James Toney Or Lennox Lewis? Who's Greater?

[Southpaw Great]

Who should be remembered as the greater fighter?

[The_Demon]

id say lewis

while toney had great skills he let himself go and this affects how he will be remembered for me

[Kilrain]

Toney was more skilled.

Think about it. Toney had (and I speak about him in the past tense because he is grossly out of shape nowadays and looked shot in his last fairly meaningful fight, against Oquendo, and hasn't fought anyone of note since) an awesome defence (utilisized the shoulder roll to great effect), awesome offence, fast hands, a killer left hook, iron chin (took full blooded power shots from Samuel Peter even though he started out 90 lbs lighter than Peter in his career), good stamina (remember he KO'd Nunn in eleven after a busy fight and went 24 rounds with a prime McCallum who threw TONS of shots and went 1-0-1; also almost flattened McCallum in Rd 12 of their first fight; won a decision against Jirov in a furiously-paced fight in which he dropped Jirov in the twelfth), tremendous heart and precision. He was a complete fighter. A 3 weight world champion who started at middleweight (wasn't he the youngest middleweight champion in something like FIFTY YEARS?) and ascended eventually to heavyweight to win a portion of the title there. Never ducked no one along the way. Wins over Michael Nunn, Iran Barkley, Mike McCallum, Reggie Johnson, Tony Thornton, Tim Littles, Merqui Sosa, Vassily Jirov, Evander Holyfield.

Lewis is a great fighter too with a stacked resume and he's a 3 time heavyweight champion of the world. Avenged both of his losses.

A statistic I like is that, as of 2003 (aka the year Lewis retired) only 25 TIMES in Compubox history has a fighter landed more than 400 punches in a championship fight. Only one man has done that FOUR TIMES- James Toney

I realise James's ballooning in weight and bad condition for some periods gain him no fans for that. But it is what it is. Some guys stay in shape year round, others don't. James's attitude has been poor at times. I'd recommend detractors to buy his career set on DVD and watch performances like that against Jirov, McCallum, Nunn, Glen Wolfe, Tim Littles... when he showed up, man did he show up. How many fighters will we ever see again with the number 72 in their Win column? In his prime he fought every few weeks/months. After beating Nunn in 11 tiring rounds he defended his IBF middleweight title SIX WEEKS later against Reggie Johnson, a slick southpaw with one loss. That's old school

[General Zod]

Who should be remembered as the greater fighter?

In terms of legacy or skill level? Either way I would have to go with Toney on this one

[Suckmedry]

Toney was a much better fighter than Lennox abilities wise.

Legacy wise, Lennox get's attention because he is a HW, but James won 3 titles in 3 weight divisions, and competed as a HW contender while being very undersized and overweight.

[General Zod]

Toney was a much better fighter than Lennox abilities wise.

Legacy wise, Lennox get's attention because he is a HW, but James won 3 titles in 3 weight divisions, and competed as a HW contender while being very undersized and overweight.

I agree, good points

[smifnwessun]

James Toney is my favorite because of his trash talking abilities and willingness to back it up in the ring.

[Joe2608]

Lewis is greater but Toney had the skillset to be greater, he just didn't take that opportunity.

[General Zod]

Lewis is greater but Toney had the skillset to be greater, he just didn't take that opportunity.

Lewis best wins are:
Holyfield D
Holyfield w
Tyson
Tua
Ruddock
Golota

Toneys best wins are:
Nunn
McCallum d
McCallum
Jirov
Holyfield
Littles

Toney has to be rated higher in terms of resume

[wmute]

They are close, but Toney a little bit higher IMO.