in my opinion.
If Lewis had been born a Yank there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that today's boxing community would consider him the best Heavyweight fighter ever or at the very least Ali's main serious contender for that title.
As it stands Lewis is barely even considered an all-time great Heavyweight Champion by many which is absolutely criminal. Lewis utterly dominated the 90's and early 00's which in hindsight was a golden era for Heavyweight boxing (more so the 90's). Maybe not quite as golden as the 70's but show me another era that had more top class heavyweights. You'll struggle to find one.
I believe that if you were able to gather every Heavyweight Champion throughout history in their prime and get them all to fight each other then Lewis is the one who would end up with most wins.
Even George Foreman called Lewis the best Heavyweight Champion ever after his fight with Tyson so don't take it from me, take it from Foreman
Lennox Lewis is the best Heavyweight ever
posted on 19/11/14
Not to mention Lewis resorting to underhand tactics that day(ref bizarrely allowing it).
posted on 19/11/14
Tyson certainly doesn't get into my top 5 all time great heavyweights.
Tyson was a very one dimensional fighter. Yes he had great hand speed, threw devastating combos and had knockout power but that's really all he had.
Tyson had one plan which was to knock opponents out early and when that didn't happen he had no plan B to speak of he just kept trying the same thing (Tyson v Holyfield).
That doesn't make him a truly great fighter in my opinion. Great fighters are the ones who can mix it up and are able to adapt their game and strategy for different fights.
Both Ali and Lewis are great examples of fighters who were able to do that throughout their careers and that's why they both had such success over such a sustained period of time.
posted on 19/11/14
Tyson certainly doesn't get into my top 5 all time great heavyweights.
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Seals it for me. Superb is on the WUM
posted on 19/11/14
comment by Serial WUManiser™© (U1410)
posted 2 minutes ago
Tyson certainly doesn't get into my top 5 all time great heavyweights.
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Seals it for me. Superb is on the WUM
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Not on the wum at all mate. I've followed Tyson's career in great detail over many years and I'm just giving you my opinion with my reasons to back it up.
posted on 19/11/14
Tyson was undoubtedly a great knockout specialist in his prime but that doesn't necessarily make him a great fighter. I think that's where people get confused.
The truly great fighters have so much more to their game.
posted on 19/11/14
first thing tyson lost was his head movement..lost this when he split with rooney.
you can see this in his 2 fights with razor ruddock, just prior to his prison stretch.
Tyson was well motivated for these fights following his defeat to douglas..but he got hit with big shots far more often than he did earlier in his career..
these 2 fight are classics .great fights..
this tyson was still good enough to beat prime holyfield/lewis imo
after his prison stretch though, he lost his hand speed and alot of his timing..he stopped throwing combinations and became a one punch fighter
trying to get under the jab of taller boxers without the head movement, hand speed and combination punches made him half the fighter he was previously
posted on 19/11/14
I struggle with this belief that even Tyson at his peak would have destroyed Lewis.
Lewis would have had something on top of his own considerable talent..........he would not have been scared of Tyson.
These boxers in Tyson's best years were few and far between, but the ones who didn't freeze against Tyson actually did quite well against him and i don't think any of those were in the same class as a peak Lewis.
posted on 19/11/14
In my opinion Mohammad Ali will remain the best boxer of all time.After Ali it can be Lewis and Tyson at number 2 and 3!
posted on 19/11/14
comment by The Noble Lord Flash (U8334)
posted 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
I struggle with this belief that even Tyson at his peak would have destroyed Lewis.
Lewis would have had something on top of his own considerable talent..........he would not have been scared of Tyson.
These boxers in Tyson's best years were few and far between, but the ones who didn't freeze against Tyson actually did quite well against him and i don't think any of those were in the same class as a peak Lewis.
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Exactly Flash. Even in his prime Tyson struggled in certain fights, the Bonecrusher Smith fight comes to mind.
Contrary to popular opinion prime Tyson didn't knock out and destroy every opponent he came up against.
Prime Tyson never fought a truly world class opponent and if he had I suspect he would have got beat, just like he did when he fought Holyfield.
posted on 19/11/14
Tyson's fight with Razor Ruddock is a perfect example of my point about the referee prematurely stopping his fights awarding him a TKO when his opponent was not even hurt. I think Ruddock could well have beaten him if the fight went on.