Beat Holyfield who was well past his best.

Beat Tyson well, well past his best (Tyson lost to Danny Williams around those times).

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I think Holyfield was at his peak (or near enough to it) when he fought Lewis. Holyfield had just beaten Tyson twice and seemed to be at his most confident in that era.

Fighters peak at different times and Holyfield peaked in his mid thirties in my opinion. So to say that Lewis fought a past it Holy field is well wide of the mark.

Either way Lewis was no spring chicken himself in his two fights with Holyfield.

As for Tyson, Lewis tried for many years to fight Tyson before they eventually fought. If it took until 2002 for them to eventually fight then you can't blame Lewis for that.

He goes out beating a pretty formidable fighter in Vitali, and whilst 58-56 pts down, he was cut twice ion his eye and once in his mouth. Injuries which if the fight continued would have ended Klits career.
Ppl seem to forget than fact, he butchered Klit like nobody else has.

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Exactly.

Lewis beat Vitali fair and square. Vitali's upper face was beaten to a pulp by the end of the fight.

Have you ever seen anyone else do that to Vitali ? I haven't.

Also take into account that Lewis was right at the end of his career when he fought Vitali. People talk about a rematch but why should Lewis have offered a rematch ?

Vitali had his shot and he was unsuccessful. End of. If Vitali had fought a better fight then he wouldn't have allowed Lewis to open up a chasm above his eye.

Lewis won the fight fair and square and chose to retire at a time when he felt he could no longer give his best anymore.

I wished more fighters followed Lewis's example instead of fighting on when they're past their best.

Oh dear, he got knocked out by average fighters like McCall and Rahman.

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Both instances were freak punches. It happens in the Heavyweight division.

Anyway Lewis wasn't losing either fight up until that point and in both cases he came back and whupped both Rahman and McCall (who was a very good fighter) in the rematch.

Top 5, comfortably. Fantastic boxer. Not best ever though, Ali without a shadow of a doubt.

Lets not forget Tyson, Bowe and Foreman ducked him and Holyfield stayed well clear as well, as well as Wlad.

Lennox Lewis best knockouts: http://youtu.be/mhE3XlI1ZWM

By the way Tyson said this about Lewis:

"There's no way I could ever beat him. He's just too big and too strong. He's a magnificent, a prolific fighter".

And here's George Foreman saying that he thinks Lewis is the best Heavyweight of all time:

Lennox Lewis is, "The best heavyweight of all tim…: http://youtu.be/jV5AMRL5-Hc

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Lewis struggled against Bruno, Tucker and he lost to Ray Mercer, why do people always forget that fight?

I could not care less if he was ahead against McCall or Rahman, when he got knocked to the ground with one punch. How many other great heavyweight fighters have been knocked out like that from average fighters whilst they were a World Champion?

Why did Lewis retire and not give Vitali a rematch?

Lewis was a very good heavyweight, maybe even great, but the way his career has been embellished in hindsight simply by looking at statistics (he beat the guys he lost to) hides the truth behind his career.

He never fought a peak Tyson, Bowe, Holyfield, if he was marketable enough or had he wanted it enough, it would've happened.

Hatton fought Mayweather didn't he? He made it happen. That's one thing I'll always give Hatton credit for, even though he got outclassed, he faced Manny and Floyd at their peaks, rather than not face them and give the big talk later.

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JustTrue - (Ronnie wins his 5th World Snooker ... (U13155)
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With heavyweights one punch is all that it can take.

Lewis beat everyone who he fought. Only Marciano is the heavyweight champ that can claim that.

comment by The Guvnor V.I.K II-Frankenstein's Monste... (U12889)
posted 1 hour, 22 minutes ago
It doesn't matter if lewis was american,white,mexican he doesn't match up to ali.
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Lewis has wins over Tyson, Holyfield, and Vitali 3 heavyweights regarded by many as top 20 all time great heavyweights

They ducked Lewis.

Bowe threw his belt in the bin rather than face him, Tyson vacated.

They didn't want it.

We can have millions of conversations on who ducked who, the fact of the matter is he beat a Mike Tyson that was capable of losing to Danny Williams.

Riddick destroyed Holyfield in their 3rd fight in the mid 90s, Lewis never been Holyfield so clinically. Holyfield was nowhere near his best in 1999.

In my opinion Bowe destroyed heavyweight boxing when he threw the title in the bin, but I seriously think he would've beaten Lewis at the time.

Please can someone else acknowledge Lewis struggling against Ray Mercer, how did he get that decision?

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He beat a tyson well past his prime likewise with holyfield.

You just cannot compare lewis resume to alis. Plain and simple ali fought the better fighters.

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You cannot blame Lewis for only getting to fight Tyson in 2002. Lewis tried for years to get a fight with Tyson but Tyson kept ducking him and for good reason.

Also Holyfield wasn't past his best when he fought Lewis, far from it. I would even suggest that it could be argued that Holyfield was at his peak when he fought Lewis after two big wins against Tyson.

As for Ali's resume it wasn't perfect by any means. Ali got beat by Frazier and many experts think that Ken Norton got the better of Ali in their fights.

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Superb, why do you keep ignoring Lewis' fight with Ray Mercer where he lost but won a point decision?

Also, if you consider that Lennox lost to McCall and Mercer in the mid 90s, you actually think Tyson was ducking him? Are you serious?

No serious heavyweight was ducking Lennox in the mid 90s, he was simply a guy that got knocked out by McCall and then won the return fight when McCall was crying throughout the fight.

Even then, Tyson in the mid 90s was only a shade of the boxer he was in the late 80s. Had they fought in the late 80s, Tyson would've knocked Lewis out within 5 to 6 rounds.

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Also, Holyfield struggled past Vaughn Bean just before the Lewis fight. How was he at his peak?

Beating Tyson in 1996 was a good performance, but Tyson was awful in that match. As for the ear-biting match in 1997, Holyfield was awarded that match, no one knows what would've happened in that match had Tyson not been so stupid.