James Toney vs Prime Lennox Lewis

[General Zod]

i am talking about Lewis... at least Jones fought Hopkins & Toney when they was at the peak.

Hopkins didnt reach his peak until years later, he was considered a nobody when Jones fought him. He was also ranked outside the Ring top ten as well
Toney for the next 10 yeaqrs would ask for a remtch which Jones never gave him

. Lewis fought Tyson when he was a shell of the once ATG fighter, 11yrs after Buster Douglas hammered him and 6yrs after Holyfield finished him off... Lewis even tried to take Tyson to court and force him to fight him again (pathetic).. Lewis got an unlucky draw against an old Holyfield and IMO clearly lost their rematch

Are you sayinmg that Lewis lost the first fight with Holyfield are you really that biased?

Jones career was light-years better than Lewis`s

No its not, his two best wins are a green Hopkins and a weight drained Toney, who he refused to give a rematch too.
His wins over Vitali K and Holyfeild are more than equal to Jones wins over Toney and Hopkins. you know Jones ducked Nunn and Tarver when they were his mandatories? He wanted nothing to do with McClellan, ducked Collins, turned down Eubank and Jirov.

[bolopunchez]

Lewis would probably knock him out.

[mickey malone]

Did McCall or Rahman ever throw a "Big Single Shot" against any other opponent... When Lewis avenged his loss to Rahman with a 4th round KO it was "No Big Deal" because Rahman had been poleaxed in a similar if worse fashion before by Oleg Maskaev..

The Fact remains that Byrd & Ruiz was both No1 contenders and had legitimately fought their way to that privileged position in their trade.. For Lewis to say, "They are not worthy of a shot" is beyond comprehension.. if Lewis was the Champion he claimed to be he would have fought both and reigned supreme, but he ducked them because they was at the top of their game, styles make fights and both Ruiz & Byrd had a unique style that Lewis could not handle so he was not willing to take that chance.

Lewis boasted that he would "Have one brother for breakfast, the other brother for lunch"... he chose the least talented of the two and very nearly came unstuck, only very bad referee decision saved him his title.. He told the Boxing World that he would gladly give Vitali a rematch, yet he dragged out his title reign for 12 months unto only days before he was to be stripped of his last remaining belt and announced his retirement....

IMO Lennox Lewis was a `Coward` who refused to fight the No1 contenders or any fighters who was above Class C and at the top of their game, his whole career... he chose to fight guys who was mediocre and often white guys who was on steroids like Botha, Mavrovic, Morrison, Golota, Fortune, Tua, Vitali and fighters who was way past their best days in Bruno, Tyson, Holyfield, Tucker, Briggs, The rest of his opponents was hand-picked for harmlessness like, Grant, Butler, Jackson, Akinwande, Rahman... Lewis was a champion and contender throughout the period 92-2002 when guys like, Holmes, Foreman, Wlad, Jones Jr., Ruiz, Byrd, Moorer, Hide, Sanders, Tyson & Bowe all held titles and was at the top of their game... "Lewis avoided every single one of them"

Didn't McCall starch Akinwande with one shot?

And hadn't Lewis already been KO'd twice by the time he beat Rahman?

No big deal, but if Lewis had been beaten a 2nd time by Rahman, you'd have to say Lewis wasn't up to the job.. Ali wasn't really up to the job against Norton.. Frazier certainly wasn't against Foreman and neither was Hearns vs Barkley.. However, I rate all 3 very highly, and I know you do to..

Class C Fighters?

I'll side with you on Justin Fortune.. He was a weight lifter and had no right to be in the same ring as Lewis..
A prime Akinwande was one of the most avoided heavyweights of the last 20 years.. Even as European Champ, no one would touch him.. At 6'7" with an awkward style, he was considered too much of a risk by most managers.. He was unbeaten, and had fought his way into contention, so he deserved a title shot..
Phil Jackson and Michael Grant turned out to have a glass Jaw's, but this wasn't discovered until they were exposed by Lewis.. They were both 20 odd KO's and 0, on a diet of jouirneymen, but couldn't the same be said about a lot of fighters b4 they got their shot?.. I can see your side of the argument though - they never beat anyone good enough to deserve that shot in the 1st place.. My argument here would be, is that it kept Lewis very active while greedy promoters & managers screwed up most of the big fights..
No one wanted the Grant job anyway, so Lewis just took it in his stride as a well managed, and easy no-hassle defense..
For example, after studying the facts over and over again, it was Suliaman and King that scuppered the original deal to fight Bowe..

