Where does Lennox Lewis rank among the best heavyweights of all time

Yes he did offer an extra million but what that article fails to say is that the reason he offered a million more was because the total pot had increased from $32 million to $35 million so while he had increased the purse amount he had actually very slightly decreased his percentage.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/14/sports/boxing-bowe-and-lewis-are-fighting-but-with-words-and-dollars.html

The reason why Lewis declined was because he believed he could have gotten more. Why take the fight now for less when 6 or 12 months later he could make significantly more? Boxing is a business and Lewis and his team were ensuring they were getting what they deserved. Any boxer taking a fight for less than he believes he could make is quite frankly and idiot and Lewis is no idiot.

And if you don't think Lewis would have made more just look at what he would have earned when they did eventually sign to fight. Lewis was set to earn $18 million that's $6 million more or 50% more than he would have had he signed for the measly $12 million in 93. Also look what he offered Bowe, $13 million a career high payday for Bowe. When you consider Bowe made $1.25 million for Mathis Jr, $1 million for Donald and between $1-3 million for Hide depending upon which report you believe, this was a huge jump up in pay for Bowe who had lost a lot after losing the titles.

So when Bowe has a $35 million purse to split he offered Lewis 34% and only $2.8 million more than his last fight. But Lewis offers Bowe 42% and at least $10 million more than his last fight. The disparity in between what Bowe offered and Lewis offered just over a year later shows that Bowe's offer was poor and could have been better. The numbers do not lie, it was a low ball offer, still a lot of money but still a low ball offer and not what Lewis was worth as proven by the deal signed later on.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/18/sports/bowe-and-lewis-fight-is-on.html

 

No. 1 for me. If he had been American I think most would have him as no.1 or at least 2.

 

Bowe agreed to a lesser share to make the fight, but the nytimes article doesn't state why the fight didn't happen.

The fight didn't happen because Lewis was brutally stopped by Oliver McCall making the contract null and void.

It seems like Bowe was the one trying to make the fight happen, even by your sources.

I had to remove your sources because I'm a noob and can't post links.

 

Very high maybe tp five could be highter with Bowe in His resume at that time.

 

If you're trying to say Bowe had a better career than Lewis you'd be close to the first.

 

All you have to do is look at their legacies and their bank accounts to know who make the right decisions and who didn't. Bowe's broke, Lewis is rich. Bowe's an afterthought in terms of legacies, and Lewis is in the top 10. Spin it all you want that's the bottom line and Bowe could have changed all of that if he got into the ring with Lewis and beat him.

 

How could you expect him to do that when it's been proven now that Lewis kept ducking him?

I'm saying that Bowe has a win over a prime ATG heavyweight while Lewis does not. I'm sure you would agree.

 

Lewis didn't duck him, from what I understand Lewis relented and agreed to Bowe's terms only to find out that Bowe still didn't want to fight him. Funny enough it's just me and others who say Bowe ducked Lewis.


If you want me to say that Bowe's best win over Holyfield is better than any of Lewis' wins, I can buy that. Although I do count his win over Vitali as having considerable meaning, as does his win of Ruddock, who may have been shop worn after fighting Tyson, but he was still expected to beat Lewis at the time. But regardless of why the fight never took place we know two things.

Bowe certainly could have made it happen if he wanted to, and

it was the biggest mistake of his career, especially if he thought he could have won.

Had he won, he would be have to be considered the best of the four. The four being Holyfield, Lewis, Bowe and Tyson. That's how important that fight was. Of course that's hindsite but he had to know that fighting the guy who beat him in the Olympics would be a huge huge fight, and one would think that money aside, pride alone would have made him want to fight Lewis.

 

Source for this? Saying that you and others say this doesn't count as a source.

 

that was a s h i t list

 

I was aware of the fight not happening because of Lewis losing to McCall, that's common knowledge. Lewis signed to fight Holyfield in Nov 94 but Holyfield lost to Moorer preventing a unification fight. Things like this happen in boxing.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/16/sports/boxing-holyfield-lewis-set-bigger-bouts-later.html

It's amazing how you want to see things how you want to see them despite the facts. You are just ignoring the obvious to suit your opinion.

How was Bowe the one making the fight? He took the smaller share not because he wanted to make the fight but because he had lost the title and had no choice but to take a smaller purse. When he had the title and Lewis didn't, he offered Lewis $3 million yet when Lewis had the title and Bowe had none he was offered more than 4 times as much. When both had titles Bowe only offered 34% yet Lewis in the same situation offered 42%.

Bowe was lucky to get offered as much as he did. He was making little more than a million a fight since losing the title because he had alienated a number of important people and groups due to dumping titles in the bin and law suits against the likes of Main Events.

The numbers do not lie yet you have some how added 1+1 and gotten 3. When Lewis had the title and Bowe didn't he offered a fair purse to Bowe and the fight was signed only to be prevented by Lewis losing. But when Bowe had the titles and something to lose he just threw out low ball offers.

 

#3 or #4

 

Here's the source.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/15/sports/boxing-bowe-trashes-his-wbc-title-belt.html

"Lewis, after initially turning down an offer of $3 million, said he was willing to take the fight. But by then, Bowe had changed his mind."

Clear duck by Bowe and his team. They offered him a low ball offer of $3 million which is a 90/10 split. Lewis initially declines but changes his mind and agrees to the ****ty offer knowing he'll crush Bowe and make more as champion. Bowe changes his mind and runs of quacking in to the hills and stuffing his face with twinkies and ding dongs.

Bowe then comes back later on to offer Lewis only $1.8 million more than Lewis had just made against Tucker when he realises he's making less than Lewis is, when fighting the likes of Ferguson and Dokes. Despite Lewis currently being the bigger draw based on their purses Bowe offers Lewis the smaller share and when they get $3 million more from the TV network to make the fight what does he do. Does he add it to Lewis' purse, no he adds $2 million to his purse and only a million to Lewis' meaning he had lowered Lewis percentage. Another clear duck.

Had Bowe done what Lewis had done and offered a 60/40 split he would have made by far the largest purse of his career but he chose to duck Lewis believing he could make more in the long term defending against hand picked opponents.

Bowe loses title. Lewis is champion. What does Lewis do? Does he offer Bowe, who is now making only about $1 million a fight, a $3 million purse like Bowe did in the same situation? No he offers Bowe a career high pay day of $13 million at least 4 times more than Bowe's last fight. So Bowe offer 90/10 split, Lewis offers 58/42 split, so who's ducking who? :nut

Suffice to say Bowe and his teams duck of Lewis is the biggest blatant duck of their era.

 

I would say he is right at or near the top.
I would probably say #1

 

top5

H2H I have him at #1. despite his 2 brutal losses.