Jacopodb wrote: ↑02 Feb 2019, 11:27
I got a special thing for Lennox Lewis... IMHO he's widely underrated: such a responsible fighter, with such a strong will, solid work-ethics, and unquestionable natural makings, cannot be bypassed so easily.
He belongs in that paradoxical category of fighters that are underrated due to not having fought in the most competitive era of their respective weight-classes: there are champions who
benefit from that (Anthony Joshua and GGG above all), becoming tremendously overhyped, and fighters that have just not been able to fight on equal terms with huge names, because they simply
weren't there at the right time (that's the case of Marciano, Calzaghe, and arguably Floyd Mayweather Jr.), therefore ending up to be
underrated, obviously, as written already.
His record is more than respectable, with only two (avenged) losses testifying his winning mentality, and considering the fact that he has been an
outstanding amateur, without taking anything from the Olympic fascinating glory, turning pro at the not-so-early age of 24, (technically a very
bad choice, in my view, considering Lewis' means), we could say that, summing up both his amateur and professional achievements, he's really something special.
Technically, he was less flawed and more complete than most heavyweight boxing champions in history, from early clinchers/grabbers/wrestlers (with all due respect), to Alí himself. Tyson's boxing proficiency waned too dramatically when he lost his former speed, and Lewis never experienced such a fall from grace: I still think that Lennox might be the only one really being able to put Joe Louis' obvious superiority in serious jeopardy: Lewis had a wondrous lead right hand, granite chin, and a one-two that has Anthony Joshua blushing: the most powerful one-two I've ever seen in a boxer.
To me, arguably the greatest heavyweight in history, hands down.