Lennox Lewis: Joshua Can Be Great - But Not Better Than Me

[Covfefe]

Prime Lennox would destroy AJ. Kalan is an idiot!

The prime lennox who got kod by mccall or rahmam? The prime lennox who was beating up ex cw like evander or 5'11 tyson?

Aj is physicly height chin and powerwise on top of lewis. Lewis was great at beating smaller guys, same as wlad. Once lewis and wlad faced guys their own size like vitaly, fury or aj suddenly they started losing

Aj kos prime lewis

You've hardly seen Lewis fight. I can tell as you're just making things up.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Prime Lennox would destroy AJ. Kalan is an idiot!

The prime lennox who got kod by mccall or rahmam? The prime lennox who was beating up ex cw like evander or 5'11 tyson?

Aj is physicly height chin and powerwise on top of lewis. Lewis was great at beating smaller guys, same as wlad. Once lewis and wlad faced guys their own size like vitaly, fury or aj suddenly they started losing

Aj kos prime lewis

You're another idiot!

HW's get KO'd all the time. Big guys get hit, they fall.. Last night proved that.

[Badhusker]

I chose the we shall see option. Right now, it is pretty accurate to say that Joshua isn't as good as a prime Wlad since he struggled with a past his prime Wlad.

[Covfefe]

I chose the we shall see option. Right now, it is pretty accurate to say that Joshua isn't as good as a prime Wlad since he struggled with a past his prime Wlad.

Is Joshua in his prime yet though? Seems like he's still learning to me yet.

[Jip]

Prime Lennox would destroy AJ. Kalan is an idiot!

The prime lennox who got kod by mccall or rahmam? The prime lennox who was beating up ex cw like evander or 5'11 tyson?

Aj is physicly height chin and powerwise on top of lewis. Lewis was great at beating smaller guys, same as wlad. Once lewis and wlad faced guys their own size like vitaly, fury or aj suddenly they started losing

Aj kos prime lewis

You've hardly seen Lewis fight. I can tell as you're just making things up.

Yeah lewis beat tall guys. Slow b level grant hahaha...

Once he faced a tall elite guy like vitaly he was losing rd after rd.

Rahman botha holyfield tyson tua ...yeah lewis was good at beating smaller opponents, inferior in height reach and weight hehe

[Covfefe]

The prime lennox who got kod by mccall or rahmam? The prime lennox who was beating up ex cw like evander or 5'11 tyson?

Aj is physicly height chin and powerwise on top of lewis. Lewis was great at beating smaller guys, same as wlad. Once lewis and wlad faced guys their own size like vitaly, fury or aj suddenly they started losing

Aj kos prime lewis

You've hardly seen Lewis fight. I can tell as you're just making things up.

Yeah lewis beat tall guys. Slow b level grant hahaha...

Once he faced a tall elite guy like vitaly he was losing rd after rd.

Rahman botha holyfield tyson tua ...yeah lewis was good at beating smaller opponents, inferior in height reach and weight hehe

Andrew Golota, Henry Akinwande, Tony Tucker, Derek Williams, Tyrell Biggs, Shannon Briggs etc

Lennox Lewis beat Vitai fair and square. It was 4-2 to Klitschko who was swallowing blood and could barely see, where do you think that fight was going if it went on? Lewis would have stopped him and Vitali could have been seriously hurt. Lewis weighed in the highest he ever had and wasn't training for Vitali and still smashed his face to pieces, and that's your evidence he would lose to Joshua?

[Jip]

You've hardly seen Lewis fight. I can tell as you're just making things up.

Yeah lewis beat tall guys. Slow b level grant hahaha...

Once he faced a tall elite guy like vitaly he was losing rd after rd.

Rahman botha holyfield tyson tua ...yeah lewis was good at beating smaller opponents, inferior in height reach and weight hehe

Andrew Golota, Henry Akinwande, Tony Tucker, Derek Williams, Tyrell Biggs, Shannon Briggs etc

Lennox Lewis beat Vitai fair and square. It was 4-2 to Klitschko who was swallowing blood and could barely see, where do you think that fight was going if it went on? Lewis would have stopped him and Vitali could have been seriously hurt. Lewis weighed in the highest he ever had and wasn't training for Vitali and still smashed his face to pieces, and that's your evidence he would lose to Joshua?

All the names you listed arent elite tall heavyweights. Tucker or williams, joke mentioning those guys. Golota and akinwande were very good heavyweights but also dont come to my minde when i think of tall elite heavyweights.

