Which fighters did Lewis fight who was at the Top of their Game

[them_apples]

I, for one, am not a Lewis hater. I just wasn't that impressed with him while he was fighting and time hasn't changed that opinion.

Lewis an excellent fighter; definitely a HOF fighter and I think he and Holyfield will be remembered as being the best Heavy's of the 1990s. He is definitely a TOP 20 Heavyweight. I think that he barely cracks the TOP 10. He definitely does not deserve to be considered as one of the ATGs.

Johnson
Dempsey
Louis
Marciano
Liston
Ali
Frazier
Foreman
Holmes

are, IMO, above him.

Now being in the TOP 20 or "barely cracking the TOP 10" does not mean that Lewis is a bum.

he's an atg HW just not a very good one in comparison to Ali, Foreman, Holyfield etc

He's better than some of the people on that list though, most notably Dempsey, Johnson and possibly Liston.

[sonnyboyx2]

he's an atg HW just not a very good one in comparison to Ali, Foreman, Holyfield etc

He's better than some of the people on that list though, most notably Dempsey, Johnson and possibly Liston.

im surprised you think he is better than Dempsey, Johnson & Liston.. in your opinion who did Lewis beat who was better than those 3 fighters?

[Calilloyd]

Well said Kenso... So after all these replies to my question the clear majority say that Lewis never fought any fighters who was "At the Top of their Game" other than

McCall (1) -- mediocre journeyman
Rahman (1) -- mediocre journeyman
Vitali -- unfortunate loser

Yet there are some who claim Lewis to be ATG Top 3 with a resume as good as Muhammad Ali`s... the truth is that Lewis was an oppotunist who was not an ATG and was about as good as Frank Bruno

Your question was who did Lewis fight at the top of their game. Whether they were "journeyman" or not wasn't the question. And McCall and Rahman were top 10 fighters whether you want to acknowledge it or not. Lewis resume is not comparable to Ali's but that goes for any other heavyweight in history.

[Southpaw Great]

he's an atg HW just not a very good one in comparison to Ali, Foreman, Holyfield etc

He's better than some of the people on that list though, most notably Dempsey, Johnson and possibly Liston.

Nah man, Jack Johnson & Jack Dempsey >>>>> Lennox Lewis.....All Day!

[kenso]

Well said Kenso... So after all these replies to my question the clear majority say that Lewis never fought any fighters who was "At the Top of their Game" other than

McCall (1) -- mediocre journeyman
Rahman (1) -- mediocre journeyman
Vitali -- unfortunate loser

Yet there are some who claim Lewis to be ATG Top 3 with a resume as good as Muhammad Ali`s... the truth is that Lewis was an oppotunist who was not an ATG and was about as good as Frank Bruno

i agree that lewis's biggest fights weren't against fighters at the peak of their careers, but i disagree that lewis was about as good as frank bruno. i think lewis was MUCH MUCH better than bruno and really was a fantastic fighter.

i thought that the vitali fight was bull**** and although by the rules of boxing, he got the win - i felt that he was the loser that night. vitali was beating his ass, and no one ever made lewis look as bad as vitali did in round 2.

with that said, i think the vitali and wladimir rank up in the top heavyweights. people must consider that while a fighter is measured by who he beats, he also has to be measured on how good looks too. you can easily tell that wladimir was better than rahman or mccall ever were, but he doesn't have a win as big as they did over lewis. so just because lewis doesn't have a prime george foreman on his resume doesn't mean that he wasn't surely one of the best ever.

lewis pretty much had the best wins that he really could have had at that time. the closest thing to ducking he ever really did was the vitali rematch - and to be honest it was the smart call. a lot of people talk **** about klitschko for that fight, but if i recall right (and really, correct me if i am wrong cause i very well may be), lewis was set to fight kirk johnson and was already supposedly training. vitali had no fight lined up and took the fight on 2 weeks notice. if anyone was to be ill prepared then it should have been vitali. wish we could have seen them go at it prime for prime.

[sonnyboyx2]

i agree that lewis's biggest fights weren't against fighters at the peak of their careers, but i disagree that lewis was about as good as frank bruno. i think lewis was MUCH MUCH better than bruno and really was a fantastic fighter.

i thought that the vitali fight was bull**** and although by the rules of boxing, he got the win - i felt that he was the loser that night. vitali was beating his ass, and no one ever made lewis look as bad as vitali did in round 2.

with that said, i think the vitali and wladimir rank up in the top heavyweights. people must consider that while a fighter is measured by who he beats, he also has to be measured on how good looks too. you can easily tell that wladimir was better than rahman or mccall ever were, but he doesn't have a win as big as they did over lewis. so just because lewis doesn't have a prime george foreman on his resume doesn't mean that he wasn't surely one of the best ever.

lewis pretty much had the best wins that he really could have had at that time. the closest thing to ducking he ever really did was the vitali rematch - and to be honest it was the smart call. a lot of people talk **** about klitschko for that fight, but if i recall right (and really, correct me if i am wrong cause i very well may be), lewis was set to fight kirk johnson and was already supposedly training. vitali had no fight lined up and took the fight on 2 weeks notice. if anyone was to be ill prepared then it should have been vitali. wish we could have seen them go at it prime for prime.

you are correct.. Lewis was in training to fight Kirk Johnson and when Johnson pulled out Lewis chose Vitali to fight.. Lewis boasted he "would have one brother for breakfast the other brother for Tea" he chose Vitali coz Vitali was thought of as the weaker of the two Klitschko brothers... just think what Wlad would have done to Lewis.

