Comments Thread For: Lennox Lewis Is 'Delighted' That His 25-Year Reign Is About To End

[wrecksracer]

No he didn’t. He wasn’t knocked out cold by either McCall or Rahman. Don’t exaggerate it. He failed to beat the count against Rahman but was getting up and he was stopped on his feet against McCall. I hate the way this is held up as some sort of justification for him being downgraded. Similarly it’s hardly demonstrative of a suspect chin. Have you watched any of Lewis’s fights? did you see how many’s times Klitschko, Briggs etc landed flush on Lewis and all he did was smile back. Lewis had one of the most solid chins in the division so yeah absolutely it can completely be overlooked so I totally disagree with you in that point.

Aside from Marciano he’s the only heavyweight champion to have beaten every man he ever faced. Moreover with Rahman it was the manner in which he beat him in the return which was probably the best knockout of Lewis’s career and an absolutely beautifully set up peach of a punch which did indeed render Rahman cold.

regardless, McCall and Rahman were average competition and Lewis was in his prime. If he didn't train right, that was his fault. If he lost concentration, that was his fault. The fact is, it happened more than once. It is absolutely his own fault that he can never be considered the greatest.

[Willow The Wisp]

I like Lennox Lewis, but the fact that he got knocked out cold twice by average competition can't be overlooked. Yes, he avenged them, but it doesn't erase them.

Lewis on the other hand beat every single person he ever faced and bar the Klitschko fight where let’s face it he was purely after a payday before retirement, beat them all convincingly, most by knockout and the only dodgy decision was against Holyfield which everyone knows he won.

Both of these posts are very true. Unassailable, I'd say.

So there are some complexities in assigning greatness.

[Willow The Wisp]

Lewis was a very good HW Champion, but it might be a reach to call him a great. He retired because he didn't want to fight the Vitali again .

Its silly to fault him for that! He stopped Klitschko and moved on. A rematch at Lewis' age would have been poor management. Vitali was a member of the NEXT era, not Lewis's. Vitali featured prominently in his OWN era, by picking up the few that his more active, more accomplished brother missed, and playing 2nd fiddle.

[mjh1969]

Lewis was a very good HW Champion, but it might be a reach to call him a great. He retired because he didn't want to fight the Vitali again .

Lewis was 38 years old when he fought Vitali and had nothing left to prove. Plus he was catching Vitali later on in the fight with tremendous shots. Lewis wasn't ****** enough to sit around and possibly have another tough fight. He is an all-time great. He certainly is ahead of Tyson. Lewis is a top 10 all-time great heavyweight champion. Tyson at best is a top 20.

[Oregonian]

From an overrated boxer to a terrible commentator.

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Dude!! Is there any boxer you don’t criticize?

And yes, Lewis is the worst commentator in history!

[Oregonian]

Lewis and his generation were light years ahead of the current crop bar Usyk in terms of skills.

I don’t think Fury would see the 4th against Lewis. Fury’s best wins were against an unproven Wilder who had beaten literally nobody aside from and aging Ortiz. Let’s see how well Wilder does against Zhang - my guess is he’ll lose via a heavier, earlier one than Fury delivered.

Fury was put on this pedestal after beating wilder that I was never even remotely convinced by as I never rated Wilder in the first place.

Lewis on the other hand beat every single person he ever faced and bar the Klitschko fight where let’s face it he was purely after a payday before retirement, beat them all convincingly, most by knockout and the only dodgy decision was against Holyfield which everyone knows he won.

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Another way to look at it is, Fury would NEVER lose to bums like Hasim and McCall.

As for Lewis “beating evening single fighter he has ever faced”, didn’t two of those guys KO him?
That statement is just a way to try to hide or downplay how Lewis got KTFO.

Calzaghe and Floyd beat every single fighter they faced. That is a true statement.

[M111]

Rahman wasn't knocked out cold either, he was getting up but falling back down. But yes, Lewis' chin is underrated, the KO shots he took would've KO' anyone and were a result of defensive lapses vs. a bad chin. The time you mentioned when Briggs smashed Lewis with a combo, and The Pugilist Specialist gives him that wry grin, and bashes him to the canvas was the moment I became a Lennox fan, b/c I did not like him prior, b/c of his style, and b/c I'm a rabid Real Deal Fan. I think that aside from those big KO shots from McCall and Rahman, the reason people think Lennox had a bad chin is b/c he was an enormous man who people couldn't fathom not having a proportionate chin quality, as he did seem to get on shaky legs a few times vs. smaller fighters like Holyfield, and b/c he played it safe vs. guys like Tua where he used his height/reach to perfection.

Who doesn’t get wobbled from time to to time though. Holyfield hit hard enough to knock Tyson out and we won’t even mention Tua’s utter destruction of Ruiz.