What Was Lennox Lewis Greatest Fight?

Yes Sir, but a result that depends on something random that Lewis could not predict, & when he was losing the fight, & seemed to have little energy to predict he would likely win, does not support an argument that it was nearly his Greatest Fight.

If we knew nothing about their fight & just went by the quality of the opponent, it may well be called his best.
But that makes no more sense than saying Berbick was a transcendent boxer based upon beating Ali, because to be fair & rational, it cannot be just the name you beat, but what happened when they met, & how much skill went into the result.
And what degree of difficulty the victory embodied!

Anywho you are an excellent poster, & we need not agree.

You think Lewis deserved the decision against Mercer?
While not a great scorer, I believe due to Mercer tiring Lewis eked it out.

 

Very good post, & I did not know about the lidocaine & lawsuit!

We agree about the form of Lewis & his luck in that bout.
However I think the "arm punches" thing gets overstated with Vitali.
It allowed him to throw higher volume, but even without fully committing, I think his punches tend to be heavier at least than the average modern HW!

 

I have him at 4th behind Holmes, though the two are essentially interchangeable.

 

Looking at fight highlights again, Lewis did look very good-& the referee never should have let Vitali hold his neck & punch Lewis continually.
However given Lewis's conditioning & being behind, no reason to predict he would have won, except for the freak cut.

 

He might have caused a cut randomly, but working on it and slicing Vitali's face 2 more times shows precision, persistence and ring IQ.

It's either 6-4 Lewis or a draw 5-5. Hard to score it for Mercer imo.

 

I just do not think that it is so impressive that anyone works a bad cut-& I hate to see someone lose that way.
It seems to take minimal brains, & ordinary persistence just to keep punching the same area lol!

 

A couple people maybe don't think of...Mason...a genuine 50/50 fight and one where he had to dig...Bruno...losing until the stoppage...Morrison, a big banger, athletic, dangerous. But Lewis battered him..Ruddock, Golotta and Grant super impressive...

 

A lot of boxers in the history of the sport cut theit opponents but didn't manage to pull off the win.

 

When we say “ greatest fight “ are we talking about which win was the most valuable? Or the most exciting?

 

I think beating Evander Holyfield while Holy was still the linear champ was probably his most important win. Even though Evander was past prime. Another huge one was the Vitali Klitschko victory. Despite the fact that there was a lot of controversy surrounding that match ( mostly from Klitschko fans ) it was one of the rare examples where a declining champion had beaten a future long time champ

 

Can't say I like your post, bud. McCall had a mental breakdown in ring, and apparently was a total basketcase leading up to the fight but was pushed into going through with it anyway. That fight was an example of how predatory promoters can be. McCall should've been in some kind of mental health care center that night, not in the ring with a dangerous HW boxer.