Mavrovic is a very underrated fighter, and this is mainly because he retired from boxing shortly after losing a DC to Lewis for the title.. He deserved his shot too, he'd been European champion for about 2 years with 6 or 7 defenses.. He was easily as good, if not better than, Damiani, Coopman, Evangelista, Rodriguez etc.. And at least Lewis followed in the right traditions of being a champion by taking on the best in Europe, that also included, Bruno, Golota and Vitaly.. Credit to him for that, because the last 2 were on the list of 'rather not's' on a lot of manager's lists, especially after the mauling given to Bowe and Klitschko's demolition job on Hide..
Furthermore, that was a prime Vitali vs a 39 year old Lewis.. I'd say Lewis may well have been behind when the fight got stopped, but the bottom line is, At 39, he out-toughed Vitali at his best.. Had Klitschko not panicked, and continued to box, ie:- the way Ricky Hatton did against Jon Thaxton, he might have won, but he decided to go for broke and drew Lewis into an ugly slugfest, in which the prime fighter came off worst..

Lionel Butler absolutely poleaxed Tony Tubbs, leaving him unconscious for 10 minutes..
Some people compared him to Tyson in physique, but i'd say he was more like Toney, and dispells some of the myth that Lewis struggled against smaller fighters or indeed, would be beaten by James Toney..

What's wrong with Botha?.. I won't get into the steroids argument, because I don't regard them as performance enhancing.. But unless your intention is to gain weight, which surely wouldn't be the case in Botha's case, I don't think there worth bringing into the argument (Holy? Tyson? Jones? Toney?)
Francois, 'bless him' gets far too much stick on these forums.. This is the same Francois who was pasting Mike Tyson for 5 rounds and went toe to toe with avoided puncher, Michael Moorer in a very exciting contest (I think Moorer may have stopped him on his feet in the last round) but nevertheless, he was the best HW in South Africa & would definitely have lasted the distance with Johnny Ruiz and Chris Byrd.. I'd also say he was a lot more worthy of a shot than fellow contryman and semi retired golfer, Corey Sanders, the occasionaly dangerous southpaw puncher, with low arms, zero defense and a china chin..
Wasn't he KTFO with a single shot by Rahman?..

Tua was the best from down under, and as a mark of how avoided he's been, Lewis was his one and only shot at a title.. He's been in with 5 title holders and KO'd 3 of them..
It could be argued that Holyfield and Tyson wanted none of him..
Morrison took on and beat Foreman and Ruddock.. He was in the top 10 for at least 9 years with one of the finest left hooks you'll ever see, so to be classified as Class C is very harsh to say the least..

Foreman made no secret of the fact he didn't want to engage Lewis, and went looking for a fight with Tyson, another classic that was ruined by King and co..
All said, Lewis had a good championship resume..

How's about Byrd or Ruiz verses:- Ruddock, Moorer, Tyson, Akinwande, McCall, Mercer, Morrison, Vitaly, Hide, Sanders or Botha?

[sonnyboyx2]

Didn't McCall starch Akinwande with one shot?

And hadn't Lewis already been KO'd twice by the time he beat Rahman?

No big deal, but if Lewis had been beaten a 2nd time by Rahman, you'd have to say Lewis wasn't up to the job.. Ali wasn't really up to the job against Norton.. Frazier certainly wasn't against Foreman and neither was Hearns vs Barkley.. However, I rate all 3 very highly, and I know you do to..

Class C Fighters?

I'll side with you on Justin Fortune.. He was a weight lifter and had no right to be in the same ring as Lewis..
A prime Akinwande was one of the most avoided heavyweights of the last 20 years.. Even as European Champ, no one would touch him.. At 6'7" with an awkward style, he was considered too much of a risk by most managers.. He was unbeaten, and had fought his way into contention, so he deserved a title shot..
Phil Jackson and Michael Grant turned out to have a glass Jaw's, but this wasn't discovered until they were exposed by Lewis.. They were both 20 odd KO's and 0, on a diet of jouirneymen, but couldn't the same be said about a lot of fighters b4 they got their shot?.. I can see your side of the argument though - they never beat anyone good enough to deserve that shot in the 1st place.. My argument here would be, is that it kept Lewis very active while greedy promoters & managers screwed up most of the big fights..
No one wanted the Grant job anyway, so Lewis just took it in his stride as a well managed, and easy no-hassle defense..
For example, after studying the facts over and over again, it was Suliaman and King that scuppered the original deal to fight Bowe..