I dont think Lewis was MUCH MUCH better than Bruno.. Lewis struggled badly to beat Bruno with Bruno giving Lewis a lesson in jabbing and boxing.. Bruno also beat McCall with McCall being ready & focused for Bruno unlike the shimmering wreck who came out of a `Drug-Rahab` to fight Lewis... Rahman has failed everytime he has fought at the top level getting hammered (twice) by Maskaev, losing every round to John Ruiz & getting butchered by an old Holyfield yet they both poleaxed Lewis

[turdleburgle]

you are correct.. Lewis was in training to fight Kirk Johnson and when Johnson pulled out Lewis chose Vitali to fight.. Lewis boasted he "would have one brother for breakfast the other brother for Tea" he chose Vitali coz Vitali was thought of as the weaker of the two Klitschko brothers... just think what Wlad would have done to Lewis.

I dont think Lewis was MUCH MUCH better than Bruno.. Lewis struggled badly to beat Bruno with Bruno giving Lewis a lesson in jabbing and boxing.. Bruno also beat McCall with McCall being ready & focused for Bruno unlike the shimmering wreck who came out of a `Drug-Rahab` to fight Lewis... Rahman has failed everytime he has fought at the top level getting hammered (twice) by Maskaev, losing every round to John Ruiz & getting butchered by an old Holyfield yet they both poleaxed Lewis

wlad just got knocked out easily by corrie sanders so why would lewis bother fighting him?


vitali was a late replacement for lewis and it was a dangerous fight to take for an old out of shape lewis and yet you give him no credit.

[kenso]

wlad just got knocked out easily by corrie sanders so why would lewis bother fighting him?


vitali was a late replacement for lewis and it was a dangerous fight to take for an old out of shape lewis and yet you give him no credit.

obviously wlad didn't get the shot because of his poor performance against sanders, i can't argue that he should have gotten the shot. i still wish he would have though.

however, vitali was a late replacement for lewis. lewis had already been through a full training camp and vitali was the one who took the fight on short notice. if anyone should have been out of shape it should have been vitali. he was in 2 weeks form, lewis is the one who had however long (probably 8 weeks) to train for kirk johnson.

obviously lewis was not in peak condition compared to his other fights, but vitali didn't have nearly the amount of time to train for the fight that lewis had. i don't see why this is overlooked. i think lewis was the one with the advantage here. he just didn't show up in shape. if the fight would have went on, i dont see how anyone could honestly and truly believe that lewis was going to k.o. him. the only thing he could have done was make the cut worse. lewis was getting beat down, and was CLEARLY losing at the time of the cut stoppage.

however in the rematch where vitali got a full training camp, and lewis showed up in shape, what could we have expected? lewis got the W on his record, but he was not the winner of that fight in my eyes. it wasn't a robbery, it wasn't unfair - it was just how it was. vitali was winning and he wanted it so much more than lewis did, and he was going to take it - had he not gotten stopped via way of cut.

[Obama]

Gary Mason
Tyrell Biggs
Levi Billups
Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock
Lionel Butler
Ray Mercer
Oliver McCall
Henry Akinwande
Andrew Golota
Shannon Briggs
Zeljko Mavrovic
Michael Grant
Francois Botha
David Tua
Hasim Rahman
Vitali Klitschko

------------------

All those guys should have been prime. Some simply didn't show up that day for whatever reason, like Golota & Tua.

[sonnyboyx2]

Gary Mason
Tyrell Biggs
Levi Billups
Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock
Lionel Butler
Ray Mercer
Oliver McCall
Henry Akinwande
Andrew Golota
Shannon Briggs
Zeljko Mavrovic
Michael Grant
Francois Botha
David Tua
Hasim Rahman
Vitali Klitschko

------------------

All those guys should have been prime. Some simply didn't show up that day for whatever reason, like Golota & Tua.

Gary Mason - Class C British Champion
Tyrell Biggs - coming of KO loses to Tyson, Daminani, Mason & Bowe.
Levi Billups - journeyman who got KOd by everyone except Lewis.
Ruddock - Damaged goods after 2 brutal hammerings by Tyson.
Butler - more losses than wins when fought Lewis
Mercer - Had been humiliated by old Larry Holmes
McCall - Journeyman who poleaxed Lewis in less than 2rds
Akinwande - Journeyman Class C fighter
Golota - sedated in dressing room after panic attack.
Briggs - Had been exposed getting KOd in 3rds by journeyman.
Mavrovic - european class c fighter Lewis struggled with
Grant- Exposed by Golota as weak chinned overhyped bum
Botha - Steroid Freak who had been butchered by Moorer & Tyson
Tua - 250lbs Fattest man to ever fight for the title
Rahman - Journeyman who poleaxed Lewis
Vitali - took fight on 2 weeks notice "Robbed"

Lennox chose to fight the above fighters instead of fighting all the top contenders during 1991-2002 for career highest paydays: Holyfield 93-96, Holmes 91-94, Moorer, 94-97, Hide, 94-95, Bowe, 93-95, Tyson 96, Witherspoon 94-96, Sanders 94-97, Ruiz 97-02, Byrd 98-02, Jones Jr 00-02, Wlad 07-03, Vitali 03-05 Lewis was stripped of titles rather than fight the No1 contenders who was "At the Top of their Game".

.