Comments Thread For: Lennox Lewis Praises Fury To Stepping Up To Face Deontay Wilder

[markther]

And your point is what???? Lewis knocks out (2) fighters he “should have” knocked out the first time. But instead he got knocked out. Watch-LOL!!

[Combat Talk Radio]

And your point is what????

Point is, unlike fighters like Manny, Kovalev and Hamed, Lewis avenged EVERY loss. That's the mark of a champion - don't lose, and if you do, avenge.

[markther]

Point is, unlike fighters like Manny, Kovalev and Hamed, Lewis avenged EVERY loss. That's the mark of a champion - don't lose, and if you do, avenge.

Ummm...as much as I don’t like Kovalev, he shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as Lennox. Lennox is a much better fighter historically. And there is a huge difference that you are missing.

Manny lost to Eric Morales (future HOF’er) and beat him twice afterwards. And just about everyone thought Manny beat Horn and Timothy Bradley the first time he fought him. And he came back to beat Bradley twice. He practically begged for a rematch with Marquez after the 3rd fight and Mayweather after their fight. But Manny never got knocked out by a few bums in the “prime” of his career when he was P4P like Lennox did. Big difference.

And Sergey has (3) losses “officially” on his record; (2) against future HOF’er Ward. And (1) lost against Alvarez who is a pretty good damn fighter. That’s not the same as being knocked out by 2 bums in his prime like Lennox was. But I believe Lennox is a much better fighter than Kovalev. I just mentioned his career because you brought him into the conversation.

And I why you even mention Hamed. He was a f@cking clown in the ring. He best win was against Kevin Kelley before getting exposed by Marco Antonio Barrera and then retiring a year later like the joke he was. Please!

Without going into a bunch of fighters in lower weight divisions, there are some great heavyweights who lost to other great HOF heavyweights fighters and then avenged those losses that your missing.

Holyfield avenged initial loss to Riddick Bowe, a HOF’er

Ali avenged initial loss to Ken Norton & Joe Frazier, both HOF’ers.

Joe Louis avenged initial loss to HOF’er Max Schmeling.

All of this fighters lost to HOF’ers and avenged those losses. None of them got knocked out by a few bums in their prime.

And I would venture to say that any great fighter that loses to bums can avenge those losses. Your giving Lennox to much credit for what he should have done or got done in the first place.

[davefromvancouv]

The version of Tyson that fought Holyfield wasn’t the version of Tyson that was BEFORE the Buster Douglas fight that I already stated in my previous post. I’m curious how Lewis would have dealt with that one. And that version of Tyson fought all cummers in the division also. And the version of Tyson that fought both Holyfield and Lewis was AFTER he was released on his alleged rape conviction also. And if Tyson was really trying to avoid Lewis he wouldn’t have even fought him at all. Holyfield was a fight that was scheduled BEFORE he was convicted of rape that did not happen until AFTER a few fights after his release from prison. And that fight was a much better and bigger and more lucrative fight than Lewis. I would have taken that fight too. The “prime” Tyson before prison & Buster Douglas would have KO’ed Lewis.

Agreed. The version of Mike Tyson that existed before the Buster Douglas fight would have forced Lewis to take it to another level. But Lewis turned pro in 1989. The Buster Douglas fight was in 1990 so you can't blame Lewis for not fighting Tyson before he lost to Buster Douglas. The only version of Tyson available to Lewis was after Tyson was released from prison in 1995...

And Tyson was kept from Lewis to fight Holyfield...

[markther]

Agreed. The version of Mike Tyson that existed before the Buster Douglas fight would have forced Lewis to take it to another level. But Lewis turned pro in 1989. The Buster Douglas fight was in 1990 so you can't blame Lewis for not fighting Tyson before he lost to Buster Douglas. The only version of Tyson available to Lewis was after Tyson was released from prison in 1995...

And Tyson was kept from Lewis to fight Holyfield...

He was kept from Lewis because the Holyfield fight was way more lucrative and marketable. YOU would have fought Holyfield instead of Lewis too. It was way more money in the Holyfield fight for Tyson.

But Tyson was an undisciplined fighter when he fought Holyfield. He had horrible trainers. Tyson screwed up his own career and he admits that. His heart left boxing BEFORE he traveled to fight Buster Douglas and it finally caught up to him. His career was never the same after that fight. He could beat some HW’s but he really got exposed by Lewis & Holyfield. He became very arrogant before the Douglas fight. That wasn’t the prime Tyson that destroyed Spinks in 1 round. The same Spinks that beat Larry Holmes twice. But Tyson stopped listening to Kevin Rooney even before the Spinks fight and eventually fired him. His career took a hit when his promoter died and then he got that crook Don King and a bunch of clowns training him.

