Name me heavyweights who dominated their era the same as/more than Lennox Lewis.

[Joeyzagz]

What you're actually saying is that the group of champions mentioned were nervous (or afraid) to fight returns. That's ridiculous. There was no point in Klitschko fighting Purrity again, Purrity was a fringe journeyman, with many losses, and Klitschko won every round except the 11th.

....

Oliver Mccall was a journeyman as well. It doesnt matter who the guy is, if he beats you there will always be fear and doubt in your mind. Foreman had all the physical tools to defeat Ali, but he was emotionally scarred and embarrassed by that loss, so never sought redemption.

Thats what separates Lewis from all the other Heavyweight champions. He defeated everyone he ever faced, including the dominant guy of the next era. You cant get much better than that.

[General Zod]

Oliver Mccall was a journeyman as well. It doesnt matter who the guy is, if he beats you there will always be fear and doubt in your mind. Foreman had all the physical tools to defeat Ali, but he was emotionally scarred and embarrassed by that loss, so never sought redemption.

Foreman did want to fight Ali again, im sure theres some articles floating around about it

[-Lowkey-]

As for the "sparring together" there are "57" different stories about that. You might get the truth from Tyson-if he recalls it, because he's a naturally truthful fellow, but you won't from Lewis, unless he beat Tyson up...which I doubt. 0

As for Tyson not wanting to fight Lewis, at that stage in his life, boozed, drugged and worn out from all forms of excess, and battles with the authorities, Tyson was already well finished as "Iron Mike". Lewis forced him into that fight, knowing he had ALL the advantages, yet he was so careful that it took him 8 rounds to KO the empty Tyson shell.

Phooey.......

tyson = over hyped

Lewis= best hw of our era hands down

tyson never wanted to face lewis in his prime

[bklynboy]

The hardest thing to do in Boxing is to face the guy who defeated you!
Foreman never rematched Ali

Wlad never rematched Ross Puritty

Vitali never rematched Chris Byrd

And Tyson never rematched Buster Douglas!

Lennox is above all of the previous names mentioned because he was not afraid to get in the ring with the man who dethroned him. That takes a lot of guts. Guts Tyson doesnt have.

We know, in retrospect, that Tyson was a weak-willed man. But facing the man who beat you before has been done MANY times before:

Dempsey-Tuney II
Louis-Schmelling II
Walcott-Marciano II
Patterson-Johansson II
Ali-Liston II
Ali-Frazier II and III

not to mention tons of others

[-Lowkey-]

How Good Was/Is Mike Tyson?

By Frank Scoblete
30 January 2000

Now that Mike Tyson's career is almost over, it might be of interest to take a cold hard look at just how good he was at his best to get some idea of where he stands in the rankings of the great heavyweight champions.

It is not a stretch to say that much of the fearsome Tyson persona of a decade or more ago was media hype and was little related to what he actually accomplished in the ring or against whom he accomplished it.

We can make a case that Tyson fought "never-wases" and "nothing-lefters" in his early career culminating with his knockout over an intimidated former light-heavyweight champion Michael Spinks, whose only real claim to fame was "winning" two controversial decisions against an aging and distracted Larry Holmes.

Other than the light-hitting, terrified Spinks and the out-of-shape, intimidated, comebacking, former great Larry Holmes, who did Tyson actually fight in his pre-prison days who was truly any good in absolute terms? If we measure competition based on who Ali faced, then who of all Tyson's pre-prison opponents was as good as Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Ernie Shavers, Joe Bugner, Mac Foster, Floyd Patterson, Zora Foley, Cleveland Williams, Jimmy Ellis, Bob Foster or Ernie Terrell, not to mention the awesome likes of all-time greats Sonny Liston, George Foreman or Smokin' Joe Frazier? Would you classify Bonecrusher Smith, Tony Tucker, Trevor Berbick or Frank Bruno with any those other fighters? Only if you never saw them fight!

The only real fight the pre-prison Tyson ever had was against the only decent heavyweight fighter he fought, a determined, well-conditioned Buster Douglas -- and Tyson was roundly beaten, battered and knocked out! That was Tyson in his prime, against a fighter who went on to "extinguish" himself by being knocked out in three rounds by Evander Holyfield.

