Lennox Lewis KOs Mike Tyson: 20 Years Later

[elmersalsa]

On this date, Saturday, June 7, 2002, Lennox Lewis, the WBC World Heavyweight Champion, stops Mike Tyson in 8 rounds.

Your thoughts.

[Ezzard]

Most people expected a Lewis victory. Tyson had degraded considerably by this point. And yet there was a feeling that Lewis was vulnerable and that Tyson was still a threat.

Lewis took him seriously. Boxed cautiously. And then closed the show.

[Ruthless-RKO]

It was just a formality of adding Tyson's name to his already good resume.

[Controversial]

I don't really count this as a significant win for Lewis, Tyson was past it.

[DrDuke]

Name-wise only it's the best win of Lewis after defeating Holyfield.

If to count important scalps scored by Lewis considering states, in which opponents were, Tyson can even be thrown out of top 10.

[oogiebe]

Most significant takeaway from this fight (for me) is that Tyson took his beating like a man.

[gilgamesh]

I don't really count this as a significant win for Lewis, Tyson was past it.

As far as the quality of the opponent at the time of the bout, it's not one of Lewis' 5 best wins.

But as far as name recognition. It's probably the biggest win he's got.

Knowledgeable fans would probably be of the opinion (rightly so) that Vitali, Holyfield, Morrison, Mercer, Ruddock and maybe a few others were bigger wins, but on paper Tyson's the biggest.

For my money the Vitali win may be his very best as Vitali went on to make quite a mark on Heavyweight history in his own right, and Lewis was on his very last fight, and he still managed the TKO win.

[DrDuke]

Considering importance of bouts and states of opponents, about 10 fights can be called more challenging and logical by the moment they occured. The Holyfield fight was for the undisputed championship and a status of the best HW of the 90s. The Klitschko bout was a clash of generations. Mercer was an arguable top 5 HW of the 90s, when Lewis defeated him. Golota was destroyed after he had battered Bowe, while it would be the Bowe bout instead, if Riddick wasn't beaten to retirement. Ruddock was destroyed, when he was a supposed comer, while Lewis became a champion with that win. Tua was the boogeyman of those times. The Rahman win was an important revenge. The Morrison match was a crossroad one, both of them were attempting to go back on top. Even Bruno at that point was more threatening than Mike. The likes of Mavrovic and Akinwande can be considered as well. Probably the Tyson win should be somewhere after these fights, although it's still arguable, if Mike was more credible than the likes of Briggs and Grant.

[Controversial]

I don't really count this as a significant win for Lewis, Tyson was past it.

As far as the quality of the opponent at the time of the bout, it's not one of Lewis' 5 best wins.

But as far as name recognition. It's probably the biggest win he's got.

Knowledgeable fans would probably be of the opinion (rightly so) that Vitali, Holyfield, Morrison, Mercer, Ruddock and maybe a few others were bigger wins, but on paper Tyson's the biggest.

For my money the Vitali win may be his very best as Vitali went on to make quite a mark on Heavyweight history in his own right, and Lewis was on his very last fight, and he still managed the TKO win.

Sure in name it stands out but Tyson was a shadow of his prime years.

[Syntax Error]

Lewis was so frustrating in this fight.

Tyson had two rounds in him at best, before his stamina depleted and he became demoralised, but Lewis just would not jump on him.

Manny Steward was even more frustrated than I was, because Lewis could have finished Tyson inside 3 rounds, but chose the safety first approach.

Lewis even managed to spoil his own KO by leaning on and pushing Tyson down when he eventually managed to finish proceedings.

To be fair, there should not even have been an 8th round as Tyson TWICE told his corner before the start of the round that he was done and finished, but they still sent him out for the 8th to get walloped.

[DrDuke]

Lewis was so frustrating in this fight.

Tyson had two rounds in him at best, before his stamina depleted and he became demoralised, but Lewis just would not jump on him.

Manny Steward was even more frustrated than I was, because Lewis could have finished Tyson inside 3 rounds, but chose the safety first approach.

Lewis even managed to spoil his own KO by leaning on and pushing Tyson down when he eventually managed to finish proceedings.

To be fair, there should not even have been an 8th round as Tyson TWICE told his corner before the start of the round that he was done and finished, but they still sent him out for the 8th to get walloped.

Lewis has done everything right. He underestimated an opponent and was kayoed a couple of bouts ago.

[Syntax Error]

Lewis was so frustrating in this fight.

Tyson had two rounds in him at best, before his stamina depleted and he became demoralised, but Lewis just would not jump on him.

Manny Steward was even more frustrated than I was, because Lewis could have finished Tyson inside 3 rounds, but chose the safety first approach.

Lewis even managed to spoil his own KO by leaning on and pushing Tyson down when he eventually managed to finish proceedings.

To be fair, there should not even have been an 8th round as Tyson TWICE told his corner before the start of the round that he was done and finished, but they still sent him out for the 8th to get walloped.

Lewis has done everything right. He underestimated an opponent and was kayoed a couple of bouts ago.

Yes, I get that; fair point.

The difference between Rahman 1 and the Tyson fight was that he clearly did not prepare properly for Rahman 1 and that's what cost him.

He prepared diligently for the Tyson fight and I feel he should have trusted himself and also Emmanuel Steward's advice and got Tyson out of there earlier.

[tiny_acres]

I don't really count this as a significant win for Lewis, Tyson was past it.

As far as the quality of the opponent at the time of the bout, it's not one of Lewis' 5 best wins.

But as far as name recognition. It's probably the biggest win he's got.

Knowledgeable fans would probably be of the opinion (rightly so) that Vitali, Holyfield, Morrison, Mercer, Ruddock and maybe a few others were bigger wins, but on paper Tyson's the biggest.

For my money the Vitali win may be his very best as Vitali went on to make quite a mark on Heavyweight history in his own right, and Lewis was on his very last fight, and he still managed the TKO win.

Sure in name it stands out but Tyson was a shadow of his prime years.

Yet the odds were close and numerous "experts" picked Tyson to win.

[gilgamesh]

I don't really count this as a significant win for Lewis, Tyson was past it.

As far as the quality of the opponent at the time of the bout, it's not one of Lewis' 5 best wins.

But as far as name recognition. It's probably the biggest win he's got.

Knowledgeable fans would probably be of the opinion (rightly so) that Vitali, Holyfield, Morrison, Mercer, Ruddock and maybe a few others were bigger wins, but on paper Tyson's the biggest.

For my money the Vitali win may be his very best as Vitali went on to make quite a mark on Heavyweight history in his own right, and Lewis was on his very last fight, and he still managed the TKO win.

Sure in name it stands out but Tyson was a shadow of his prime years.

And yet if you asked 90% of people, they'd glance through his record and say his biggest win is Mike Tyson.

WE know. They don't.

[funso banjo baby]

Two different eras

Not a defining moment for either

[margaret thatcher]

lewis was initially something like 4-11, but then was closer to 2-5 by fight time. still a clear fave but i guess the rahman ko and tyson being a puncher got into peoples minds

[DrDuke]

lewis was initially something like 4-11, but then was closer to 2-5 by fight time. still a clear fave but i guess the rahman ko and tyson being a puncher got into peoples minds

More likely the Lewis-Tyson fight got more casual attention than any other bout of Lewis. Obviously, that happened because of the presense of Tyson, who remained the baddest man on the planet in the minds of casuals.