Better hw resume, Lewis or Holyfield?

These two dominated the HW division from early 90s to early 00s. Interestingly enough, they only shared three common opponents and only one that both met in a title fight. So the question is, which one of them fought the better opponents

Holy: Bowe, Tyson, Moorer, Douglas, Rahman, Ruiz, Mercer, Foreman, Holmes, Dokes, Thomas, Cooper, Bean, Stewart, Rodriguez


Lewis: Vitali, Tyson, Tua, Rahman, Ruddock, Tucker, Bruno, Morrison, Akinwande, Botha, Grant, Mavrovic, Briggs, Golota, Mercer, McCall, Jackson, Mason, Butler

 

Lewis ran from Klitschko rematch and that forever will shame his legacy.

 

Lewis

 

holyfield. also a greater fighter and greater heavyweight imo.

 

Double L on one side, joony on the other.

Both answers must be wrong.

 

Lewis. Plus he has Holyfield on his resume.

 

Holyfield with the better list of guys, but Lewis, the more consistent.

In terms of HW legacy, they are both at the back-end of my top-10, both were great Heavies. I think a fight between them in their primes would've been mighty close & I wouldn't rule out a draw. Likewise, it is close in terms of achievements at the weight.

 

what kind of a #ucking question is this lewis by a mile

 

holifyeld is bowes bich

 

I never thought about it. I guess a good argument for Lewis could be made. Before this thread, I would have said the Bastard Maker had a better record instinctively.

 

::

 

hahaha this sounds like a rock vs. hard place thing.

 

Twice.

 

Both times when Holyfield was washed-up, mind.

 

Prime fighters never lose. They never do.

 

Probably Lewis

He is hurt, fair or not, by two utterly shocking losses that were VERY PREVENTABLE (especially the Rahman fight, he should have annihlated Rahman the first time, it was a mismatch) ... you have to take that into consideration

Holyfield lost some fights during his best HW years, but they were "good" losses (the Bowe fights wrote his legend for courage and fortitude as much as any victories) or they were competetive losses (Moorer) ... he was never humiliated the way Lennox was, especially in Africa

But Lewis had more dominating wins

 

Holyfield was undoubtedly well over-the-hill.

 

Ah but my dear Welshman,... mythical matchups and p4p lists. It is dabbling in magic though isn't it,... "My head, my rules" ... :crafty:

 

Well Lewis came back,.. decapitated one,.. and made the other cry,.. it's rather charming more than embarrasing when all has been said and done..

 

I agree thats prevalent.

To me, though, I couldnt see where someone was coming from (other than Britain) if they said Holyfield WASNT way past it by 1999.

 

Britain,.. or Cronulla,..
it is January.. :crafty: ...
....going to the coast this month Ramonza?.. :: ...ahh, a touch of bleech in the folicles, and an inflatable kangaroo, .....you should be alright,.. maybe it wouldn't hurt to bring your freckly porridge-wog brother in law along,.. have a good day..

 

absolutely, those are great wins, great job by LL there

BUT, both of those fights never should have been necessary in the first place... overconfidence, lax preparation, no respect for the opponent and BOOM- two losses

 

Well maybe,.. it was just a good couple of shots by his two opponents?,.. Very rarely does a fighter escape without a setback during thier entire career,... see this is what I mean,...:nono: ..

Prime Tyson - Prime Lewis = Draw
Prime Holyfield - Prime Lewis = Draw
Prime Holmes - Prime Lewis = Draw
Prime Ali - Prime Lewis = Draw

Why not?... a compromise for everybodies fantasies.... :nono:

and from what I hear,.... ho ho ho,.. you are MORE than welcome on the Cronulla coast this month..

 

Kauki has some great green apparently ::

As much as Im a HUGE critic of Rahman, who Ive said was an AWFUL boxer, and as mediocre as McCall was, I kind of agree when Kauki says very few guys have a career with no such setbacks --- two losses, occurring in split-second KOs and years apart, softens the blow that both of Lewis' (temporary) conquerors were weak rivals. The biggest criticism is they showed Lewis lacked a good chin or recuperative ability (I dont believe the McCall stoppage was unfair), and I sympathise with CDoggs view nonetheless. Im just not especially savage toward Lewis because the rest of his career is plenty consistent.

Lewis is getting over-rated with time though.

 

Kauki, name one other really great heavyweight, a real unanimous candidate for all-time status who has two one-punch KO losses in his prime years to a pair of opponents like McCall and Rahman...

Yes, he avenged those losses brilliantly (especially Rahman with one of the best KOs I have ever seen) but those losses were entirely his fault for not giving a shit, for being overconfident... You can't just ignore them. And I'm a fan, I like Lennox.

 

Good question.

If not for Vitali, I would have given it to Holyfield...Bowe being the equalizer. Beating Vitali sneaks it for Lewis.

 

That's fair

I give the edge to LL too

 

Well, I would think that being outboxed for 36 minutes is a more damaging spectacle than being caught by a split second shot. It's rather a great thing that he was never beaten on points.

 

I agree with this Kauks (happy new year to you and your reptiles btw). You can't write off a 12 round drubbing as a fluke.

 

Agreed. If you compare losing by one-punch KO to Rahman in a fight you control easily to blowing a decision against Michael Spinks over 15, I am not sure which is worse really. (Not to say cdogg made this comparison)