Was Lennox Lewis a great champion ?

[MickyHatton]

It never ceases to amaze me how on this site which is supposed to be about the followers of the sport of boxing discussing boxing that it could be debated that Lewis was or was not a great heavyweight?

He is easily a top ten heavyweight of all time and in my opinion sits around number 5.

Lets look at his record first, 41 wins (32 ko's) 2 Losses(both avenged) and 1 dubious draw, of these 19 were for World Titles of which 9 were for the undisputed championship!

In those fights he beat Holyfield, Tyson, Klitschko, Bruno, McCall, Mercer, Briggs, Golota, Morrison, Tucker, Grant, Tua, Rahman, Akinwande and Ruddock to name the probable best he fought! The only name not there to cement total domination is Bowe but he chose not to fight Lewis!

Put that against other 'great' champions records:

Rocky Marciano : Won 49 (43 Ko's) Losses 0, however he only fought for the world title 7 times (Although it was for the undisputed championship) of which he fought Walcott and Charles twice! But he is obviously a great heavyweight!

Joe Frazier : Won 32 (27 Ko's) Losses 4 and 1 draw, 7 (real) world title fights!

Sonny Liston : Won 50 (39 ko's) Losses 4, he fought for the world title 4 times(undisputed) but obviously met Ali!

Larry Holmes : Won 69 (44 Ko's) Losses 6, he fought for a world title 25 times but only twice for the undisputed championship!

Tunney : Just 3 undisputed World title fights.

Charles : 9 title fights.

Tyson : 16 World title fights 9 undisputed.

Holyfield : 17 World title fights 6 undisputed. 6 more at Cruiserweight.

Dempsey : 8 World title fights undisputed.

My point here is that Lewis's record stands up with almost any heavyweight ever with exception to perhaps Ali, Louis and maybe even Foreman due to the longevity of his career.

I am not detracting from the careers of these great fighters only pointing out that Lewis has to be regarded as one of them!

Many will argue that it was harder to win a title in the days of Louis and Dempsey and I agree however Lennox Lewis fought many good fighters and a few great ones along the way therefore he has to be regarded a one of the greats!

For me

Ali
Louis
Foreman
Dempsey
Lewis

[hollister]

Yeah one of those fights is the one where he puts Michael Grant in a headlock and purposely hits him, getting the KO. That's the kind of **** that a champion isn't supposed to do, he had that fight won and he cheated anyway just because Grant kept getting up. He was a great fighter no doubt, but things like that eat at me about him. That's why I say he was a better fighter than he was a champ.

[Bogler]

It never ceases to amaze me how on this site which is supposed to be about the followers of the sport of boxing discussing boxing that it could be debated that Lewis was or was not a great heavyweight?

He is easily a top ten heavyweight of all time and in my opinion sits around number 5.

Lets look at his record first, 41 wins (32 ko's) 2 Losses(both avenged) and 1 dubious draw, of these 19 were for World Titles of which 9 were for the undisputed championship!

In those fights he beat Holyfield, Tyson, Klitschko, Bruno, McCall, Mercer, Briggs, Golota, Morrison, Tucker, Grant, Tua, Rahman, Akinwande and Ruddock to name the probable best he fought! The only name not there to cement total domination is Bowe but he chose not to fight Lewis!

Put that against other 'great' champions records:

Rocky Marciano : Won 49 (43 Ko's) Losses 0, however he only fought for the world title 7 times (Although it was for the undisputed championship) of which he fought Walcott and Charles twice! But he is obviously a great heavyweight!

Joe Frazier : Won 32 (27 Ko's) Losses 4 and 1 draw, 7 (real) world title fights!

Sonny Liston : Won 50 (39 ko's) Losses 4, he fought for the world title 4 times(undisputed) but obviously met Ali!

Larry Holmes : Won 69 (44 Ko's) Losses 6, he fought for a world title 25 times but only twice for the undisputed championship!

Tunney : Just 3 undisputed World title fights.

Charles : 9 title fights.

Tyson : 16 World title fights 9 undisputed.

Holyfield : 17 World title fights 6 undisputed. 6 more at Cruiserweight.

Dempsey : 8 World title fights undisputed.

My point here is that Lewis's record stands up with almost any heavyweight ever with exception to perhaps Ali, Louis and maybe even Foreman due to the longevity of his career.

I am not detracting from the careers of these great fighters only pointing out that Lewis has to be regarded as one of them!

Many will argue that it was harder to win a title in the days of Louis and Dempsey and I agree however Lennox Lewis fought many good fighters and a few great ones along the way therefore he has to be regarded a one of the greats!

