Lennox Lewis Or Sonny Liston?

[gingeralbino]

GJC many many times i read on this forum how Lennox Lewis fans claim that Lewis was correct in fighting Michael Grant instead of fighting his No1 contender John Ruiz, they claim that the vast majority of boxing fans wanted Lewis to fight Grant and not Ruiz because Grant was considered the most dangerous of the two opponents and that no-one wanted to see Lewis fight Ruiz.... I have always claimed otherwise and have been called a Lewis "Hater" and that i must have something against Lewis, yet i have always claimed i have nothing against Lewis other than him ducking the No1 contenders in Ruiz, Byrd & Vitali ... below is a link which proves everything i have ever said is 100% correct and that everyone who claimed different was incorrect:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4529125.html

That link proves that Lennox Lewis ducked and avoided fighting John Ruiz... The WBA gave Lewis permission to fight Michael Grant as long as Lewis agreed to fight John Ruiz in his next fight after the Grant fight.... Guess who Lewis fought after Michael Grant?

What a ****in cowardly fraud Lennox Lewis really was.

I dont claim to know exactly what was going on, but i got this from wikipedia's list of undisputed world champions.

"Lennox Lewis became undisputed champion by defeating Evander Holyfield, successfully unifiying his WBC belt with Holyfield's WBA and IBF belts. With that victory, he was also awarded the vacant IBO title. Lewis was stripped of his WBA belt due to a contract dispute regarding a clause in the 2nd Holyfield contract which stipulated he must fight the WBA number 1 contender next. The number 1 contender at that time was Henry Akinwande but he was ill so Ruiz was later moved up to number 1. The WBA gave Lewis permission under these circumstances to fight WBC ranked contender Michael Grant next as long as he agreed to fight Ruiz in the following bout. Lewis agreed but Ruiz`s promoter challenged the WBA`s decision in court."

When he fought Grant, he didnt have the WBA belt.

[fight_professor]

Liston would KO Lewis. His reach was as long [longer?], jab brutal and he had awesome power. Lennox has the possibility to staying back, but with no reach advantage, Liston can still get to his man.

Sonny KO within 8.

[CarlosG815]

I dont claim to know exactly what was going on, but i got this from wikipedia's list of undisputed world champions.

Doesn't hold any water when Jim Jeffries wrote that up and had General Zod do the final editing before posting it on Wikipedia.

[JAB5239]

JAB.. surely your joking mate.

its like Floyd Mayweather saying to Manny Pacquiao give me $4 million and i will step-a-side while you fight Malignaggi & Margarito while i sit in the wilderness for 18 months with no title while you rake in the money.

i have heard it claimed that Lewis accepted $4 million so that Tyson could fight Bruce Seldon but Mike Tyson also fought Holyfield 10 weeks after Seldon... The truth is that Lewis sold his chance for a meagre $4 million because he never fancied the job... There is nothing to back up your claim that Lewis would have been offered any more money than the $13.5 million if Tyson had unified the Title, why should he have been offered more money?... Tyson would have been the undisputed champion and Lewis did not have a huge fight lined-up against Foreman, Holyfield or Moorer which he could have won so as to increase his bargaining power, Lewis had nothing at that time only a devastating KO loss to former Tyson sparring partner Oliver McCall.... its all rubbish spewed out by Lewis to the british press years after the event.

This is only my opinion but no, Im not joking. A Tyson with more titles is a Tyson worth more money. He was the biggest attraction in boxing. More titles could only make him bigger and more legitimate champion.

Now, you claim Lewis ducked Tyson by accepting the 4 mil, but you chastise Tyson as you do Lennox for avoiding his number 1 contender and offering the step aside money to begin with. I like you Sonny and I respect your knowledge, but I do not agree with your stance on Lennox Lewis at all my friend.

[CarlosG815]

This is only my opinion but no, Im not joking. A Tyson with more titles is a Tyson worth more money. He was the biggest attraction in boxing. More titles could only make him bigger and more legitimate champion.

Now, you claim Lewis ducked Tyson by accepting the 4 mil, but you chastise Tyson as you do Lennox for avoiding his number 1 contender and offering the step aside money to begin with. I like you Sonny and I respect your knowledge, but I do not agree with your stance on Lennox Lewis at all my friend.

Jab I see your point and that is a valid basis for your opinion but I have to side with Sonny in this argument, as it would make much more sense to be the guy taking the big purse, the title, and then have a shot at Seldon. He was setting himself up for big fights had he beat Tyson and even more money.

And with the power of hindsight we know that Lennox never took any big fights during the 90's after being jacked by McCall, then went on later to get whacked by Hasim Rahman, and then went 12 rounds with an obese not all that talented short David Tua.

When you look at it using hindsight it really wasn't a good move financially or legacy wise.

That is why I feel Lennox was a coward and a phony champion.

When we think of the great champions of heavyweight past, we think of guys like Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, Mike Tyson etc... And they all have one thing in common - they cleared out their division while never leaving any reason whatsoever for anybody to believe that they weren't the best in the world, as Lennox Lewis did many times by not fighting the best fighters of the time.

[StarshipTrooper]

I personally wish MORE fighters had refused to fight Ruiz.....then we would have been spared having to watch his snooze inducing hugfests on the tube.

Poet

[JAB5239]

Jab I see your point and that is a valid basis for your opinion but I have to side with Sonny in this argument, as it would make much more sense to be the guy taking the big purse, the title, and then have a shot at Seldon. He was setting himself up for big fights had he beat Tyson and even more money.

And with the power of hindsight we know that Lennox never took any big fights during the 90's after being jacked by McCall, then went on later to get whacked by Hasim Rahman, and then went 12 rounds with an obese not all that talented short David Tua.

When you look at it using hindsight it really wasn't a good move financially or legacy wise.

That is why I feel Lennox was a coward and a phony champion.

When we think of the great champions of heavyweight past, we think of guys like Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, Mike Tyson etc... And they all have one thing in common - they cleared out their division while never leaving any reason whatsoever for anybody to believe that they weren't the best in the world, as Lennox Lewis did many times by not fighting the best fighters of the time.

Well I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this particular subject. Im pretty sure Im not going to change either your mind or Sonny's, and I know you aren't going to change mine so going round and round is pointless. You guys are good posters whether we happen to agree or not. Peace, my friend.

[JAB5239]

I personally wish MORE fighters had refused to fight Ruiz.....then we would have been spared having to watch his snooze inducing hugfests on the tube.

Poet

Maybe I like Ruiz because so many hated him. But the kid had heart and fought some good fighters. I wish he had that go for it mentality earlier in his career that he showed in the Haye fight, he would be viewed differently if he had. Classy guy though, I hope retirement treats him well.

[CarlosG815]

I personally wish MORE fighters had refused to fight Ruiz.....then we would have been spared having to watch his snooze inducing hugfests on the tube.

Poet

Him being a champion is a testament to how bad that division was.

[StarshipTrooper]

Him being a champion is a testament to how bad that division was.

Or rather how far being Don King's boy will take you.

Poet