Mavrovic is a very underrated fighter, and this is mainly because he retired from boxing shortly after losing a DC to Lewis for the title.. He deserved his shot too, he'd been European champion for about 2 years with 6 or 7 defenses.. He was easily as good, if not better than, Damiani, Coopman, Evangelista, Rodriguez etc.. And at least Lewis followed in the right traditions of being a champion by taking on the best in Europe, that also included, Bruno, Golota and Vitaly.. Credit to him for that, because the last 2 were on the list of 'rather not's' on a lot of manager's lists, especially after the mauling given to Bowe and Klitschko's demolition job on Hide..
Furthermore, that was a prime Vitali vs a 39 year old Lewis.. I'd say Lewis may well have been behind when the fight got stopped, but the bottom line is, At 39, he out-toughed Vitali at his best.. Had Klitschko not panicked, and continued to box, ie:- the way Ricky Hatton did against Jon Thaxton, he might have won, but he decided to go for broke and drew Lewis into an ugly slugfest, in which the prime fighter came off worst..

Lionel Butler absolutely poleaxed Tony Tubbs, leaving him unconscious for 10 minutes..
Some people compared him to Tyson in physique, but i'd say he was more like Toney, and dispells some of the myth that Lewis struggled against smaller fighters or indeed, would be beaten by James Toney..

What's wrong with Botha?.. I won't get into the steroids argument, because I don't regard them as performance enhancing.. But unless your intention is to gain weight, which surely wouldn't be the case in Botha's case, I don't think there worth bringing into the argument (Holy? Tyson? Jones? Toney?)
Francois, 'bless him' gets far too much stick on these forums.. This is the same Francois who was pasting Mike Tyson for 5 rounds and went toe to toe with avoided puncher, Michael Moorer in a very exciting contest (I think Moorer may have stopped him on his feet in the last round) but nevertheless, he was the best HW in South Africa & would definitely have lasted the distance with Johnny Ruiz and Chris Byrd.. I'd also say he was a lot more worthy of a shot than fellow contryman and semi retired golfer, Corey Sanders, the occasionaly dangerous southpaw puncher, with low arms, zero defense and a china chin..
Wasn't he KTFO with a single shot by Rahman?..

Tua was the best from down under, and as a mark of how avoided he's been, Lewis was his one and only shot at a title.. He's been in with 5 title holders and KO'd 3 of them..
It could be argued that Holyfield and Tyson wanted none of him..
Morrison took on and beat Foreman and Ruddock.. He was in the top 10 for at least 9 years with one of the finest left hooks you'll ever see, so to be classified as Class C is very harsh to say the least..

Foreman made no secret of the fact he didn't want to engage Lewis, and went looking for a fight with Tyson, another classic that was ruined by King and co..
All said, Lewis had a good championship resume..

How's about Byrd or Ruiz verses:- Ruddock, Moorer, Tyson, Akinwande, McCall, Mercer, Morrison, Vitaly, Hide, Sanders or Botha?

Mickey, your story is easy to write buddy...

Tua fought 5 guys who held a version of the title.. but you are not telling the truth there, Tua lost virtually every round to Lewis & Byrd, he was behind on the scorecards when he stopped Maskaev, He beat a `Shot` Moorer and had to climb off the floor to get a draw with Hasim Rahman who i consider the worst champion in history.. He cold****ed Ruiz when he was a novice with the first punch of the fight which could happen to anyone... To claim Tyson & Holyfield avoided Tua is laughable, Tua was often used as a sparring partner by both of them, i can recall reading an article a few years back where Tua claimed Tyson was the hardest puncher in the world..

Lionel Butler lost more fights than he won he was 22-10 when he got a shot at Lewis - c`mon

Akinwande was a bum who had been beaten by Shultz the German and fought no-one else of worth unto hand-picked by Lewis... infact i thought Lewis was as guilty of holding as Akinwande was, Lewis was definately floored by Akinwande but the terrible referee Mills Lane never took up a count..

i agree Mavrovic was half-decent and Lewis struggled badly with him... That was Lewis true level that night.

i could continue about Botha, Sanders etc.. but it does not change the fact that Lewis avoided fighting Ruiz & Byrd and you ask would Ruiz & Byrd beat those guys... yes

[mickey malone]

Mickey, your story is easy to write buddy...

