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. 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 29/1/15
Yeah I think that prime Holyfield holds his own against many of the Heavyweight champions throughout history. He was a true warrior and very brave.
Not sure he's quite as big as 6"4 though. I think he's more like 6"2 although I'd have to check.
But yeah Heavyweights are just getting bigger all the time. That's why its so difficult to compare Heavyweights from different eras as modern Heavys have such a big size advantage.
If you were 6"3 back in the 70's you were one of the bigger Heavyweights. Now you're one of the smallest at that height.
posted on 29/1/15
Ali is the greatest and the best because he has by far the superior resume to anyone and has beaten some of the best heavyweights of all time. Lewis is my favourite heavyweight and you can rank him anywhere from 2nd to 10th but I strongly disagree that he comes out on top head to head against the best. And Joe Frazier would be a facking nightmare for Lewis. If you saw the Mercer Lewis fight I think you would know Lewis has his hands full against Frazier
posted on 29/1/15
Lennox has Tyson, Holyfield and Vitali on his resume.
And the only heavyweight champ other than Marciano that retired beating everyone that he faced.
posted on 29/1/15
Going back in time Henry Cooper was by these days standards a cruiserweight and John Conteh started off as a heavyweight until the story goes Ali said he was not big enough.
posted on 29/1/15
comment by Larry Holmes Jab (U20302)
posted 10 hours, 39 minutes ago
Ali is the greatest and the best because he has by far the superior resume to anyone and has beaten some of the best heavyweights of all time. Lewis is my favourite heavyweight and you can rank him anywhere from 2nd to 10th
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Ok so you think that it's reasonable to assume that Lewis is the 2nd best Heavyweight of all time.
So why did you previously say "Lewis the best haha" ??
Is it such a big leap to go from second to first ??
Ali's CV isn't unblemished. Frazier smashed Ali in the first fight and in the second fight a lot of people think Frazier should gave got the decision.
History would have been completely different had Frazier got the decision in the second fight. Maybe we would never have got the Thriller in Manilla.
A lot of people think that Ken Norton was really hard done by in his fights with Ali, especially their last fight.
Ali was a really good fighter but this idea that he totally dominated his era is a bit of an exaggeration when you really break it down.
posted on 29/1/15
I agree Norton may have been hard done by superb,but I cannot recall any controversy regarding the scoring in Ali-Frazier 2. Ali got a decision v Jimmy Young in 76 that many thought he lost.
posted on 29/1/15
Also just going back to the Thriller in Manilla, Frazier was unable to get off his stool for the last round due to exhaustion/dehydration in savage conditions so Ali won the fight.
The irony is that had Frazier's people not thrown in the towel I have serious doubts that Ali would have been able to get up either at that point.
Ali said after the fight that at that moment he'd never felt as close to death as he did at that moment, or words to that effect.
So you can't really say that Ali got the better of Frazier when you you really break those three fights down.
Ali didn't knock Frazier down once in any of those fights whereas Frazier had Ali on the canvas in their first fight.
I think you'd have to say that over the course of their three fights it was an extremely even contest.
posted on 29/1/15
comment by Superb (U6486)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by Larry Holmes Jab (U20302)
posted 10 hours, 39 minutes ago
Ali is the greatest and the best because he has by far the superior resume to anyone and has beaten some of the best heavyweights of all time. Lewis is my favourite heavyweight and you can rank him anywhere from 2nd to 10th
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Ok so you think that it's reasonable to assume that Lewis is the 2nd best Heavyweight of all time.
So why did you previously say "Lewis the best haha" ??
Is it such a big leap to go from second to first ??
Because the distance from first to second is big.
Ali's CV isn't unblemished. Frazier smashed Ali in the first fight and in the second fight a lot of people think Frazier should gave got the decision.
HAHAHA Ali beat Frazier fair and square there was no dispute about the result
History would have been completely different had Frazier got the decision in the second fight. Maybe we would never have got the Thriller in Manilla.
A lot of people think that Ken Norton was really hard done by in his fights with Ali, especially their last fight.
Ali was a really good fighter but this idea that he totally dominated his era is a bit of an exaggeration when you really break it down.
Ali was only a really good fighter? Honestly you dont have a clue stop pretending you have been following boxing for years.
posted on 29/1/15
Gunner yeah Ali was very clever though. Against Norton he was clipping rounds which is probably why he got the decision.
Also it must have been difficult for judges to score fights against Ali as he was such a huge icon.
posted on 29/1/15
Ali was only a really good fighter? Honestly you dont have a clue stop pretending you have been following boxing for years.
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Eh ??
Yeah Ali was a really good fighter. What's wrong with saying that.
I've already said that Ali fully deserves his title as the "greatest" and is undoubtedly one of the best ever Heavyweights ever.