For me

Ali
Louis
Foreman
Dempsey
Lewis

It's not just about boxing records, coz if it is, it'll be easy, just run these thru a computer and let it do the work. there are a lot of strong intangible arguments that boxing experts can put up to push other heavies ahead of him in the top 10 easily. but i agree though that he is one of the great champs.

[ejk22]

This is the type of **** I hated about Lewis. He cheated alot in his fights however no one was willing to point it out. He held and hit his opponents all the time but knew how to get away with it. Just look at this following video footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IddW8E4jYqU

[AlexMc2]

This is the type of **** I hated about Lewis. He cheated alot in his fights however no one was willing to point it out. He held and hit his opponents all the time but knew how to get away with it. Just look at this following video footage.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IddW8E4jYqU

I think that grabbing is really common practice in boxing, it just raises eyebrows when the fighter that won did it. Im sure you wouldn't have notice it if Grant had won. It could be worse, I mean some fighters bite peoples ear off and are regarded by some THE GREATEST EVER!!!

[shellroc513]

Hey raymaond 123 Jones was not boring hence all the ppv buys idiot, Hopkins I can give u, and Sweet pea have a grace in his style LL could never of had. U think people want to watch the hwc to learn the science or to see him knock ppl out. u be thew judge. Secondly I started the poll because someone suggested it if u readd the first entry, I was curious about the results. U don't have to jump on my sh t when, u have to facts. Sweet pea boring, ur on crack

[hollister]

I think that grabbing is really common practice in boxing, it just raises eyebrows when the fighter that won did it. Im sure you wouldn't have notice it if Grant had won. It could be worse, I mean some fighters bite peoples ear off and are regarded by some THE GREATEST EVER!!!

Yeah you're right, there are worse than Lennox, and I would have noticed it but I would have been saying "that's right *****, grab him again" lol
To me it just adds insult to injury when a fighter has another fighter essentially out on his feet and then does something like that. Tyson fans are some of the worst though because they'll pretty much excuse anything he does or ignore it in order to preach about his so-called greatness lol

[MickyHatton]

It's not just about boxing records, coz if it is, it'll be easy, just run these thru a computer and let it do the work. there are a lot of strong intangible arguments that boxing experts can put up to push other heavies ahead of him in the top 10 easily. but i agree though that he is one of the great champs.

You missed the point my friend, I named Lewis's 'best' opponents and record patched that against his lengthy reign as champion/undisputed champ.

My point being that if he fought through 19 world title fights against some very good opponents then this alone should mark him as one of the greats, then look at the likes of Marciano who was indeed a great yet in reality his record looks no better to me than Lewis's, in some respects it looks worse (in some it looks better i.e. no losses)

I am convinced that if Lewis was American or if he was a brighter personality he would then get the credit he so obviously deserves!
To me however I would rather Lewis be judged on his boxing ability!

[AlexMc2]

Yeah you're right, there are worse than Lennox, and I would have noticed it but I would have been saying "that's right *****, grab him again" lol
To me it just adds insult to injury when a fighter has another fighter essentially out on his feet and then does something like that. Tyson fans are some of the worst though because they'll pretty much excuse anything he does or ignore it in order to preach about his so-called greatness lol

lol... I agree with you about knocking a man when he is down and i add to the comment that many other factors are important to take into account when talking about the greatest ever. Example Ali once fought a british boxer named Henry Cooper in 1963. Cooper knocked Ali down on the forth round but the bell rang before he could finish him off also when the fight was due to start again they had to get a new glove for Ali giving him time to recover. Maybe the story would have been different for both Ali ( Im not saying he wasn't the greatest) and Cooper who never manage to make it big and was a good fighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cooper_(boxer)... this is a good link to read if you wanna comfirm my comment!!

[The Noose]

lol... I agree with you about knocking a man when he is down and i add to the comment that many other factors are important to take into account when talking about the greatest ever. Example Ali once fought a british boxer named Henry Cooper in 1963. Cooper knocked Ali down on the forth round but the bell rang before he could finish him off also when the fight was due to start again they had to get a new glove for Ali giving him time to recover. Maybe the story would have been different for both Ali ( Im not saying he wasn't the greatest) and Cooper who never manage to make it big and was a good fighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cooper_(boxer)... this is a good link to read if you wanna comfirm my comment!!

If Ali lost to Cooper, it wouldnt have made any difference. He would of still fought for the title, maybe a little later than he did, but apart from that nothing else would of changed.