Tua fought 5 guys who held a version of the title.. but you are not telling the truth there, Tua lost virtually every round to Lewis & Byrd, he was behind on the scorecards when he stopped Maskaev, He beat a `Shot` Moorer and had to climb off the floor to get a draw with Hasim Rahman who i consider the worst champion in history.. He cold****ed Ruiz when he was a novice with the first punch of the fight which could happen to anyone... To claim Tyson & Holyfield avoided Tua is laughable, Tua was often used as a sparring partner by both of them, i can recall reading an article a few years back where Tua claimed Tyson was the hardest puncher in the world..

Lionel Butler lost more fights than he won he was 22-10 when he got a shot at Lewis - c`mon

Akinwande was a bum who had been beaten by Shultz the German and fought no-one else of worth unto hand-picked by Lewis... infact i thought Lewis was as guilty of holding as Akinwande was, Lewis was definately floored by Akinwande but the terrible referee Mills Lane never took up a count..

i agree Mavrovic was half-decent and Lewis struggled badly with him... That was Lewis true level that night.

i could continue about Botha, Sanders etc.. but it does not change the fact that Lewis avoided fighting Ruiz & Byrd and you ask would Ruiz & Byrd beat those guys... yes

The truth is always easy to write..

Well at least you realize that Sanders doesn't really belong in this argument, and TBH neither does Byrd and Ruiz.. I mean, what did they do to get their shots?

Before Byrd got his tilt at Vitaly, he'd beaten Ross Puritty, John Sargent, Jose Ribalta, Val Smith and was stopped in 5 by Ibeabuchi..
Ruiz was on an even more pathetic roll, with victories over Jerry Ballard, Mario Cawley, Fernely Feliz and Thomas Williams leading up to his 1st shot at Holyfield - talk about Class C fighters!.. Lewis was right not to defend against them..
Compare this to Akinwande, who never lost to Axel Schultz (Draw) was an undefeated European champ, and had beaten Tony Tucker, Alex Zolkin, Jeremy Williams and Scott Welch, which are better credentials than either Byrd or Ruiz had at the time..

Holyfield avoiding Tua is no more laughable than Lewis avoiding any of the fighters you claim he avoided.. What is laughable, is that Tua one of the hardest punchers in history only fought for the title once, and that was against Lewis.. Ruiz has had more than a decade to prove that he was cold ****ed by Tua, but for some reason has never bothered..

[sonnyboyx2]

The truth is always easy to write..

Well at least you realize that Sanders doesn't really belong in this argument, and TBH neither does Byrd and Ruiz.. I mean, what did they do to get their shots?

Before Byrd got his tilt at Vitaly, he'd beaten Ross Puritty, John Sargent, Jose Ribalta, Val Smith and was stopped in 5 by Ibeabuchi..
Ruiz was on an even more pathetic roll, with victories over Jerry Ballard, Mario Cawley, Fernely Feliz and Thomas Williams leading up to his 1st shot at Holyfield - talk about Class C fighters!.. Lewis was right not to defend against them..
Compare this to Akinwande, who never lost to Axel Schultz (Draw) was an undefeated European champ, and had beaten Tony Tucker, Alex Zolkin, Jeremy Williams and Scott Welch, which are better credentials than either Byrd or Ruiz had at the time..

Holyfield avoiding Tua is no more laughable than Lewis avoiding any of the fighters you claim he avoided.. What is laughable, is that Tua one of the hardest punchers in history only fought for the title once, and that was against Lewis.. Ruiz has had more than a decade to prove that he was cold ****ed by Tua, but for some reason has never bothered..

so you are in agreement that if a champion does not fancy fighting the No1 contender then he should just tell them to **** off... we need not have any ratings in that case..

it really does grate on me when David Tua is called "one of the hardest punchers in history".. Take away his KO of John Ruiz whom he caught cold, and he has KOd no0one of worth... did he KO Chris Byrd or Lennox Lewis... i will always stick to my theory that Lou Duva knew that Tua was `chinny` so kept him away from top level fighters who could punch.. Tua was pounded by Ibeabuchi and staggered at the bell in round 10 yet Ibeabuchi was an unknown novice...sorry but i dont rate him higher than a class c fighter, his boxing ability was very poor... Cory Sanders i would take to KO Tua, Sanders was a 6ft 5ins southpaw puncher, i could not see Tua beat him at any aspect of the game, Tua would need to win by KO but i see Sanders KOing him first, like he did Wlad Klitschko when he was in semi-retirement.