Lewis was losing on points. Lewis was being dirty rubbing his gloves into the cut. Even using his head trying every dirty trick to open more those cuts. Shame you saying the win was fair ...lol

Regardless how u want to put it. Ll struggled against vitaly who is not like names u listed tall elite.

Aj like vitaly is tall elite, possesses the rare combination of atg power, good chin and perfect height reach for a heavyweight. Would a fight between aj and lewis be close. Yes. Most fights are close at the highest level. Wouls i favour josh. Yes.

[RScarf1]

After seeing Joshua vs. Klitschko, I think Lewis is right. Joshua is physically in his prime right now. He may be a better boxer in one year, but he'll be 30 years old in two years. Does he have 5-10 more years in him to stay on top of the division? Wladimir at 41 years old did well against him. I think Joshua should lose a little weight, maybe 5 pounds. I know Wladimir weighed 10 pounds less than him, but I think he did that because of his age to carry less weight. Joshua would not have as much stamina issues if he was a bit lighter. Fury is going to have to wait to get a shot at Joshua if Wladimir gets a rematch against Joshua. Fury also needs to get in shape physically and mentally.

[Covfefe]

Yeah lewis beat tall guys. Slow b level grant hahaha...

Once he faced a tall elite guy like vitaly he was losing rd after rd.

Rahman botha holyfield tyson tua ...yeah lewis was good at beating smaller opponents, inferior in height reach and weight hehe

Andrew Golota, Henry Akinwande, Tony Tucker, Derek Williams, Tyrell Biggs, Shannon Briggs etc

Lennox Lewis beat Vitai fair and square. It was 4-2 to Klitschko who was swallowing blood and could barely see, where do you think that fight was going if it went on? Lewis would have stopped him and Vitali could have been seriously hurt. Lewis weighed in the highest he ever had and wasn't training for bout Vitali and still smashed his face to pieces, and that's your evidence he would lose to Joshua?

All the names you listed arent elite tall heavyweights. Tucker or williams, joke mentioning those guys. Golota and akinwande were very good heavyweights but also dont come to my minde when i think of tall elite heavyweights.

Lewis was losing on points. Lewis was being dirty rubbing his gloves into the cut. Even using his head trying every dirty trick to open more those cuts. Shame you saying the win was fair ...lol

There are very few elite heavyweights of Lewis' height, I'm just showing you he could fight bigger guys. It was a fair result, and that old nonsense about him running the laces is garbage. And you didn't answer the question, if it wasn't stopped how is that fight ending? It was going only one way.

[Jip]

It aint nonsense. You can watch the fight and se how he was robbing his gloves head etc

There is a difference between the guys u listed and tall elite like klitschkos and aj

True there arent many tall elite during lewis time. Lucky for him once he faced one he lost rd after rd

To answer your question. Difficult to predict the outcome. Vitaly had energy left and lewis was breathing hard. Either. Vitaly wouldve tkod him or lewis would won on dirty cuts by stopping of the ref

[Covfefe]

It aint nonsense. You can watch the fight and se how he was robbing his gloves head etc

There is a difference between the guys u listed and tall elite like klitschkos and aj

True there arent many tall elite during lewis time. Lucky for him once he faced one he lost rd after rd

To answer your question. Difficult to predict the outcome. Vitaly had energy left and lewis was breathing hard. Either. Vitaly wouldve tkod him or lewis would won on dirty cuts by stopping of the ref

[Counter-puncher]

Always good to update the ignore list

[Kalan]

Lennox would knock AJ the eff out, no doubt whatsoever. And I bet old man Klitschko can still do it too.

You bet wrong again, but I guess it was with play money... And AJ would smash Lewis out a lot faster than Klitschko because he was 10 X easier to hit.

[TheGingerBomber]

That's complete nonsense... Total bias against non-American Heavyweights ... The Sport has gone GLOBAL ...TOP 35 HEAVYWEIGHTS TODAY LIST...

