Would Lennox Lewis become the greatest of all time if he came back and beat Wladimir?

No.The greatest heavyweight of all time does not get stopped by Haseem Rahman and Oliver McCall.

 

ive got Lewis 2nd on my list, after ALi.

The only way Lennox could have moved higher than Ali, would have been wins over a prime Bowe, Holyfield much earlier than when they did fight and Tyson just before or just after prison (96ish)

Ali edges it with his wins over a prime Frazier and prime Foreman and winning the title off Liston.

 

This. McCall I and Rahman I would always be too much to overcome, getting stopped in his prime twice from a single punch against two mediocre contenders. Holmes did much better against Mercer, and much, MUCH better against Oliver IMMEDIATELY after McCall's upset of Lennox. Plus, the difficulties he had twice against Holyfield raises questions about who was better H2H in a peak for peak situation.

Bottom line is two devastating one punch stoppage defeats in his prime to mediocre challengers. We don't see this happen twice to other ATG HWs.

 

Not for me. I have him 5th at the moment behind Louis, Ali, Jack Johnson and Holmes.

But if he were to beat Wlad, it would certainly push him up into the upper echelons of HW boxing. He would be in the bracket with Louis and Ali That's for sure

 

This is how I feel aswell, however saying he was prime in Rahman I is just blind hatred. He was the most out of shape he had ever been.

 

BS.....he was in fighting shape, maybe not in the best shape of his life but most certainly in fighting shape.......and he got betrayed by his chin again. That shot was not even that hard, lol, a totally washed up Tyson impersonator took worse lewis full bore right hands without going down. Fact.

LOL, for the Lemmie lovers, the ref stopped it too soon against a known drug abuser,he was out of shape against Hasbeen and was old , fat and unmotivated when he got a lucky win against VK..............and ran for the hills when it came to rematch time....

Anyway, he is the ONLY Hwt champ who was laid out not only once but TWICE by ham and eggers with ONE punch.......how he ranks at No 2 on some dudes list is beyond me.

BTW, he is old , fat and bald now and if he would come back it would be worse than Camacho/Leonard because chins don't get better with age, as a matter of fact,the very limited Adamek would beat the living **** out of him.

 

I tend to agree. Lewis lost because he was hit bang on the button with a great shot.
I'm always very reluctant to believe stories of fighters coming in unprepared and undertrained after an unexpected loss. Now and then the stories are true, but in Lewis' case I never bought that line.

I've never seen any documented evidence to suggest that he took Rahman lightly, or was unprepared. To me, those are just excuses.

Same with McCall. He did seem very confident, maybe overconfident for McCall (He literally swaggered all the way to the ring) but it still does not excuse the loss.
He was hit with a great shot, and that is that.

 

Briggs chin seemed to get better with age. He got KTFO by Lewis and didn't survive half the fight. Yet when he fought Vitali who many consider to be a harder puncher, landed at will and still couldn't drop him.

I don't think there's any doubt either that if he came back he'd get KTFO however adamek is a piece of **** at heavyweight and I'd probably back Lewis if he was in ok shape

 

There's no excuses for the MCall fight. He just got caught with a big shot.

For rahman however I tend to disagree. I don't buy into the whole altitude **** as much as some do but there's no doubt he was in the worst shape of his career apart from the Vitali fight. Although having said that it is probably not the main reason he lost.

 

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/boxing/l...e-1.495676?ot=inmsa.ArticlePrintPageLayout.ot

"World heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis has made a mistake by giving himself only two weeks to acclimatise to the high altitude before his title fight against Hasim Rahman in Johannesburg, boxing experts said on Thursday.
Briton Lewis, who faces American challenger Rahman in the early hours of Sunday morning at the Carnival City Arena near Johannesburg, could run out of steam in the fight's middle rounds, experts warned.
"I think Lewis has made a mistake. You need at least three weeks to acclimatise. He is definitely going to feel it (the altitude) after five rounds," said Harold Volbrecht, who trains former WBU heavyweight champion Corrie Sanders.
Johannesburg is about 5,600 feet above sea level.
Volbrecht's view was echoed by Norman Hlabane, who trains IBF junior-featherweight champion Lehlonoholo Ledwaba of South Africa.
"If the fight goes over six rounds, and Lewis does not knock his opponent out, he will be in trouble," Hlabane said."

 

Joint 1st with GOAT Ali, if ANCIENT Lenny Lion came back And KTFO Waldo.

 

-Thank god the fight didn't go that long.

 

:twisted:

 

Wlad ran out of gas in 11 rounds against Purrity. An outcome like that raises questions about whether or not he was in shape.

People get caught cold in a single round all the time.

Lennox was dropped for the count by a single punch in round five. He was coming off 12 rounds with Tua, so was competition extended. He went on to take out Rahman and Tyson. No, Rahman I was a really bad result, which occurred too late in the match for him to be caught cold, and too early for him to start running out of gas, even at altitude. (No attrition was involved.)