[sonnyboyx2]

Hopkins didnt reach his peak until years later, he was considered a nobody when Jones fought him. He was also ranked outside the Ring top ten as well
Toney for the next 10 yeaqrs would ask for a remtch which Jones never gave him

Are you sayinmg that Lewis lost the first fight with Holyfield are you really that biased?

No its not, his two best wins are a green Hopkins and a weight drained Toney, who he refused to give a rematch too.
His wins over Vitali K and Holyfeild are more than equal to Jones wins over Toney and Hopkins. you know Jones ducked Nunn and Tarver when they were his mandatories? He wanted nothing to do with McClellan, ducked Collins, turned down Eubank and Jirov.

Hopkins was a good fighter when Jones beat him, he was on a level exactly the same as Jones himself was, infact Hopkins had been a pro 12 months longer than Jones had.. i suppose in your opinion BHop was same as Lewis "Like fine wine" and never reached their peak unto they was nearly 40yrs old which is ****** talk.

Toney was never in a position to challenge Jones after Jones beat him.. Toney campaigned at Cruiserweight..

when did i say Lewis lost his first fight with Holyfield, i said "Lewis fought to an "unlucky draw" with Holyfield.. yet IMO Lewis clearly lost the 2nd Holyfield fight as most ringside reporters also thought.

Lewis victories over Vitali & Holyfield are in no way as good as anything Jones achieved.. Lewis was very fortunate to come away with a victory from his fight with Vitali, he was behind on all scorecards and on his way to being KOd within the next 2rds.. it is my opinion that Lewis deliberatly headbutted Vitali that opened up the Germans cuts... 42 of 48 ringside reporters had Holyfield winning his rematch with Lewis... hardly 2 impressive wins are they...

Jones beat a long list of fighters who went on to be world champions or who had been world champion.. Ruiz, McCallum, Griffith, Johnson, Gonzales, Pazienza, Castro, Hopkins, Toney, Malinga, Vaca, Hill, Delvalle, Woods, Tarver, Trinidad... i agree that they was all over matched when they fought Jones, but this topic is not about Jones, its about Toney v Lewis

[General Zod]

Hopkins was a good fighter when Jones beat him, he was on a level exactly the same as Jones himself was, infact Hopkins had been a pro 12 months longer than Jones had.. i suppose in your opinion BHop was same as Lewis "Like fine wine" and never reached their peak unto they was nearly 40yrs old which is ****** talk.

Hopkins wasnt in his prime at the time he wouldnt reach his prime until 1997-07-20 when he fought Glen Johnson, Hopkins is also overrated he has lost to all the best fighters he ever faced who were: Jones, Calzaghe and Taylor*2

Toney was never in a position to challenge Jones after Jones beat him.. Toney campaigned at Cruiserweight..

Toney said repeatedly that he was willing to move back down to LHW if Jones was willing to give him a fight, HBO also wanted a rematch.

when did i say Lewis lost his first fight with Holyfield, i said "Lewis fought to an "unlucky draw" with Holyfield..

Why dont you just say that, Lewis clearly won that fight and was robbed?

Lewis victories over Vitali & Holyfield are in no way as good as anything Jones achieved

Jones two best wins are Toney and Hopkins, Lewis best wins are over Holyfiled and Vitali K, they are more than equivalent you are also going to have to take into account that Jones has been a journeyman for the last 7 years of his career.

Jones beat a long list of fighters who went on to be world champions or who had been world champion.. Ruiz, McCallum, Griffith, Johnson, Gonzales, Pazienza, Castro, Hopkins, Toney, Malinga, Vaca, Hill, Delvalle, Woods, Tarver, Trinidad... i agree that they was all over matched when they fought Jones, but this topic is not about Jones, its about Toney v Lewis

You cant be serios with that list, If I said a similar thing about Lewis opponents you would start raving.

Jones also ducked his mandatorys like Lewis as well, can I assume you are now going to hate on Jones?

Jones also did his best to avoid WBC mandatory obligations, on two occasions, against Nunn. While Nunn was faded from his peak Middleweight championship form, he would still have been a sterner test than Grant or Frazier. Jones once was quoted to the affect that he didn’t want to have to be the guy Nunn got up for after a series of lackadaisical showings.

