Battle of the Underdogs - Lennox v AJ

[Gnome]

Lennox Lewis and Anthony Joshua have been having a bit of a go at each other recently. Both men have famously lost in big upsets In World championship fights, but which of their opponents was the best at the time of their victories against the British World champion?

[banjo]

McCall as of now.

Don't know enough about Ruiz yet, who knows he may beat AJ again and go on to have a decent career.

[DrDuke]

Ruiz is the best out of those.

McCall was considered as a journeyman prior to that bout. Rahman was considered as B-level competitor. Those fights were almost openly presented as warm-ups for something bigger. Lewis lost because of underestimating and not being fully prepared.

Ruiz was a huge underdog as well, but he was considered as a dangerous top fighter, who by many opinions should have been still undefeated, cause he had been robbed in the title fight against Parker. Joshua was well-prepared for Ruiz, he made a tactical mistake though.

[mickey1975]

McCall, the greatest chin I’ve seen and a bad match for Lennox.

[polecateddy]

I think the version of McCall in the first fight was a real handful. Trained by Stewart, highly motivated and dare I say probably chock full of performance enhancing drugs. McCall was never as good as that night either before or after that fight.

[THEBUTCH]

As tough as McCall undoubtedly was, his "chin" maybe overrated. He'd be quite prepared to settle for 2nd best at times, rather than having that winning mentality which will put you in harms way.

Had he gone for it in the 2nd fight with Lewis, I'm sure he would have got demolished and he seemed to know it too. That was quite an implosion on his part.

[polecateddy]

I don’t know, his chin was pretty amazing. Wasn’t he basically giving Lennox free shots at it and taking it all. I just don’t think he was either physically or mentally prepared for the rematch due to his ongoing drug addiction issues. I think the only heavyweight to ever ever really hurt him was Frank Bruno, who really tagged him in the second round of their fight and made his legs dip.

[bigjack]

I don’t know, his chin was pretty amazing. Wasn’t he basically giving Lennox free shots at it and taking it all. I just don’t think he was either physically or mentally prepared for the rematch due to his ongoing drug addiction issues. I think the only heavyweight to ever ever really hurt him was Frank Bruno, who really tagged him in the second round of their fight and made his legs dip.

Just watched the fight and didn't notice Bruno dipping McCall's legs in the second

[SteveO]

Bruno definitely stunned McCall.

[lillywhite14]

Ruiz is the best out of those.

McCall was considered as a journeyman prior to that bout. Rahman was considered as B-level competitor. Those fights were almost openly presented as warm-ups for something bigger. Lewis lost because of underestimating and not being fully prepared.

Ruiz was a huge underdog as well, but he was considered as a dangerous top fighter, who by many opinions should have been still undefeated, cause he had been robbed in the title fight against Parker. Joshua was well-prepared for Ruiz, he made a tactical mistake though.

I believe McCall was being talked up as being a dangerous fight by more than one popular boxing magazine at the time.

All three were looked at as warm up fights before bigger tests ( McCall - Bowe, Rahman - Tyson, Ruiz - Wilder/Fury/Usyk )
Ruiz was selected as Joshua’s showcase fight to the USA!
Was he really ‘robbed’ against Parker? Wasn’t it a very close fight?

[margaret thatcher]

Jury still out there for me on Ruiz. A lot of people are only thinking about the AJ fight but he did lose to Parker and has been very lacklustre a good few times. He was dreadful vs Liakhovich and certainly has had issues with dedication and dropping fights. People go on and on about how AJ will return, but I'm at least as interested to see what Ruiz does and if he can keep up the success

[kbackup408]

I am not sure all is well in the AJ camp, lashing out at Lennox is showing mental weakness.

You will be surprised how fast a fan base can evaporate after a few L's (especially in this 2019 meme social media generation) !

[polecateddy]

The whole Lennox, Twitter thing doesn’t reflect well on Joshua. I think at one time I’d imagine he expected to reach Lennox’s level, but now I think in his mind he knows he’s nowhere near it.

[mickey1975]

The whole Lennox, Twitter thing doesn’t reflect well on Joshua. I think at one time I’d imagine he expected to reach Lennox’s level, but now I think in his mind he knows he’s nowhere near it.

Well, he’s managed to get duffed up once, only one more and they’re level.

[Coco]

Parker is a solid fighter but that's it. For Ruiz to be in a close fight with him shows his level.
After being dropped by AJ, the Brit walked into a temple shot he never recovered from.
Sometimes it's better to be chinned as they are easier to recover from.
Let's not overrate Ruiz

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

The whole Lennox, Twitter thing doesn’t reflect well on Joshua. I think at one time I’d imagine he expected to reach Lennox’s level, but now I think in his mind he knows he’s nowhere near it.

- Polecats should not comment on Lions and Tigers.

AJ already miles ahead of Lewis in their careers with unified title defenses, currently 7-1 in title fights. Never one punched into oblivion either.

Lewis never defended his unified titles, instead selling them off to bolster DKing, the biggest crook in boxing.

AJ set modern day stadium records and electrified the Brit public in comparison to the Boorish Lewis and remains a big presence in amateur boxing, ie giving back to the community.

Lewis was insanely jealous of the Ks and now AJ, a little mans complex encased in a big mans body, a cartoon.

At any rate, Hearns probably behind this schoolboy spat so as to get Lewis between the fighters because otherwise, Andy can't sell squat on his own.

[TheGman]

Gotta be Oliver mcCall

[jamesmcdonnell]

The whole Lennox, Twitter thing doesn’t reflect well on Joshua. I think at one time I’d imagine he expected to reach Lennox’s level, but now I think in his mind he knows he’s nowhere near it.

- Polecats should not comment on Lions and Tigers.

AJ already miles ahead of Lewis in their careers with unified title defenses, currently 7-1 in title fights. Never one punched into oblivion either.

Lewis never defended his unified titles, instead selling them off to bolster DKing, the biggest crook in boxing.

AJ set modern day stadium records and electrified the Brit public in comparison to the Boorish Lewis and remains a big presence in amateur boxing, ie giving back to the community.

Lewis was insanely jealous of the Ks and now AJ, a little mans complex encased in a big mans body, a cartoon.

At any rate, Hearns probably behind this schoolboy spat so as to get Lewis between the fighters because otherwise, Andy can't sell squat on his own.

You're quite the comedian.

[chinarich]

I don’t know, his chin was pretty amazing. Wasn’t he basically giving Lennox free shots at it and taking it all. I just don’t think he was either physically or mentally prepared for the rematch due to his ongoing drug addiction issues. I think the only heavyweight to ever ever really hurt him was Frank Bruno, who really tagged him in the second round of their fight and made his legs dip.

Just watched the fight and didn't notice Bruno dipping McCall's legs in the second

I read an interview with Lionel Butler recently where he claims to have put McCall on the canvas during their fight. There isn’t a knockdown reported on boxrec and I have never seen any fight footage...

[bigjack]

Just watched the fight and didn't notice Bruno dipping McCall's legs in the second

I read an interview with Lionel Butler recently where he claims to have put McCall on the canvas during their fight. There isn’t a knockdown reported on boxrec and I have never seen any fight footage...

I tried to find that,nothing.

[polecateddy]

Was it the 1st round where he rocked McCall then?