1. Anthony Joshua... 2. Luis Ortiz... 3. Deontay Wilder... 4. Tyson Fury...5. Wladimir Klitschko... 6. Alexander Povetkin... 7. Joseph Parker... 8. Andy Ruiz... 9. Hughie Fury... 10. David Haye... 11. Carlos Takam... 12. Dillian Whyte... 13. Kubrat Pulev... 14. Dominic Breazeale... 15. Johann Duhaupas... 16. Bryant Jennings... 17. Tony Bellew... 18. Lucas Browne... 19. Gerald Washington 20. Charles Martin... 21. Christian Hammer... 22. Malik Scott... 23. Amir Mansour… 24. Alexander Ustinov... 25. Dereck Chisora... 26. Ruslan Chagaev... 27. Otto Wallin... 28. Artur Szpilka... 29. Erkan Tepper... 30. Bermane Stiverne... 31. Czar Glazkov... 32. Mike Perez... 33. Izuagbe Ugonoh... 34. Robert Helenius... 35. Mariusz Wach

Sure beats a lot of lame and teeny Heavyweight Title Challengers from the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s:

Don Cockell... Roland LaStarza... Tom McNeely... Pete Rademacher... Roy Harris... Brian London... Henry Cooper... Karl Mildenbugger... Alfredo Evangelista... Chuck Wepner... Jean Pierre Coopman... Leon Stinks... Terry Daniels... Dave Zyglewitz... Manuel Ramos... Ron Stander... Richard Dunn...

I can’t even believe some of those little fart sacks got title shots at Rocky, Patterson, Frazier, or Ali

just to make it clear. you say your
list indicates that this era right now
is more talent rich than the nineties,
when lewis, holyfield, tyson and bowe
walked around. is this what you are
saying?

I take it you've never interacted with kalan before? He believes Wilt Chamberlain would have beaten Ali if that answers your question.

[man]

Always good to update the ignore list

don't know if you see this, but:

[SFW]

Lennox would knock AJ the eff out, no doubt whatsoever. And I bet old man Klitschko can still do it too.

You bet wrong again, but I guess it was with play money... And AJ would smash Lewis out a lot faster than Klitschko because he was 10 X easier to hit.

Actually the fight proved Klitschko was capable, hence why AJ was on his ass and out on his feet for rounds. Thank God for AJ the old man was past it. And guessing isn't really your thing you should stick to kneeling and bobbing, I know it's exhausting, but think of how good the dogs must feel.

[pablothunder]

Always good to update the ignore list

don't know if you see this, but:

X2

[jezzamundo]

Yeah lewis beat tall guys. Slow b level grant hahaha...

Once he faced a tall elite guy like vitaly he was losing rd after rd.

Rahman botha holyfield tyson tua ...yeah lewis was good at beating smaller opponents, inferior in height reach and weight hehe

Andrew Golota, Henry Akinwande, Tony Tucker, Derek Williams, Tyrell Biggs, Shannon Briggs etc

Lennox Lewis beat Vitai fair and square. It was 4-2 to Klitschko who was swallowing blood and could barely see, where do you think that fight was going if it went on? Lewis would have stopped him and Vitali could have been seriously hurt. Lewis weighed in the highest he ever had and wasn't training for Vitali and still smashed his face to pieces, and that's your evidence he would lose to Joshua?

All the names you listed arent elite tall heavyweights. Tucker or williams, joke mentioning those guys. Golota and akinwande were very good heavyweights but also dont come to my minde when i think of tall elite heavyweights.

Lewis was losing on points. Lewis was being dirty rubbing his gloves into the cut. Even using his head trying every dirty trick to open more those cuts. Shame you saying the win was fair ...lol

Regardless how u want to put it. Ll struggled against vitaly who is not like names u listed tall elite.

Aj like vitaly is tall elite, possesses the rare combination of atg power, good chin and perfect height reach for a heavyweight. Would a fight between aj and lewis be close. Yes. Most fights are close at the highest level. Wouls i favour josh. Yes.

You need to take into account that Lewis was further removed from his best when he fought Vitali than Wlad was when he fought AJ. Yes, Lewis was only 37 while Wlad was 41, but Lewis came in at a career heavy weight and was showing clear signs of ring rust, not to mention that he had trained to fight Kirk Johnson. Using that one fight as an example that Lewis struggled against taller heavyweights doesn't cut it, when he bombed out several big men in impressive fashion earlier in his career. Styles make fights, but based on the available evidence of Joshua going life and death with Wlad, who to be fair gave a possibly career best performance despite his advanced age, I'd have to favour a prime Lewis to stop Joshua at this stage.

[Boxing Writer]

Andrew Golota, Henry Akinwande, Tony Tucker, Derek Williams, Tyrell Biggs, Shannon Briggs etc

Lennox Lewis beat Vitai fair and square. It was 4-2 to Klitschko who was swallowing blood and could barely see, where do you think that fight was going if it went on? Lewis would have stopped him and Vitali could have been seriously hurt. Lewis weighed in the highest he ever had and wasn't training for Vitali and still smashed his face to pieces, and that's your evidence he would lose to Joshua?

