Did Lennox Lewis avoid fellow world champions Ruiz and Byrd

[Earl-Hickey]

I dont know if duck is the right word, I don't think he had interest in fighting either of them. Obviously in retrospect it's easy to look back and say he'd have beaten them both. I remember back in the day some people saying he was ducking Roy Jones (seriously).

The Ruiz fight, I can only see one outcome in that fight, a 6'2" 230lb guy who doesn't have much power or good defence, and likes to hold and maul opponents, against a 6'5" 250lb with a monster punch who is a beast on the inside.... i mean come on ruiz is tough but he's getting sparked 99/100.

The moorer fight is interesting, but Lewis surely catches him with a cuffing slap at some point and cracks his abysmal chin.

[LacedUp]

I dont know if duck is the right word, I don't think he had interest in fighting either of them. Obviously in retrospect it's easy to look back and say he'd have beaten them both. I remember back in the day some people saying he was ducking Roy Jones (seriously).

The Ruiz fight, I can only see one outcome in that fight, a 6'2" 230lb guy who doesn't have much power or good defence, and likes to hold and maul opponents, against a 6'5" 250lb with a monster punch who is a beast on the inside.... i mean come on ruiz is tough but he's getting sparked 99/100.

The moorer fight is interesting, but Lewis surely catches him with a cuffing slap at some point and cracks his abysmal chin.

I'm pretty sure HBO declined the Ruiz fight which is why he let go of the WBA belt at the time.

The thought of Lewis ducking any of those turds is laughable and obviously wasn't the case. With regards to RJJ - there was never a chance of him stepping in with Lewis. That was just a smoke screen.

[billeau2]

I'm pretty sure HBO declined the Ruiz fight which is why he let go of the WBA belt at the time.

The thought of Lewis ducking any of those turds is laughable and obviously wasn't the case. With regards to RJJ - there was never a chance of him stepping in with Lewis. That was just a smoke screen.

Can you imagine being an executive and getting a minds eye on a Ruiz Lewis fight? It would be a hugfest with Lewis occasionally rocking Ruiz while Ruiz was coming in for some luv. It would be one of the worse fights ever for Lewis who fought safely and often depended on the opponent opening up.

Ruiz was like Joe Frazier if you took away the footwork, the angles, the footspeed, the relentless pursuite, the punching power of Frazier!
In other words, Jawney like frazier had a decent chin meaning that Lewis would not put him to sleep...just the audience forced to watch this one.

[BKM-2010]

Lewis fought everybody that was worthwhile at the moment. Some fights simply did not interest him, like remember when there were some talks about setting up a Lewis vs George Foreman fight? Sure it would have been a big PPV but it would just be cruel and pointless and Lewis made that pretty clear in an interview.

I agree with an earlier poster who made it clear that the timing for a Ruiz or Byrd fight was never right. Now if Lewis had fought on for another 2-3 years it likely would have happened but again, Lewis would have his hands full with not one but probably two Klitschko trilogies.

[LacedUp]

Can you imagine being an executive and getting a minds eye on a Ruiz Lewis fight? It would be a hugfest with Lewis occasionally rocking Ruiz while Ruiz was coming in for some luv. It would be one of the worse fights ever for Lewis who fought safely and often depended on the opponent opening up.

Ruiz was like Joe Frazier if you took away the footwork, the angles, the footspeed, the relentless pursuite, the punching power of Frazier!
In other words, Jawney like frazier had a decent chin meaning that Lewis would not put him to sleep...just the audience forced to watch this one.

Ruiz had a good chin, but not good enough to withstand a Lewis onslaught, that's for sure.

I think a Lewis-Ruiz fight would be worse than the Tua-Lewis fight, and that was a pretty bad one-sided affair.

[BKM-2010]

Thinking about it, these would have been the safest fights possible for Lewis if you look at the ratio of risk and reward. Neither fighters presented any danger, Lewis is a nightmare style matchup for Ruiz, it's only Byrd's awkwardness that could cause Lewis some problems but again, zero punching power and a massive size difference. Don King was definitely behind all of this.

[TBear]

Keep in mind that Lewis did not surrender his WBA belt because of anything to do with Ruiz. Ruiz was not the guy the WBA wanted to fight for the title. Don King had a bit to do with the title being stripped and his intention was to have Holyfield fight for that vacant title. Lewis had just beat Holyfield but Holyfield was going to fight for the vacant WBA title in a fight to be promoted by Don King, Ruiz was just brought in as an opponent and was not expected to beat Holyfield who was King's new star now that Tyson was gone.

[crold1]

Keep in mind that Lewis did not surrender his WBA belt because of anything to do with Ruiz. Ruiz was not the guy the WBA wanted to fight for the title. Don King had a bit to do with the title being stripped and his intention was to have Holyfield fight for that vacant title. Lewis had just beat Holyfield but Holyfield was going to fight for the vacant WBA title in a fight to be promoted by Don King, Ruiz was just brought in as an opponent and was not expected to beat Holyfield who was King's new star now that Tyson was gone.

This. Ruiz wasn't the original mando. Akinwande was. Lewis appealed to the WBA and said he wanted to keep the belt but since Grant was signed. WBA agreed. Ruiz could have had the Botha spot. King wanted to keep a belt. Took to court and won after WBA appeal. No one thought Ruiz could sniff Lewis. THEY ducked Lewis. Not the other way around. Period.

[El Jesus]

not to be a ******* here but does anybody and i mean ANYBODY really wanna see these fights? the thought of these guys in the ring together makes for an ugly affair ESPECIALLY byrd

[BKM-2010]

^I'm just glad these guys are no longer title holders. The mid 00s post Lewis/Vitali were so bad it makes me appriciate Wladimir a lot now.