Which heavyweight do you rank higher

[chloelloyd]

I think the reason Lewis didn't hit his prime in the early 90s was simply because Pepe Correa wasn't the ideal trainer for him (he didn't do much for Ray Leonard either!). Lewis had it athletically but not defensively and his chin hadn't really been exploited yet so he was a little more right hand happy.

He did look good against Ruddock, but we didn't see how he'd have handled one of those left hook/uppercuts from Razor. Tyson absorbed a few, but I'm doubtful as to whether Lewis would have. Full credit to Lewis, his fight strategy was perfect.......but Bowe was rather better than Ruddock in just about every department, not to mention chin (no one ever knocked him out!). At that point he was technically superior to Lewis. I can't see Lewis knocking Bowe out in the same fashion as Ruddock.

Bowe gets a tough time in these parts for apparently being only great in one fight (1992 Holyfield 1). But the return was much closer than people remember. It was a majority decision (a draw, 2 point margin, 1 point margin by the judges). How many heavyweights these days would get so close to beating the Holyfield from 19 years ago? 1993 Bowe was no joke either despite him weighing more!

He'd have surely been too much for Lewis right then. Bowe's poor shape in the 90s was quite a myth! Between Holyfield 2 and the first Gotota fight his conditioning/stamina and focus seemed spot on. It all fell apart with Golota in 1996. But 1992-1995 I'd put money on Bowe to beat the Lewis from those years.

Great post man. Thanks for your input.

[chloelloyd]

There is a serious flaw in this poll because what Holyfield accomplished
at the CRUISER WEIGHT Division shouldn't count as part of his HW Resume. That's like counting all of Hopkin's MW wins as part of his LHW Standings.

Now if we LOOK at Holyfield's Heavyweight career without his CW boost, it's a bit different.


Let's go by timeline here.
Michael Dokes
Is he a better win then a Young Lennox's 15th fight against a 100% KO Artist and 35-0 Champion Gary Mason?

Lewis knocked out Tyrell Biggs in 3 rounds,Ruddock in 2, knocked out Bruno and beat Mercer.
Surely that is equal if not better then beating Stewart and going life/death with a old Larry Holmes over a UD 12? Throw in the Foreman win as well.

After that Holyfield's best wins at HEAVYWEIGHT
were against a semi shot Tyson, Riddick Bowe and Michael Moorer.
All good wins. But Lewis had wins over a Prime Golota, Morrison,Briggs, and Mavoric.
All four were good boxers and 3 of the 4 were monster punchers.


Up to this point IF WE DON'T COUNT THE LOSSES. Holyfield is definitely ahead. But here is what elevates Lewis above Holyfield.

After all these fights, what came next is the Lewis vs Holyfield I and II
Lewis won 18 of the 24 Rounds against Holyfield according to most experts.
10-2 in the first fight, and 8-4 in the 2nd.
At worst, you can make it 9-3 in the 1st and 7-5 in the 2nd.
Regardless he beat Holyfield in both fights.
AFTER THAT. Lewis went on to beat massive puncher David Tua, a hyper hyped 6'8 giant in Michael Grant, a shot Tyson, avenged the Rahman lost and beat a Prime future Champion in Vitali.

The Vitali win is vastly underrated, Vitali ended up being the 2nd greatest HW of his era. While Lewis was doing all this, Holyfield was losing to John Ruiz (:O), and had a slew of losses as well.


If you take out the CW Resume of Holyfield, I just don't see how the Hell anyone can say Holyfield have a better HW Resume.


What's more impressive.
Being a Prime Holyfield and winning once in 3 tries against Riddick Bowe.

Or being a 38 year old, fat, under motivated, semi retired, on his way out Lewis beating Prime Vitali?

Lewis also avenged both his defeats. Something no other HW Champ have ever done in the history of the sport.

[chloelloyd]

Also there is bias, even in the boxing history section of the Scene.

Tyson should have received a total of zero votes.

None.

[Sugarj]

Great post man. Thanks for your input.

Thanks bud....

[Panamaniac]

Minority report...

1. Tyson
2. Holyfield
3. Lewis

A (video) picture is worth 1,000 words:

[vbtube]TpHNmL9hs_I[/vbtube]

[Prince_Pugilist]

Don't think he ever tested positive, it's speculation with a lot of evidence, the whole Evan Fields thing and that.

Yeah, heard about that whole fake name thing. A lot of speculation but I haven't really seen anything that could be classed as serious evidence. I hope there is none since I'm a Holyfield fan and I don't want him going the way of Mosley and Toney.

[Prince_Pugilist]

Also there is bias, even in the boxing history section of the Scene.

Tyson should have received a total of zero votes.

None.

I can understand why Tyson gets votes. He was a huge knock out artist, with a vicious come forward style. That always gets fans and leaves lasting memories, nostalgia plays a huge part in most sports. It's kinda like saying Saad Mohammad would beat some of the superior smw or lhw of today. People go mad when Saad is exposed for what he is, a crude slugger with limited skills and a slightly dodgy chin. He was a warrior no doubt and I love watching some of his fights but because I wasn't there when he was plying his trade, I don't have that same level of sentiment.

Boxing as with most sports is all about sentiment, Hatton has always gotten a lot more respect and has many more fans in Britain, while guys like Calzaghe and Lewis have done miles better and are true greats. The same can be said of sentiment felt for Nigel Benn while Eubank was the better fighter in almost every way and his resume and accomplishments are in a different galaxy when compared to Benn.

[Scott9945]

Yeah, heard about that whole fake name thing. A lot of speculation but I haven't really seen anything that could be classed as serious evidence. I hope there is none since I'm a Holyfield fan and I don't want him going the way of Mosley and Toney.

He had PED's shipped to his own house under a slightly altered name. How much evidence do you need?

[SBleeder]

People go mad when Saad is exposed for what he is, a crude slugger with limited skills and a slightly dodgy chin.

[miamike]

I really thought the poll would be closer, thanks for the input peoples!