All the names you listed arent elite tall heavyweights. Tucker or williams, joke mentioning those guys. Golota and akinwande were very good heavyweights but also dont come to my minde when i think of tall elite heavyweights.

Lewis was losing on points. Lewis was being dirty rubbing his gloves into the cut. Even using his head trying every dirty trick to open more those cuts. Shame you saying the win was fair ...lol

Regardless how u want to put it. Ll struggled against vitaly who is not like names u listed tall elite.

Aj like vitaly is tall elite, possesses the rare combination of atg power, good chin and perfect height reach for a heavyweight. Would a fight between aj and lewis be close. Yes. Most fights are close at the highest level. Wouls i favour josh. Yes.

You need to take into account that Lewis was further removed from his best when he fought Vitali than Wlad was when he fought AJ. Yes, Lewis was only 37 while Wlad was 41, but Lewis came in at a career heavy weight and was showing clear signs of ring rust, not to mention that he had trained to fight Kirk Johnson. Using that one fight as an example that Lewis struggled against taller heavyweights doesn't cut it, when he bombed out several big men in impressive fashion earlier in his career. Styles make fights, but based on the available evidence of Joshua going life and death with Wlad, who to be fair gave a possibly career best performance despite his advanced age, I'd have to favour a prime Lewis to stop Joshua at this stage.

No, Wlad was clearly further removed from his best being 4 years older, having 25 more fights than Lennox had and 5 months longer layoff. The last time Wlad looked good was in November 2014 (Pulev fight), which makes it 29 months prior to Joshua fight. Lennox looked as good as ever in rematch against Rahman which happened 19 months prior to Vitali fight. And he looked very good (albeit a little bit slower than against Rahman) 12 month prior Vitali fight against Tysom. Of course, Wlad was much better prepared for the fight, but that's only Lewis fault he wasn't in top conditions, it has nothing to do with age.

And if we are talking about Lewis vs Joshua, I think it would be way more fair to compare AJ at his 19th fight against Lewis in his 19th fight, in which he couldn't stop or even hurt Levi freaking Billups (the guy who was KTFOed 10 times including about 5 first round brutal KOs). I have no doubts that current version of AJ would demolish THAT version of Lewis in two rounds. Prime Lewis, of course, would be a different story, but WHY we should compare prime Lewis against current AJ? Let AJ develop and see how good he will be at 32-33 y.o. having 30+ fights. Can he develop as much as lewis did? I don't know. Only time will tell. But he is definitely not a finished article.

[jezzamundo]

All the names you listed arent elite tall heavyweights. Tucker or williams, joke mentioning those guys. Golota and akinwande were very good heavyweights but also dont come to my minde when i think of tall elite heavyweights.

Lewis was losing on points. Lewis was being dirty rubbing his gloves into the cut. Even using his head trying every dirty trick to open more those cuts. Shame you saying the win was fair ...lol

Regardless how u want to put it. Ll struggled against vitaly who is not like names u listed tall elite.

Aj like vitaly is tall elite, possesses the rare combination of atg power, good chin and perfect height reach for a heavyweight. Would a fight between aj and lewis be close. Yes. Most fights are close at the highest level. Wouls i favour josh. Yes.

You need to take into account that Lewis was further removed from his best when he fought Vitali than Wlad was when he fought AJ. Yes, Lewis was only 37 while Wlad was 41, but Lewis came in at a career heavy weight and was showing clear signs of ring rust, not to mention that he had trained to fight Kirk Johnson. Using that one fight as an example that Lewis struggled against taller heavyweights doesn't cut it, when he bombed out several big men in impressive fashion earlier in his career. Styles make fights, but based on the available evidence of Joshua going life and death with Wlad, who to be fair gave a possibly career best performance despite his advanced age, I'd have to favour a prime Lewis to stop Joshua at this stage.

No, Wlad was clearly further removed from his best being 4 years older, having 25 more fights than Lennox had and 5 months longer layoff. The last time Wlad looked good was in November 2014 (Pulev fight), which makes it 29 months prior to Joshua fight. Lennox looked as good as ever in rematch against Rahman which happened 19 months prior to Vitali fight. And he looked very good (albeit a little bit slower than against Rahman) 12 month prior Vitali fight against Tysom. Of course, Wlad was much better prepared for the fight, but that's only Lewis fault he wasn't in top conditions, it has nothing to do with age.

