Widdow Maker says, " LENNOX LEWIS'S REIGN WASN'T THAT IMPRESSIVE"

How do you rate his wins against Golota and Briggs? Bruno, Tucker and Ruddock? Grant Tua and Botha? Two wins over Evander?

I see it differently, I see Lewis as having the toughest road to glory out of the top four from his era (Holy, Tyson, Bowe). Lewis fought alot of, if not all the dangerous, hungry and up and coming guys in the division. Don't even get me started on Bowe, because I hate the guy. Had trememndous talent and potential but really only did 2 things at Heavy worth noting and that is beating Evander twice. Tyson and Holy didn't face near the competition that Lewis did at Heavyweight :deal Those guys I mentioned above on Lennox's resume were all very dangerous tests.

I just think you have to look at his reign in comparative terms to others at his time and he did all he could with what he had available IMHO. :good

 

And don't pretend that you don't have at least a little biased towards Lennox...you called Wlad "Lennox 2.0"

 

I agree. Lewis was a great champion.

 

See what you are doing? You are talking about ALL of his wins. I already said that he had a great career.

What I said was NOT impressive was the fact that he did not fight any of the top 5 fighters of his own era during their primes. Holyfield, Tyson, Bowe, Foreman (not prime, but at the top of the division), and Moorer. He also didn't fight Wlad when Wlad was his #1 ranked Contender by ring mag for over 2 years. He also dropped belts (just like Bowe did to him and they say Bowe ducked him)... in order to avoid fighting Byrd and Ruiz.

Lewis' reign as the recognized Champ didn't start until AFTER his second fight with Holyfield. He only had 5 (I was actually saying 6) successful title defenses, and was knocked out by Rahman in between. His wins while reigning Champ were against the horrible Grant, who was just exposed by Golota the fight before. Frans Botha, who had just been brutally knocked out by Tyson. Then he beat Tua.... a very big win for him... however he was criticized for that fight just like Wlad was for Ibragimov... so it's funny to see those same guys bashing Wlad against Iggy, but praising Lewis against Tua. I personally hold that as a big win for Lewis. Then.. he was knocked out by Rahman... won his title back... and then went on to beat a very over the hill Tyson. After that we all know what happened in the fight against Vitali. Lewis won by grazing punch causing a cut... but not an impressive performance other than showing his heart. Lewis also only defended his title TWICE from November of 2001 until Feb of 2004 when he finally retired after being forced to rematch Vitali or be stripped by his only remaining title, the WBC. He had already dropped his two other belts to avoid those mandatories.

C'mon... that is NOT an impressive reign as recognized Champ. Overall.. great career... his reign as Champ was not great. BTW... I think that we have seen enough of Golota and Briggs to know that they aren't mega wins either. Golota is notorious for being blown out early, and Briggs is a guy who has speed and power... and not much else. Ruddock was a hyped up fighter who never turned the corner to be more than just a solid contender... and wasn't the same after the Tyson fights. Morrison was even on the slide, had already been brutally knocked out by Mercer in one of the sickest knockouts ever... knocked out in one round by Bentt, and even fought to an actual draw with Ross Puritty less than a year before he fought Lewis, getting dropped twice in the fight. You can't really rate his revenge win against McCall considering that McCall was yanked out of a crack rehab for the fight and clearly wasn't fit to be in society, let alone a boxing ring. He went life and death with a 35 year old Ray Mercer who had even been inactive for a year after losing to Holyfield.

I know that you can do this with just about every fighters resume... but this stuff is GLARING.

 

why are foreman and moorer in the top 5 thats just your view i wouldn't agree.

 

I didn't read the entire post yet, but I concede I was looking at the period from when he first won a belt. I didn't really read this thread either. Misunderstanding. Ok you have a point with what your trying to say. I think it is kind of ridiculous though. from the time he became a champ or a title holder is when you should look at it I feel.

 

I believe Foreman went on record saying he wouldn't fight Lewis, Bowe trashed his belt not to fight him and Tyson payed him off. Not sure what happened with Holy but they eventually did fight. Foremen also lost to Morrison and Briggs in that Era....who were both blown out by Lewis and to think Lewis wouldn't have destroyed Foreman too is just silly.

 

Ok maybe I exaggerated a bit. But the Foreman, Holmes and Douglas that Holy fought just weren't up to par with all the prime fighters, maybe more accomplished, but not as dangerous as the guys Lewis was fighting.

With Tyson, I know he did most of his work in the 80's and I wasn't referring to that. Just the 90's crop of heavies that they all fought. :good

 

It doesn't matter what we "think" would have happened. What matters is that it never happened. Foreman had a chin, and a serious punch. Two things that people really wanted to see Lewis in there against. Tyson payed Lewis step aside cash because Mike had a more lucrative fight on the table. However, Lewis did NOT have to accept the money. If he thought that he could beat Mike, he should have forced his mandatory instead, beat Tyson, and then Holyfield would have been next for him. So, it was Lewis' fault that he didn't put himself into position for the best possible fights. Yes, Bowe vacated the title so that he didn't have to fight Lewis... but didn't Lewis do the same thing to Byrd, Ruiz, and then again with Vitali at the end?:yep

 

Lewis was actually handed the title before he fought Tucker. He came into that fight as the WBC Champion.

 

you don't half talk some biased **** :verysad