Is Lennox Lewis the Greatest Heavyweight Boxer of All Time?

[IronDanHamza]

Originally Posted by Barnburner

ali was the self proclaimed greatest who actually turned out to be the greatest.

And nothing annoyed me more.

[dmaclv]

Originally Posted by 4Corners

No. Resume wise, there's more than a few in front of him.

Skill wise and H2H, he's in my Top 5 for sure. But a prime Ali was not only the greatest Heavyweight ever to me, but one of the greatest fighters ever. He had too much of everything.

But I do think H2H and prime for prime, here's my Top 5.

Ali
Holyfield
Holmes
Lewis
Foreman

I really disagree that a prime Holmes beats a prime Lewis. I don't see that happening at all.

[Barnburner]

Originally Posted by IronDanHamza

And nothing annoyed me more.

damn straight, i dislike the bastard as well but I find myself defending his #1 HW spot all the time.

[Frank Ducketts]

Prime Ali is the best heavyweight/fighter who ever lived!

[Ray Corso]

You have the last name correct just spelled wrong its....LOUIS! As in Joe the "Brown Bomber" Louis!! Ray.

[Frank Ducketts]

Originally Posted by revs1227

nither ali or lennox are the greatest
ali is the self proclaimed "greatest"

ali top 5
lennox maybe top 15

Who is the best then?

[dmaclv]

Originally Posted by 4Corners

Lewis, to me, came along at a really good time.

It was when Tyson and Holyfield were getting older, and before Wlad and Vitali really came along to be great fighters.

Lewis' could have had the huge huge legacy fight against Riddick Bowe, but it's not Lennox's fault that Bowe straight up refused to fight him. Robbed us of what would have been the biggest HW fight since Ali-Frazier III/Ali-Foreman.

But his career in terms of when he came along was similar to Marciano's to me. In the sense that Marciano came along when Walcott, Charles, and Louis were getting older, and before Patterson and Liston came along to become threats at HW. Still a great fighter and his wins over Walcott and Charles were still good wins considering they were top fighters, but they weren't at their best.

Same with Lewis. His win over Holyfield was a great win, but Holyfield wasn't quite at his best I'd say. He was past his prime-still good though. But the one Lewis gets no credit from me is the Tyson fight. Tyson hadn't won a meaningful fight in like 3-4 years or something by that point.

I feel Lewis fought a prime Vitali. Vitali was 31 years old when they had their war, I felt Vitali at that time was in supreme condition and had a wealth amount of fighting experience.

[Shameful]

could ali beat him? size wise probably no, could lennox take a george foreman bomb? probably not. subjective

[Shameful]

Originally Posted by 4Corners

Lewis, to me, came along at a really good time.

It was when Tyson and Holyfield were getting older, and before Wlad and Vitali really came along to be great fighters.

Lewis' could have had the huge huge legacy fight against Riddick Bowe, but it's not Lennox's fault that Bowe straight up refused to fight him. Robbed us of what would have been the biggest HW fight since Ali-Frazier III/Ali-Foreman.

But his career in terms of when he came along was similar to Marciano's to me. In the sense that Marciano came along when Walcott, Charles, and Louis were getting older, and before Patterson and Liston came along to become threats at HW. Still a great fighter and his wins over Walcott and Charles were still good wins considering they were top fighters, but they weren't at their best.

Same with Lewis. His win over Holyfield was a great win, but Holyfield wasn't quite at his best I'd say. He was past his prime-still good though. But the one Lewis gets no credit from me is the Tyson fight. Tyson hadn't won a meaningful fight in like 3-4 years or something by that point.

tyson is a year YOUNGER than lewis.......

[Simurgh]

Lewis was well underestimated boxer while he was active. I think he got a full credit only at the very end of his career. However I think that people now tend to do the opposite.
Don't get me wrong Lewis was a phenomenal boxer - Top5 no doubt about that, but when people start to give him an edge over prime Ali it is just not realistic.

Lewis fought some very good fighter - but still I think the best boxer he fought (quality and time wise) was Vitali and that fight didn't tell a lot (it really was 50:50). And I also wouldn't pick that version of Vitali as an absolute best as he didn't really have any fights on that level prior to Lewis fight and to some extend he lost that fight on experience (I think he was too aggressive - even reckless). He was trading with the very bad cut which wasn't very smart tactics in my opinion. In that fight I think Vitali was on 90% of his full potential and Lewis on 80%.

Now Lewis did have some fantastic wins against very good boxers (etc Golota), but he also was KOed twice, at least once while he was in prime, had a draw (with smaller fighter than Ali was - I had the second Holyfield fight a draw), tend to have some poor performances against not the top boxers (Marovic) while he still was in his absolute prime.

Ali did much more in his career, fought a better boxers and while he was in his prime he looked so much better.

H4H I rank Lennox in TOP5.