Did Lennox Lewis avoid fellow world champions Ruiz and Byrd

[soul_survivor]

Well he only had one more fight after Tyson, so that's hard to estimate.

It's not hard to estimate at all. Lewis took a full year off and came in and got tired by the 4th round.

[Anthony342]

One more time...he did not avoid Ruiz (there is a case with Byrd). He declared he would fight the WBA mando AFTER Grant and the WBA was okay with that. King/Ruiz sued anyways. They ducked Lewis. Not the other way around. King wanted control of a belt. That's all it was.

Why is there a case with Byrd? Did Lennox see him as a threat to his title?

[crold1]

Why is there a case with Byrd? Did Lennox see him as a threat to his title?

Byrd was the mandatory. Lewis opted to vacate rather than fight him (allegedly with DK paying him extra to insure it). There's the case. I don't think there was any super concern. Just didn't care about Byrd and Steward didn't like the chance for the fight to be ugly. It's not huge. He ended up with his WBC mando, but that slot was initially Kirk Johnson's (and uugh...thanks to that not happening).