfield a few of the close rounds. Like I said, I had it 8 rounds to 4, which is probably similar to most peoples scores, the second fight was real close that could of gone either way, everything worked out right in the end IMO.
Holyfield, even if he was a bit old, he just destroyed Tyson who was seemed as invincible and avenged the Moorer loss by knockout. However, Vitali Klitschko was better head-to-head when he fought him, and despite struggles, he pulled out the win. Great effort there. The destruction of Golota was amazing, too. Golota is not that good resume-wise, but he was a nightmare in terms of ability. He just thrashed Bowe twice, who was seen as one of the best heavies on the planet at that time. A high risk low reward fight if there ever was one, here you can view it: [YT]0em16mPPvR0[/YT]
I think the Vitaly that he beat is the best win on his resume. I'd take that Vitaly over anyone else he beat, when he beat them, head to head. I have no argument for those who picked some of the others. Mercer, Ruddock, Tua, and a couple others were tough opponents so its a hard call to make. Thats why I rate Lewis so highly, he beat a lot of quality guys in his time.
Klitschko was beating the dog**** out of Lewis when it was stopped so that one should not even apply-no wonder Lewis retired so he would not have to rematch.
I think Mercer was probally his best win, back and forth action with a peak fighter that was a ****ing beast. The Holyfield win was a close 2nd, with Tua being 3rd.
I say Rahman just for the quality of it... He was coming off a loss to him and avenged it in the best way possible, a KO ! Rahman was obviously not his best opposition but that win made me believe that Lennox was the real deal and the true best heavy !!