A written, and granted, request for Tarver to engage in an eliminator for a title shot in 2000 (resulting in Tarver’s first loss to Harding) can be looked at a number of ways

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=21561

[sonnyboyx2]

Hopkins wasnt in his prime at the time he wouldnt reach his prime until 1997-07-20 when he fought Glen Johnson, Hopkins is also overrated he has lost to all the best fighters he ever faced who were: Jones, Calzaghe and Taylor*2

Toney said repeatedly that he was willing to move back down to LHW if Jones was willing to give him a fight, HBO also wanted a rematch.

Why dont you just say that, Lewis clearly won that fight and was robbed?


Jones two best wins are Toney and Hopkins, Lewis best wins are over Holyfiled and Vitali K, they are more than equivalent you are also going to have to take into account that Jones has been a journeyman for the last 7 years of his career.

You cant be serios with that list, If I said a similar thing about Lewis opponents you would start raving.

Jones also ducked his mandatorys like Lewis as well, can I assume you are now going to hate on Jones?



http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=21561

Jones was not in HIS prime when he fought and beat BHop... why would BHop have to be in his prime?

if Toney said what you claim that he would move down to Light-Heavy to fight Jones if Jones gave him a shot.. then i am cool with that.. just like i am cool that Toney said he would move up to heavyweight and KO Lennox Lewis if Lewis gave him a title shot.

i thought Lewis was unfortunate not to get the decision by 7-5rds but i can see how the judges had it a draw... i had Holyfield winning their 2nd fight 7-5rds

Jones best two victories are vastly better than Lewis 2 best victories.. IMO Lewis lost to Holyfield, it is also the opinion of most at ringside..

What is serious about that list of Jones opponents is that they ALL held World Titles just like i pointed out... unlike Lewis opponents, Butler, Jackson, Golota, Grant, Akinwande, Mavrovic, Fortune, Tua, Ruddock none of whom deserved a title fight.

One thing certain is that Roy Jones will forever be ranked as vastly greater than Lennox Lewis

[General Zod]

Jones was not in HIS prime when he fought and beat BHop... why would BHop have to be in his prime?

Jones was obviously closer to his prime than Hopkins, he would go on to dominate James Toney the next year, while Hopkins would have to resort to headbutting in 95 to get a undeserved draw against a journeyman called Sercundo Mercado. His when over Hopkins is also a win thet became great only after Hopkins MW title reign started. The guys to beat at MW were Jackson and McClellan not Hopkins.

if Toney said what you claim that he would move down to Light-Heavy to fight Jones if Jones gave him a shot.. then i am cool with that.. just like i am cool that Toney said he would move up to heavyweight and KO Lennox Lewis if Lewis gave him a title shot.

This logic makes no sense, Toney said that he wasn't 100% when he fought Jones and wanted a chance to redeem himself. HBO also wanted the fight because the first fight had been so succesfull(300k ppv)
Toney had no history with Lewis nor was there any demand from HBO for the fight, so bad comparison.

i thought Lewis was unfortunate not to get the decision by 7-5rds but i can see how the judges had it a draw

lol at this its was a wide sided affair, which why there was such a uproar about it.

Jones best two victories are vastly better than Lewis 2 best victories.. IMO Lewis lost to Holyfield, it is also the opinion of most at ringside..

Lewis clearly won his first fight with Holyfield. Also Vitali K and Holyfield are more accomplished than Toney and Hopkins. Toney has thrown away 13 years of his career due to huis eating problem and lost to guys he had no business losing to like Thadazi and Tiberi. Hopkins best wins are over a WW Tito and a average Tarver.

What is serious about that list of Jones opponents is that they ALL held World Titles just like i pointed out... unlike Lewis opponents, Butler, Jackson, Golota, Grant, Akinwande, Mavrovic, Fortune, Tua, Ruddock none of whom deserved a title fight.

lol
Vinny paz had no business fighting at smw
Hill was past prime and coming off a one sided loss to Dairus M
McCallum was 40 years old and one fight away from retirement
etc etc

One thing certain is that Roy Jones will forever be ranked as vastly greater than Lennox Lewis

Nope, Lewis will always be ranked higher than Jones look at all the guys Jones somehow manged to miss
MW: McClellan, Jackson
SMW: Eubank, Benn, Liles, Nunn, Rociganni, Collins
LHW: Nunn, Rochiaganni, Toney II
CW: Jirov
HW: Vitali K who was his mandatory for Jones WBA belt

He has also lost to : Tarver*2,Johnson, Griffin, Calzaghe and Danny Green