Lewis has followed the Larry Holmes road, meaning that he has been underrated for long because his prime appeared after more colorful personalities. Also boxing fans tend to be biased against recent guys, but Lewis has now gone from "these new crap guys" to "those good old days" and slowly he is getting his proper recognition. Which is in the top 5 of the division history or very close to it
I don't think so. By and large I think most people recognize he was a great champion. And if you read the mythical matchups you'll see that most posters are hard-pressed to pick against him. Especially the smarter and more seasoned Lewis who fought Holyfield and Tyson. I personally think he had the tools and the size to beat any heavyweight in history, including a prime Tyson and a prime Ali. I'm not saying I'm a huge fan of his style, especially later in his career when he held a lot on the inside and used his weight to smother the offense of shorter fighters. But taking for granted that he'd be allowed to fight that way, just as so many other heavyweights in history have, I'd pick him to beat anyone. His height, jab and powerful straight right hand (maybe the hardest in history) are the perfect tools to chase down a prime Ali. And his size and ability to control the pace of a fight give him the best chance against a prime Tyson.
He's up there with the best of them, no doubt. Just a shame he was so prodigiously dull. Even his 'thrillers' were boring as hell, he was a charisma vacuum.
I've always been a Lennox fan and like Larry Holmes I never thought he got a fair shake while he was active. Sadly, he was the only obstacle keeping the Klitschko brothers from breaking up the Heavyweight titles into a million little pieces and holding them hostage. :shit:
Lewis had exciting fights against: 1. V. Klitschko 2. Mercer 3. Holyfield 4. Rahman 5. Morrison 6. Briggs 7. Ruddock 8. Grant 9. Golota 10. Botha I think his boring fights (e.g. against Tua) were an exception to the rule. I don't think that any claim that he was a boring fighter is rooted in fact.
Others will disagree, but embarrassing Mike Tyson in the ring was a highlight for me also. Not because I hated Mike, but because most of his fans bordered on retard. ::
artie:it was the best day of my life as a boxing fan. And since I have grown older so that I can't get as excited about sports anymore, it will never be surpassed
I found all of those other than the Klitschko (and maybe Mercer) fight boring. I just found Lewis intrinsically dull.
:: so you got bored during the 93 seconds of Lewis-Golota? I am noone to question that though since personally I found most of Holyfield's and Tyson's fights dull. It is one of the great parts of boxing that everybody can have their own preferences
You were bored by Ruddock fight? Was there even time to be bored with it? I can understand that being said about Botha, somehow that was a boring two rounds until the final combination...but even still, what a combiation. Same for the Morrison fight, Lewis dominated it, but like he was against Botha, he simply gave them nothing, so it was all one-sided and clinical.
Obviously, it's subjective. So I can't argue with your assessment. But I think without providing details of why you found his fights boring, one might draw the conclusion that it was your distaste or indifference for his personality that got in the way of your enjoying his fights. For example, how can you say his one round destruction of Golota boring? Sure it was short, and Golota didn't put up much of a fight, but "boring?" Is it possible that you found him boring because he was so dominant? It'd be one thing if he didn't take on the best fighters in his division, but he did. He fought and defeated everyone the public ever demanded he fight.
Perversely enough, yes. I find Lewis PROFOUNDLY boring. I found the Briggs fight boring for Christ sake. It'd be like giving the best stand up material in the world to Bob Dole...all the material for entertainment's there but somehow you're still bored. Lewis really somehow managed to take all the passion and feeling out of raw violence.
The fights between Holyfield and Tyson I thought were boring as hell because all Holyfield did was tie Tyson up when he got close. It was so repetitious I thought I was going to lose my mind watching it. I wasn't impressed at all with Holyfield's approach to beating Tyson.
They were terrible fights. But Tyson made anything exciting, he had passion and personality. It's not fair, but it's just the way it is.
If that's what you like, and it has nothing to do with boxing, why not watch Pro Wrestling? Or Rocky I,II,III,IV,V and VI?
I'll tell you who is fking boring: Wladimir Klitsckho. Ever since he hooked up with Emmanuel Steward, he's been nothing but boring as hell. Vitali is more exciting, although I don't think he's as explosive to watch as Lewis was.
Nah. Steward has him copying LL's style but Lennox took many more chances, threw more punches and was more fluid in the ring. Wlad is doing what he needs to do to preserve his Won / Loss record but it is usually very ugly to watch.
Lennox was the start of the downfall of boxing.. or at least boxing being popular he made it more acceptable to fight like a scared chicken (or chess matcH) he'd say.. .