And if we are talking about Lewis vs Joshua, I think it would be way more fair to compare AJ at his 19th fight against Lewis in his 19th fight, in which he couldn't stop or even hurt Levi freaking Billups (the guy who was KTFOed 10 times including about 5 first round brutal KOs). I have no doubts that current version of AJ would demolish THAT version of Lewis in two rounds. Prime Lewis, of course, would be a different story, but WHY we should compare prime Lewis against current AJ? Let AJ develop and see how good he will be at 32-33 y.o. having 30+ fights. Can he develop as much as lewis did? I don't know. Only time will tell. But he is definitely not a finished article.

Good post, I agree with pretty much everything you said. When I said Lewis was further removed from his prime, I was referring to his level of performance, not his age or wear and tear. His performance was further removed from his prime performances than Wlad's was against Joshua.

[Verdi]

Lennox Lewis believes Anthony Joshua has the ability to become an all-time great heavyweight - just not to the level that he did.

In only his 19th fight as a professional, Joshua will on Saturday defend his IBF title and bids to win the WBA, IBO belts when he faces Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 people at Wembley.

Klitschko succeeded the retired Lewis as the world's leading heavyweight and, along with the titles, is fighting to reclaim that position against Joshua, widely considered the favourite.

"Can he be an all-time great?" asked Lewis, 51. "Yes. Yes.

"He can do anything he wants. But saying it and doing it is two different things. We can say it but it's up to him to do it. Yes, the potential is there.

"Could he go on to be better than me? I don't think so. It's difficult for me to say another man is better than me.

"How I come to that conclusion is I look at my amateur career. I had an extensive amateur career which led into my professional career which allowed me to be better.

"He didn't have an extensive amateur career - it was only a short one. To me, there is a lot Anthony Joshua still needs to learn.

"As he goes on he will learn them but his trainers need to understand that too because each fight for him is a learning curve.

"You don't want to learn in important fights; you want to be prepared for them."

http://www.BS.com/lennox-lewis ... EsjIw.dpuf

Lewis says Joshua can be an ATG and do "Anything he wants." ... By "anything" he means anything but be greater than Lennox Lewis... LL sounds much like Joe Frazier comparing himself to Mike Tyson.. "Tyson is in NO WAY as good as me." ... Yup. That's why he matched his son Marvis against him.

It's easy for ATG fighters to overrate themselves and underrate contemporary boxers... This was true for all periods in fistic history.

Joshua has a better jab than Lewis ever had and has much better right leads and right counters.. His defense is a lot more solid than Lewis's.. AJ has never been taken out by right hands from slow Heavyweights who were lacking in many skills. Those weren't the only 2 fights Lewis lost. Vitali Klitschko easily outscored Lewis for 6 rounds, on all cards -- in a fight that should have been announced as a Unanimous Technical Decision Win for Klitschko. Despite blood flowing steadily into his left eye from foul blows, Klitschko out-scored Lewis by a solid margin in that fight.

Taking Joshua the way he is right now... He would knock the best Lewis out within 10 rounds... It'll likely come faster with Klitschko.

Lewis had one of the best jabs in the business, far superior to Joshua.

[NateJR]

I have yet to see any version of Joshua I would favor against Lewis. I think AJ is a very good up and coming fighter/champion, he could very well be the class of his division right now and hold his title for a long time. Lewis is a bonafied ATG heavyweight, he proved to be vulnerable at times, but how he answered those doubts was nothing short of impressive. The HW division can be the most unpredictable division in boxing because you have big boys, throwing big punches, who's to say Joshua doesn't serve the same date as he fights on? Fights a guy who has a good punch, yet he's highly favored to beat, blinks at the wrong time and gets clipped? I would actually be surprised if it didn't eventually happen seeing how Joshua himself shows to be defensively irresponsible at times.

[jbizzle20]

Not likely. Joshua has yet to use his length to his advantage the way Lewis could. Joshua fights high and tight. Lewis could vary his stance to fight in close or at range. Lewis also beat 3 HOFers and all of the top talent of his era. Joshua struggled at times against a 41 year old Wlad who had ring rust. He still has quite a bit to prove before he's in Lewis' category. Thing is, I don't know that he will even get the opportunities to prove it, in this era. Wlad may be his only victory over a future HOFer.