Who did Lennox Lewis not face/avoid/duck/etc...

I think there was certain logic to who he fought and didn't fight.

He took the big money fights, and I am not sure that he avoided anybody perse.

The Bowe fight is the big one that we all wish we had seen, but it was entirely Bowe's fault that it didn't happen.

Byrd deserved a lineal title shot, and there is some room for interpretation on why it didn’t happen.

I would like to have seen him fight Wald, entirely based on what Wald became later.

I would like to have seen him fight Ibneabuchi, entirely based on not knowing how good Ibeabuchi really was.

Roy Jones was being discussed as a choice of opponent once, and that might have been interesting.

 

Only Bowe ,and that wasn't his fault.

 

I forgot about Sanders. That would've been interesting. And a '92 Holmes would've been difficult for Lennox in my opinion.

 

There's a few fighters who I would've liked to see Lennox fight if you're willing to go back to the early 90's - George Foreman, Oleg Maskaev, Tim Witherspoon, Bert Cooper, Larry Donald, Bruce Seldon etc although I don't expect that any one of them would've beaten Lennox.

The only people who he never faced who may have had a chance of beating him were Corrie Sanders or Ike Ibeabuchi, both dangerous guys that were avoided like the plague by a lot of good heavyweights.

Byrd and Ruiz would've been terrible fights and no-one in the world regrets the fact they never happened.

 

Witherspoon would've been a tremendous test for Lennox, and now that I think about it, out of all 3 opponents that faced Mercer (Holyfield, Lewis and Spoon) I felt Spoon performed the best. '96 Spoon might've beaten Lewis.

I was never a fan of Maskaev. He was slow and ponderous and I feel Lewis destroys him in 2. And I disagree about Byrd being a terrible fight. Byrd would've given Lennox a lot of trouble until succumbing in the later rounds. Ruiz could've been a little problematic as well.

 

I think the fact he never faced a southpaw is a valid criticism.

Mercer I believe deserved a rematch.

So did Vitali.

Bowe situation is hard to pin the blame on Lewis. Look at Bowe's resume it's soft he missed out on a lot of quality opponents.

 

George Foreman called out Lewis various times and it would of been a big money fight. Despite what people who never fought a day in their lives might think. If you could make huge money to box somebody and you know you would win then take the fight. The fact Lewis wanted no part of Foreman shows that Lewis wasn't sure he could win. Kind of like Foreman called out Bowe and Bowe not wanting it or Foreman calling out Tyson and Tyson pissing himself and avoided old Foreman.

 

Joe Louis never fought a south paw either which ones were valid opponents for Lewis when he was champ, Byrd and Sanders?

 

Yeah Lewis, Tyson and Bowe were running scared from George.

 

I would say Byrd definitely. Moorer was hanging around and Sanders was there but seemed to self implode and was too much risk too little reward. Louis didn't have any top level lefties to worry about. There were many rumors that Lewis couldn't handle a southpaw stance I would of liked to see him attempt to squelch those rumors.

 

Lennox Lewis avoided every top fighter in the heavyweight division between 1991-2004 who was "At the top of their Game"

Bowe - 92 & 95 Lewis deliberately priced himself out of fighting Riddick Bowe in 1992 knowing Bowe would be stripped of the WBC belt. Lewis turned down a career highest purse of $10m to face Bowe in 95 when neither fighter held a world title.

Tyson - 96 Lewis was No1 contender for Tyson's WBC title. Lewis never fancied his chances against that version of Tyson, so turned down $12m + a guaranteed title fight and accepted a meagre $3.3m step-a-side-money. Lewis could easily have said, "No Thanks" to the step-a-side offer.

John Ruiz - 99-04 Ruiz was the official No1 contender for Lewis WBA title in 99 and had been used as a sparring partner back in 1994 by The Lewis camp, who struggled with Ruiz "Grappling Hook" style. Lewis ridiculed Ruiz calling him Johnny Louis, yet that was a con trick as those in Lewis camp knew he could not handle Ruiz, who went on to prove himself against the elite heavyweights of the era.

Chris Byrd 2001-2003 Emanuel Stewart warned Lewis not to face No1 IBF challenger Chris Byrd. As Stewart felt there was a strong possibility Byrd would make Lewis look terrible, and Byrd would most likely win a decision.

Michael Moorer - 96/7 Lewis claimed on a SkySports interview that he "Ducked" Moorer due to his southpaw style.

Corrie Sanders - Lewis told Sanders in 2005 he ducked him due to his southpaw style.

Herbie Hide - 95-97 laughable as it now seems, but Lewis turned down career high payday offers to fight the undefeated WBO Champion Herbie" Dancing Destroyer "Hide in a Battle of Britain World Title fight.

Wladimir Klitschko - Lewis boasted, "One brother for breakfast the other brother for Tea" Yet ran off into retirement with his trousers full of brown at the thought of facing Wlad... History has shown Wladimir would have easily taken care of Lennox Lewis.

Lennox Lewis choice of opponents during the 1990s was very poor low-level class fighters. Many had well documented drug addiction problems and were on the downslide of their careers: Jackson, Butler, Tucker, Fortune, Botha, Grant, Mavrovic, Briggs, Golota, Akinwande, Tua as well as two mediocre journeymen who both poleaxed Lewis.

 

1) All of them were on PEDs like any of todays TOP-boxers, too

2) Holyfield was far from his best vs Tyson and even more so vs Lennox at 37. Hell, he went 1-1-1 with Johnny Ruiz right after Lennox fights.

 

Wrong he was a solid 215 plus with peds and a neck the size of my waist. age isn't a factor, as matter of fact Lewis himself was bigger and stronger in that fight and watch him fight Tommy Morrison he was a complete monster.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dud...nuff said.