The Best in your Lifetime?

[jimboinbigd]

Definitely better/greater than Morales, Barrera or JMM

infact not only are their resumes better. They're definitely more exciting.

I disagree. I'd put those guys somewhere in the 21-30 area. Marquez probably top 25. Lots of fighters were in great battles but unworthy of my top 20. Gatti and Ward come to mind. Camacho comes to mind. Sergio Martinez, Gerry Cooney, Aaron Pryor, to name a few.

[Weebler I]

1. Lennox Lewis
2. Manny Pacquiao
3. Andre Ward

Those three pretty much fought everyone coming out in credit. I think they're the best fighters I've watched.

[dc3383]

Top 10 in no order
Roy Jones
Bernard Hopkins
Andre Ward
Manny Pacquiao
Floyd Mayweather
Evander Holyfield
Pernell Whitaker
Lennox Lewis
Felix Trinidad
Oscar De La Hoya
Shane Mosley

[MisterHardtop]

1. Lennox Lewis
2. Manny Pacquiao
3. Andre Ward

Those three pretty much fought everyone coming out in credit. I think they're the best fighters I've watched.

Great lists coming through from a number of fellow posters here.

I'd rate Ward highly in the skill department but take away the Froch and Kessler wins his resume is very thin. He needs some more wins against top quality opposition to be mentioned in the same list as a Pacquiao or Lewis.

Just a little something on Lewis, I find him to be a tad bit overrated, he had great skill, good jab and very good power but he lost to two men, in his prime, who he should never have lost to, let alone be destroyed by. Yes he avenged those losses but they stick out like a sore thumb. His best wins, over Tyson and Holyfield were against great fighters who were severely deprived of their primes.

[MisterHardtop]

our lifetime is the same, but I'm too lazy to make a list, so I'll critique yours. First, no way in hell is George Foreman the 5th best fighter- he beat very few quality fighters and loss to some that were well below world class, loveable character but not in the top 15 let alone top 5. Especially with Holmes (who accomplished much, much more) in at 15.

I wouldn't have Chavez Sr that high, more like 11-14. Despite what the idiot judges said, he lost badly to Whitaker (9th)

Napoles 16-20, good fighter, just doesn't have the quality wins to be that high

Bienvenuti is here but no RJJ, Wilfredo Gomez, Salvador Sanchez, Lennox Lewis, Khaosi Galaxy, or Ricardo Lopez? No, just no

Chavez did everything that was required of him, I too believe he lost to Whitaker but these things happen. Apart from that he was a multi-weight champion, unbeaten in 88 fights and he was highly skilled. Many think of him as a brawler but he was far more than that, he could move and box, he jabbed well, switched attacks between body and head better than almost anyone I have ever seen.

RJJ was just left out, his career wins against truly worthy opposition is far too thin, the same goes to Lewis. While Sanchez was certainly great his career was sadly far too short, of course not his fault but dying at 23 leaves great memories but just as many questions. How would he have done as he aged, possibly moved up in weight and had to face fierce younger challengers.

[MathBoy]

Great lists coming through from a number of fellow posters here.

I'd rate Ward highly in the skill department but take away the Froch and Kessler wins his resume is very thin. He needs some more wins against top quality opposition to be mentioned in the same list as a Pacquiao or Lewis.

Just a little something on Lewis, I find him to be a tad bit overrated, he had great skill, good jab and very good power but he lost to two men, in his prime, who he should never have lost to, let alone be destroyed by. Yes he avenged those losses but they stick out like a sore thumb. His best wins, over Tyson and Holyfield were against great fighters who were severely deprived of their primes.

Although you didn't insult Lewis the way a Klittard would... and worded your quote in a respectful way. I find it to be so inaccurate it's equal to just saying 'Lewis is a glass jaw bum'


1- Lewis was not in his prime against Mccall. He wasn't even with Steward against Mccall.. so how could he be in his prime? That made no sense. If you are saying Lewis was prime against Mccall in 94 and STILL prime against Rahman in 01.. You are indicating Lennox Lewis had a Godly prime of 7+ years.... That's the longest prime I ever heard of.

