Why is Lennox Lewis considered a dominant champion?

He was world champion, with two short interruptions, for 11 years I think. When I think of 90s Heavyweights, Lewis' face comes to mind first, then Bowe and Holyfield, Foreman and Moorer.

 

Byrd was the mandatory for the IBF belt, but Lewis chose to pursue a rematch with Tyson instead of fighting him and vacated the belt.

 

Bowe avoided him like the Plague. Tyson wasn't eager to face Lewis until very late in his career when he was desperate for $. Team Tyson paid Lewis step aside $ in 1996. Holyfield was a warrior but even he didn't look to fight Lewis until there was no one left he could make $ with.

There must have been a reason. Could it be that he was the best and they knew it?

 

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How did Lewis look here?

I believe that guy had gone the distance with Tyson. Interesting, perhaps that bout sent a Shockwave through the heavyweight division.

 

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Call me crazy but I think Lewis looked better than Bowe in this match. Bowe didn't want to find out if anything had changed.

 

Probably because he was knocking people the **** out. Real contenders, KTFOed

The two heavyweights not afraid of Tyson: Lewis, Holyfield

 

you give one of Lewis's best performances and a rather weak Tyson fight because Ruddock's style worked better in the fight with Tyson but maybe let's give the voice to Ruddock?

https://talksport.com/boxing/1673133/donovan-ruddock-lennox-lewis-ko-mike-tyson-bonecrusher-smith/
Ruddock, Bruno, Biggs, McCall - each of them knew them both well and each claimed that Tyson was better than Lewis.

As for the Bowe-Lewis fight, Riddick was beaten in amateur boxing by Jorge Gonzales much, much more clearly than by Lewis. Remember that Riddick was 21 and Lewis was 23, Lewis had been in SHW for at least 6 years and Riddick had been a junior with LHW for 3 years before Seoul, for Lewis it was his second Olympics, he was ready!! and they were both lucky there were no Cubans in Seoul.

 

Because of a zillion dollars rather than a stinker one sided fight. Like I said, next timed present the whole story.

 

What an odd post.

In Lennox Lewis's last amateur fight, Lennox stopped future Hall of Famer Riddick Bowe in the finals to win the Olympic Gold.

In Lennox Lewis's last pro fight, he stopped future Hall of Famer Vitali Klitschko to retire as Champion.

Between his last amateur fight and his last pro fight, he beat every man who stepped in the ring with him, won 16 title fights, made 14 successful WBC title defenses, beat 15 men who held heavyweight and cruiserweight titles, and retired as champion stinking rich.

Every fighter who ever fought would KILL to have Lennox Lewis's career. It is one of the greatest boxing careers in any division, certainly so at heavyweight.

Ask any heavyweight if they would like to beat a Hall of Famer to win Olympic Gold, beat a Hall of Famer in their last fight and retire as champ, beat everyone they ever stepped in the ring with as a pro, and retire RICH with your brain in tact ... and they'd all say YES.

Hell YES.

Not only is Lennox not OVERRATED, he's arguably underrated.

Who would want to have Joe Louis of Ali's careers, and retire as shells of themselves, broke for the most part, going out in embarrassing fashion, if you could have Lennox's career?

Would you rather lose your last fight on Netflix against Jake Paul, get knocked out in seconds in a bare knuckle fight like Holyfield, get blasted out by some crappy journeyman light heavy like Chris Byrd did, quit in some old-timers fight like Witherspoon did ... or tear a prime Vitali Klitschko's face off and stop him in six in your last fight before retiring as champ?

Do you think Ike Ibeabuchi would've rather had Lennox's career, or his own? Was Lennox supposed to fight Ike in prison, where Ibeabuchi sat for 16 years?

Seriously, WTF?

Talk about complaining just to complain.

Lewis arguably had the greatest boxing career for a heavyweight ever.

Nobody beat a Hall of Famer in their last amateur fight for Olympic Gold, beat a Hall of Famer in their last pro fight in defense of the heavyweight title, and beat everyone they faced in between.

 

It's hard for me to read this.. you don't understand the context at all. Read the author's post!!

Yes Lewis did it all and it all looks much better on paper than it did in the ring!!! On Wikipedia Lewis has a wonderful career which apart from nice knockouts was full of average, weak, boring performances and not very convincing victories. Watch this great fight with Bowe, with Klitschko, with Holyfield or Mercer. It looks like **** ON PAPER.

And what does 21 year old Bowe have in common who controversially lost to Lewis with an ATG beating? In that case Jorge Gonzales has a victory over Lewis, Bowe, Balado and Stevenson and yet half of this forum doesn't know who he is. Crazy - Tyson would kill for a resume like Gonzo has according to your theories.

 

So, in your opinion, the champion is allowed to duck top contenders, just because it would be a stinker and not much money could be made? Lewis literally was aiming for the rematch with Tyson which would be even more of a one sided stinker. It would be pure cruelty with Lewis beating the poor man up worse than he did in a first fight.

 

lennox lewis hate in 2025

 

It looked fine in the ring, too.

 

Tyson would certainly prefer Lennox's career over his own.

Lennox didn't lose in the Olympic Trials. Lennox didn't lose in the biggest upset in boxing history. Lewis didn't go to prison. Lewis didn't get knocked out by Holyfield twice. Lewis didn't declare bankruptcy. Didn't get knocked out by Danny Williams and Kevin McBride and freaking Jake Paul.

Bowe would certainly prefer Lennox's career over his own. Lewis didn't get stopped in the Olympic Finals. Didn't go to prison for years for assaulting his wife. Didn't get brain damage against Andrew Golota. Didn't end his career fighting nobodies in eight-rounders in Germany for handouts.

Lennox Lewis was great and DOMINANT. On Paper and IN the Ring, where he scored all those wins.

 

I think in thier prime Bowe, Tyson and Holyfield would be a problem for Lewis . I give all three at thier peaks a hth advantage over Lewis.