Originally posted by Barnburner
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Is Lennox Lewis the Greatest Heavyweight Boxer of All Time?
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Originally posted by 4Corners View PostNo. Resume wise, there's more than a few in front of him.
Skill wise and H2H, he's in my Top 5 for sure. But a prime Ali was not only the greatest Heavyweight ever to me, but one of the greatest fighters ever. He had too much of everything.
But I do think H2H and prime for prime, here's my Top 5.
Ali
Holyfield
Holmes
Lewis
Foreman
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Originally posted by 4Corners View PostLewis, to me, came along at a really good time.
It was when Tyson and Holyfield were getting older, and before Wlad and Vitali really came along to be great fighters.
Lewis' could have had the huge huge legacy fight against Riddick Bowe, but it's not Lennox's fault that Bowe straight up refused to fight him. Robbed us of what would have been the biggest HW fight since Ali-Frazier III/Ali-Foreman.
But his career in terms of when he came along was similar to Marciano's to me. In the sense that Marciano came along when Walcott, Charles, and Louis were getting older, and before Patterson and Liston came along to become threats at HW. Still a great fighter and his wins over Walcott and Charles were still good wins considering they were top fighters, but they weren't at their best.
Same with Lewis. His win over Holyfield was a great win, but Holyfield wasn't quite at his best I'd say. He was past his prime-still good though. But the one Lewis gets no credit from me is the Tyson fight. Tyson hadn't won a meaningful fight in like 3-4 years or something by that point.
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Originally posted by 4Corners View PostLewis, to me, came along at a really good time.
It was when Tyson and Holyfield were getting older, and before Wlad and Vitali really came along to be great fighters.
Lewis' could have had the huge huge legacy fight against Riddick Bowe, but it's not Lennox's fault that Bowe straight up refused to fight him. Robbed us of what would have been the biggest HW fight since Ali-Frazier III/Ali-Foreman.
But his career in terms of when he came along was similar to Marciano's to me. In the sense that Marciano came along when Walcott, Charles, and Louis were getting older, and before Patterson and Liston came along to become threats at HW. Still a great fighter and his wins over Walcott and Charles were still good wins considering they were top fighters, but they weren't at their best.
Same with Lewis. His win over Holyfield was a great win, but Holyfield wasn't quite at his best I'd say. He was past his prime-still good though. But the one Lewis gets no credit from me is the Tyson fight. Tyson hadn't won a meaningful fight in like 3-4 years or something by that point.
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Lewis was well underestimated boxer while he was active. I think he got a full credit only at the very end of his career. However I think that people now tend to do the opposite.
Don't get me wrong Lewis was a phenomenal boxer - Top5 no doubt about that, but when people start to give him an edge over prime Ali it is just not realistic.
Lewis fought some very good fighter - but still I think the best boxer he fought (quality and time wise) was Vitali and that fight didn't tell a lot (it really was 50:50). And I also wouldn't pick that version of Vitali as an absolute best as he didn't really have any fights on that level prior to Lewis fight and to some extend he lost that fight on experience (I think he was too aggressive - even reckless). He was trading with the very bad cut which wasn't very smart tactics in my opinion. In that fight I think Vitali was on 90% of his full potential and Lewis on 80%.
Now Lewis did have some fantastic wins against very good boxers (etc Golota), but he also was KOed twice, at least once while he was in prime, had a draw (with smaller fighter than Ali was - I had the second Holyfield fight a draw), tend to have some poor performances against not the top boxers (Marovic) while he still was in his absolute prime.
Ali did much more in his career, fought a better boxers and while he was in his prime he looked so much better.
H4H I rank Lennox in TOP5.Last edited by Simurgh; 08-19-2012, 12:38 PM.
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