He was either PRE Prime against Mccall or Post Prime against Rahman.. The timeline don't support the theory he was prime against both.


2-If you actually watched the Mccall fight..... it was a debatable stoppage at best. Who the hell know what would have happened if the fight had continued? Mccall was a nut case and Lewis even back than was a master at holding on and clinching for survival.

3- You are severely down playing how great it was for Lewis to avenge both his defeats. Douglas was not as good as Rahman. Tyson never avenged that defeat. Purrity was not as good as Mccall. Wlad never avenged that defeat. Sanders was knocked out by Rahman(Prime Sanders)...... Wlad lost to a old and shot Sanders.. yet he never avenged that defeat either. Avenging all your defeats is a very tough thing to do (having to overcome mental blocks) especially KO Defeats. A number of great fighters never even attempted or failed at avenging defeats. Lewis deserves far more credit for avenging his. (He also dominated Biggs in the pros, Biggs beat him in the Olympics.. so he literally avenged everything)


4- Tyson wasn't his best win and Holyfield wasn't shot. Holyfield was actually rated on all the P4P Lists and considered a top 2 Heavyweight when Lewis destroyed him for 12 rounds only to be robbed. 48-1 Tony Tucker was a better win than Tyson. Ruddock and Vitali were better wins. Tyson was his biggest name but it was far from his best win. As for the Vitali win.... ignore the endless tko6 rants and just admit the fact that Lewis was looking stronger towards the end and legitimately stopped Prime Vitali despite being old and past prime himself.


5- Lewis fought the biggest collection of punchers out of any HW'S in history. Even Ali didn't fight as big of a collection.

Lewis: Mercer/Rahman/Briggs/Vitali/Tyson/Ruddock/Mason/Bruno/Morrison/Golota/Tua/ the list goes on... it's amazing how Lennox fought such a wide array of big punchers.... his chin was very underrated.

6-Lewis had a massive arsenal of offensive weapons that people seem to brush under the rug and just mistakenly label Lennox as 'a big dude with a good jab and a powerful right hand' Lennox had supreme body work during his actual prime (96-00), a lethal upper cut, amazing inside game, he set traps and shoulder rolled punches no super heavyweight should be able to shoulder roll (Briggs fight), he had good foot work and masterful control of distance(watch Tua fight) he had lethal killer instinct (Ruddock,Golota,Grant) and was able to both go to war(Vitali) and box(Holyfield) all styles.


Lewis was not a 'tad overrated' as you so claimed. If anything Lewis is a 'tad underrated'.

[MisterHardtop]

That is a long list, I'll try and answer some of your points. I have never said and never will say that Lewis is a glass jaw bum, he is far more than that but this discussion of whether or not he was over/underrated then it depends on how you rate him. For me he may verge on being a top 10 heavyweight he definitely isn't top 5 or anywhere near the greatness of Ali/Louis/Foreman/Holmes/Frazier/Holyfield. They are just better than him.

As many say that Lewis is a top 2 or 3 or 5 heavyweight then that is overrating him, if people start rating him below the likes of the Klitschko's or Bowe then that is underrating him.

You say that Lewis fought a bigger list of "punchers" than Ali, that may be so, even though Ali fought Foreman, Liston, Frazier, Shavers and all of them near or in their primes. But these "punchers" that Lewis fought were/are just that, punchers, they wouldn't last against any of the world class heavies of the 60s, 70s or early 80s. The fact that rate you Bruno/Morrison/Tua/Briggs...it's quite ridiculous. The very fact that Rahman and McCall knocked him out, especially the former, is detrimental to Lewis' legacy. Neither of those men ever proved their greatness, honestly they weren't more than B level fighters.

Lewis was a great heavyweight but he never came close to achievement or greatness of his predecessors.