If the pre-prison Tyson's boxing worth must be looked at with some skepticism, then the post-prison Tyson must be looked upon with scorn. Often in boxing, the true greatness of a fighter is not actually known when he is in his prime as he defeats opponent after opponent rather convincingly. It is only after he ages, slows down, and gets himself into wars are we aware of just how good the fighter is -- and was!

Certainly that was true of Ali. Before he made his comeback from an almost four-year forced layoff, there were all sorts of questions about his ability. Could he take a punch? Had he been beating up washed-up fighters? Did he have courage? Would he dog it if he were ever in a real fight? The layoff slowed Ali down, made him more vulnerable. What's more, great fighters appeared in that time, fighters better than any he had previously fought!

So a somewhat diminished Ali met each and every challenger -- starting with a comeback fight against highly ranked Jerry Quarry and then a second fight against vicious number-one contender Oscar Bonavena. His first career loss to Joe Frazier in his third comeback fight proved he could take a punch and that he had mountains of courage. That fight was the first of several "wars" Ali would fight in this second part of his career.

His next loss was to Ken Norton. Fighting 11 rounds with a broken jaw, Ali merely proved again that he was as courageous as any fighter who ever lived. His great victories against these very same fighters and his upset win over the god-like Foreman, showed what a great fighter he was -- and how much greater he had been before his layoff!

Not so with Tyson. His "layoff" was heralded with a return to the ring against a rank amateur, Peter McNeeley, whom Tyson "destroyed" with a wild flurry in round one. This same McNeeley was later knocked out by the bloated Butterbean in one round and has since lost just about every real fight he's had! And what of Buster Mathis, Jr., Bruce "I was knocked out by a gust of air" Seldon, Francois Botha, or Julian Francis? Are they credible opponents? Only if elephants can fly.

The only real fight the post-prison Tyson had of any significance was against Evander Holyfield, who was selected because he appeared to be a shot fighter, having lost two out of three to the disappointing Rid**** Bowe. Had Tyson known that Holyfield was not a shot fighter, but actually the only great heavyweight of the 1990s, I'm sure he would have selected a different fighter to beat, perhaps a third go-round with the overrated Razor Ruddock who proved himself a worthy Tyson contender by being knocked out in one round by the otherwise cautious Lennox Lewis.

So here we have a very simple yardstick for measuring the greatness of Mike Tyson. He fought two hard fights, one pre-prison and one post-prison -- both of which he lost (subsequently, he ate his way to a third loss and fouled himself into a no-decision). The rest of his victories, pre-prison and post-prison, were over fighters who couldn't make the "C" list during Ali's tenure. So where does that put him on the list of all-time greats?

It doesn't. He doesn't belong. He's not even in the top 20!

If you think of the very few good heavyweight fighters who have plied their trade in the late 1980s and 1990s, it is a short list: Evander Holyfield, George Foreman (oh, yes, the Big George who fought Holyfield would have rocked Iron Mike just as he did Smokin' Joe), Rid**** Bowe, and maybe Lennox Lewis and Michael Moorer. Tyson only fought one of them, and lost. The others he avoided.

I do not, as some writers do, lament the fact that Mike Tyson never lived up to his potential. In fact, I believe he did live up to it, fully, completely. His potential just wasn't all that great and that's what he became -- not all that great.

[bklynboy]

Doesn't really count, seeing as the majority of Louis's opponents would have been little more than small cruiserweights in Lewis's era.

The question was " Name me heavyweights who dominated their era the same as/more than Lennox Lewis. "

Joe Louis was a Heavyweight.

Jack Johnson,
Joe Louis,
Muhammad Ali,
Larry Holmes

[-Rab]

Lennox is the GOAT.

[hitmanhatton]

lennox lewis what a champion

[bklynboy]

The only real fight the pre-prison Tyson ever had was against the only decent heavyweight fighter he fought, a determined, well-conditioned Buster Douglas -- and Tyson was roundly beaten, battered and knocked out! That was Tyson in his prime, against a fighter who went on to "extinguish" himself by being knocked out in three rounds by Evander Holyfield.

That was Tyson past his prime, mental prime that is. By the Frank Bruno fight Tyson had abandoned his jab; his bob and weave was gone. By this point he believed the hype and was a shadow of what he had been.

At this point, when he was no longer a "boxer" but a brawler he would have been beaten by ALL top quality heavyweights from any era.

[Gojira]

lewis and johnson were probably the most dominant champions of there eras