Where do you rate Lennox Lewis on your ATG HW-list

Not sure.

But in terms of head to head, he'd beat anyone more times than they beat him.

 

I have him at No 8 at the moment. The fact that he dominated his era in itself puts him around the top 10.

The circumstances of the Ramhan loss prevent him from climbing any higher.

 

My bias against LL has much to do with the fact he never proved himself over 15 rounds. Ditto Tyson. Granted, this was through no fault of their own, but the fact remains that Holy established a great 15 round pedigree against Qawi that Tyson and Lewis never did.

As I've mentioned in other posts, Foreman evolved so much from his first career to his second that my inclination would be to rate him as two different performers on an all time listing. Holmes altered his approach considerably from Tyson to Mercer, but fine movement, vastly underrated defensive skills, and that ubiquitous jab remained constant attributes, so the shift in Larry's style was not as pronounced as George's.

Like Duran, Holmes resourcefully supplanted the physical advantages of youth with the resourceful wisdom of experience, and despite Larry's antipathy towards Foreman's failure to box him in a geriatric test of savvy, he was never shy about acknowledging how he learned from George's example in engineering his own successful comeback. At age 53, and coming off a two year layoff, Holmes handed Butterbean a tremendous ten round boxing lesson, and was having an outstanding final round, finishing strongly, until the referee botched the ruling on Larry's last second stumble as a knockdown.

Granted, Butterbean was only a toughman, but for Holmes to box and move as he did for ten rounds, while hardly ever having a glove laid on him, is a remarkable athletic achievement. I wonder how many other former heavyweight champions could have won ten out of ten rounds at age 53, while weighing 45 pounds more than at their peak.

It's also not lost on me that when Larry had the opportunity to face Mercer in a ten rounder, he actually insisted on the longer twelve round distance. That's like SRL demanding a 15 round match against Hagler with eight ounce gloves, but Holmes was man enough to go through with it, and win.

Bowe's 2-1 record against Holy doesn't bother me that much, because Evander did far better in that series than I expected he would. His victory in the middle match of that rivalry was a masterpiece, the fact that he went the distance in their inaugural encounter a testament to his fighting heart, and he remarkably was able to put Big Daddy on the deck in the deciding contest of their trilogy. Holyfield greatly surpassed what I believed he was capable of achieving at the outset of his career.

Lest I be accused of jingoism, don't overlook that I do rate Chinnox over Bowe among the post 15 round era heavyweights. Riddickulous did choose to resplinter the HW Title which Tyson had so diligently unified into an undisputed whole, an egregious act which history will not forgive him for.

 

Hey Duodenum. I have to make my weekly comment towards you.

This weeks question is: How high do you rank Foreman and Liston, considering neither proved themselfes over 15 rounds...

 

I have him number 3.

 

Joe Louis is number 2 on my list of ATG heavyweights but he would get handled by alot of fighters due to their size advantage.

 

I have Lewis around 4-5, H2h he'd be anywhere from 1-3 in my opinion, as you could have a list of about 5-6 fighters (ie Ali, Foreman, Tyson, Lewis, Holmes, Liston (not the version who Clay beat, but a younger version)) and who would ultimately win would be anyone's guess.

 

I agree with literally everything in this post, with the one slight exception that I do think there's a legitimate case for putting Lewis ahead of Dempsey. But yes, 7-15 is also the range (exactly) that I consider reasonable for putting Lewis in. He's currently at #13 on my chart.
And I will say, looking at the poll results so far, that I think he has become overrated.

 

10

 

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Maybe, but Marciano wouldn't have been KOed by Rock.

 

The shopworn, badly aged Holyfield was only two fights removed from one of his best performances (against Moorer in the rematch). Tell ya what...put up your top 10, and let me pick apart the bottom half. You can do it with virtually any of the fighters that are listed.

 

I have him at 10.

 

So Joe Louis couldn't make top five either, then ?

 

Those two are among his biggest names, not necessarily his best wins.

Rahman (2), Tua, Grant, Holyfield (1) (**** Eugenia and the other judges, he beat Holy worse in (1) than in (2) ), Briggs, Akinwande, Bruno and Ruddock. And I almost forgot Klitschko.

And Bowe wanted no part of him.