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

Widdow, I repeat my previous response to your main post on this thread.

To this I add that it was Lennox who showed how to beat Tua, it was Lennox who first beat him behind a terrific jab and move strategy.
Grant was rated for his great heart vs Golota.

 

Absolutely spot on :good

 

If you so choose, you could also say that an old, unmotivated, out of shape and overweight Lennox Lewis, at the very end of his career, beat a prime version of Vitali Klitschko.

 

Lewis was only prime for one year?

Also... I don't believe that Lewis would have beat Vitali in a rematch... and obviously neither did Lewis. Besides that, Lewis WAS in great shape. If he wasn't, he would have never been able to keep pushing through that tough fight. Either way... that is our own opinions... nobody can be right in that matter... and it isn't even on topic.

 

You could say that if you want. However, if you ever really followed Vitali... you would know that he was clearly not prime in that fight. Not only did he have way too many injuries in kickboxing that started tearing him down, and restricting his movement... but he was also technically speaking... a late bloomer like Lewis himself... and most other modern day big heavyweights. Vitali became a much better fighter, with much more confidence after his fight with Lewis. Not only that... but Vitali had only been training for a 10 round undercard fight against Boswell... who every fully expected to be blown out early. Vitali was COMPLETELY inexperienced as far as big fights go, heading into that fight. Any age factor with Lewis being 5 years older was clearly wiped out by Lewis' big fight experience.

We really never got to see a prime Vitali. Just as he started to enter his technical prime, his injures cut him out of the sport. He is what he is... and although head to head, he is a monster challenge for anyone... he never beat enough top opponents to be seriously considered as a top ATG fighter.

 

I don't disagree with very much that you said in that post. I disagree with a lot of the statements about the Vitali-Lewis fight, and avoiding his mandatories. It wouldn't be a big deal if Lewis had actually been very active and fighting the best. However, I always thought that Byrd would have been very tough for Lewis, and probably make him look bad. Rather than just fighting once a year for the last couple years of his reign... he could have fought Byrd as well. As far as Ruiz goes... I am sure that Lewis wasn't scared of the Squeeze... but there was actually even hype behind this fight as word got out that Ruiz put Lewis down in sparring. So, there was something there that people could be interested in.

Anyways... as I said.. you aren't crazy in your beliefs, and I don't think that we are very far off base from each other. However... even reading your posts still proves to me that Lewis' title reign as True Champ was not that impressive.

 

I only partly agree with Widdow.

I dont understand why you are only talking about the times he defended all the belts. He won the WBC title in the rematch with Olivier Mccall.

Grant and Botha were weak indeed BUT

Holyfield x2, Tyson (those 3 wins alone were the most impressive) add Tua and Rahman.

Also take 2 more factors into acount.

1. At what point in their careers Lewis beat his opponents

2. In what manner he beat them.

Although Tyson was past it, he was not shot. Holyfield was only slightly past it. The rest were all in their prime.

Vitali, Golota, Mercer, Briggs, Akiwande, Ruddock, Grant, Tua, Rahman.

Now the manner in which he won. Took Tua to school 12-0, knocked out Grant in 2, Golota in 1, Tyson in 8 winning every round, Rahman in 4, Briggs in 5, Akiwande in 7. All very impressive wins.

Mercer and Vitali less impressive but still wins.

 

You have nothing for me. Next time that you draw attention to yourself by starting a thread about me... it would probably be smart to actually have something to say other than childish comments. We have only debated once... and the entire forum agreed that I smoked you... you have been angry about it ever since. Let it go.:good

I already said that Lewis was an ATG fighter. I clearly rank him above Vitali... who I don't even know where I would put on an ATG list... but I stand by the fact that his reign as true champ was not very impressive. You sure as hell haven't proven me wrong.

 

lets be fair, lewis resume is pretty impressive.


HOLYFIELD TWICE, KLITSCHKO, TYSON, GOLOTA, MERCER, RUDDOCK, MORRISON, BRUNO, GRANT, TUA, MAVROVIC, MCCALL, RAHMAN, BOTHA, BRIGGS, AKINWANDE, TUCKER


like anybody, that resume could have been better in some ways. if he could have beat bowe he would have virtually cleared out the whole era despite no one wanting to fight lewis till they had to.


in an early post widdow maker, you criticised lewis for not fighting foreman at his peak - lewis must have been 4 years old when foreman was in his peak.

you include moorer and foreman in the top 5 fighters of the era - WTF

 

Which is why I rank him highly as an ATG fighter. Mr. Magoo is trying to mislead everyone by taking posts out of context. I was simply talking about Lewis' reign as actual True Champ. Most of this comes from the fact that people want to act like Wlad isn't a true Champ... so I point out that if we are going by their standards of being a champion... then Lewis' reign wasn't very impressive... because would have actually only started after he beat Holyfield in the second fight.

However, as I already stated... I also find it disappointing that he managed to not fight any of the other top 5 fighters of his own era during their primes. That is a pretty big deal. It is also something that Lewis did in fact have control of, because he took step aside cash so that Tyson could face the WBA Champ Seldon. You can't blame Tyson for taking a more lucrative fight... but you can blame Lewis for not forcing Tyson into a fight. Had Lewis done that... Holyfield would have been up next for him... and then he is at the top of the mountain with all of the big fights coming through him. Instead... he took the money and sat in the shadows until years later when the other stars were already dimmed out.

 

I criticized Lewis for not fighting any of the other top 5 fighters during his era in their primes. He didn't fight Foreman AT ALL... and I clearly meant when Foreman was considered one of the top fighters in the division, during the 90s. Just like Moorer, Tyson, Holyfield, and Bowe.

 

I think the first part of this post is riddled with excuses, but I totally agree with the part that I highlighted. Even though I'm not a fan of Vitali, it would have been good for all involved if he had had an uninterupted career, he could have giving the division a lot more credibilty, and excitement than his peers did in his absence.

 

foreman who stated he wanted nothing to do with lewis and took the easiest ifghts he could to get a title.

 

You can't very well call V.K. a monster, which I agree with btw, and then discredit Lewis's victory over him at the same time. Lewis beat a fighter in his prime, namely V.K. that very few fighters would have beaten period, and he did it at the tail end of his career. And while the supposedly one lucky punch can be disputed. V.K. looked like he was in a car accident after the fight, and there was multiple cuts on his face..hell his lip was was cut almost as bad as his eyelid. The accumulated damage hardly came from one punch, nor can the win be called lucky.