Had Lewis been around in Tyson’s prime and faced that version; he gets knocked out. Because the same shot that McCall and Rahman caught Lewis with; a young fearless Tyson would have caught Lewis too and early with either hand.

[davefromvancouv]

He was kept from Lewis because the Holyfield fight was way more lucrative and marketable. YOU would have fought Holyfield instead of Lewis too. It was way more money in the Holyfield fight for Tyson.

But Tyson was an undisciplined fighter when he fought Holyfield. He had horrible trainers. Tyson screwed up his own career and he admits that. His heart left boxing BEFORE he traveled to fight Buster Douglas and it finally caught up to him. His career was never the same after that fight. He could beat some HW’s but he really got exposed by Lewis & Holyfield. He became very arrogant before the Douglas fight. That wasn’t the prime Tyson that destroyed Spinks in 1 round. The same Spinks that beat Larry Holmes twice. But Tyson stopped listening to Kevin Rooney even before the Spinks fight and eventually fired him. His career took a hit when his promoter died and then he got that crook Don King and a bunch of clowns training him.

Had Lewis been around in Tyson’s prime and faced that version; he gets knocked out. Because the same shot that McCall and Rahman caught Lewis with; a young fearless Tyson would have caught Lewis too and early with either hand.

Holyfield was also chosen because he looked shot against Bowe and Bobby Czyz. So with Tyson's lack of discipline during his comeback bid, it was felt that Holyfield was the safer fight. And, like you said, the more lucrative fight...

But even IF Lewis was around in Tyson's prime, nobody KNOWS what would have happened. You think Lewis gets knocked out, but I contend that he would have been forced to up his game. I believe a motivated Lewis was a totally different fighter and the only reason why he lost to McCall and Rahman was lack of motivation. I believe... The bottom line is you only KNOW when they actually get in the ring.

That's why Fury-Wilder is so important from a historical perspective. Fury is a lot like Lewis in that he ups his game based on his opponents. We are about to find out if he can work his magic for 12 rounds against Wilder, maybe even be fast enough to catch him and hurt him. But Wilder is very quick and very unconventional, the hardest type of fighter to prepare for. Who's faster? Who has the better reflexes? Who is able to adapt quicker or deal with adversity better? We'll find out soon enough. And hopefully the loser gets a rematch if it's a competitive fight. Or even if it's a quick knockout...

Joshua fans are preventing us from knowing how good Joshua is because they support his decision not to fight Wilder next. He "appears" to be good enough to beat the best but we won't know until he actually fights Fury or finally decides to fight the only champion that existed while he was picking up the belts stripped from Fury.

[Prince Madison]

Why would Joshua regret it? He doesn't need wilder at all.

[markther]

Holyfield was also chosen because he looked shot against Bowe and Bobby Czyz. So with Tyson's lack of discipline during his comeback bid, it was felt that Holyfield was the safer fight. And, like you said, the more lucrative fight...

But even IF Lewis was around in Tyson's prime, nobody KNOWS what would have happened. You think Lewis gets knocked out, but I contend that he would have been forced to up his game. I believe a motivated Lewis was a totally different fighter and the only reason why he lost to McCall and Rahman was lack of motivation. I believe... The bottom line is you only KNOW when they actually get in the ring.

That's why Fury-Wilder is so important from a historical perspective. Fury is a lot like Lewis in that he ups his game based on his opponents. We are about to find out if he can work his magic for 12 rounds against Wilder, maybe even be fast enough to catch him and hurt him. But Wilder is very quick and very unconventional, the hardest type of fighter to prepare for. Who's faster? Who has the better reflexes? Who is able to adapt quicker or deal with adversity better? We'll find out soon enough. And hopefully the loser gets a rematch if it's a competitive fight. Or even if it's a quick knockout...

Joshua fans are preventing us from knowing how good Joshua is because they support his decision not to fight Wilder next. He "appears" to be good enough to beat the best but we won't know until he actually fights Fury or finally decides to fight the only champion that existed while he was picking up the belts stripped from Fury.

True & I can agree with what you said. Very good accessment of everything.