BoxRec

EriqS wrote:

bennie wrote:It's hard for me to match Lewis with all the greats of the 1970s, when he didn't even fight the best in his era. More than that, he waited for Holyfield and Tyson to get old before taking them on - and still fought unconvincingly.
Tyson was literally begging to be knocked out.
Bottom line is, the greats of the 70's never avoided each other; Lewis and Bowe did (and yes, I know they fought as amateurs).

I think it was Bowe who avoided Lewis. Can't blame Lennox for that.

He was defintely the most skilled big man of any era.

TheOneIsHere2008 wrote:

EriqS wrote:

bennie wrote:It's hard for me to match Lewis with all the greats of the 1970s, when he didn't even fight the best in his era. More than that, he waited for Holyfield and Tyson to get old before taking them on - and still fought unconvincingly.
Tyson was literally begging to be knocked out.
Bottom line is, the greats of the 70's never avoided each other; Lewis and Bowe did (and yes, I know they fought as amateurs).

I think it was Bowe who avoided Lewis. Can't blame Lennox for that.

He was defintely the most skilled big man of any era.

I'm sorry but truly skilled fighters do not get sparked by Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall, regardless of the circumstances, or outjabbed by Ray Mercer, or fiddle around when Evander Holyfield is on the ropes and clearly hurt.
Please, when making horribly outrageous (and frankly untrue) statements such as this, you need to add 'in my opinion'.

I'm sorry but skilled fighters do not get sparked by Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall, regardless of the circumstances, or outjabbed by Ray Mercer, or fiddle around when Evander Holyfield is on the ropes and clearly hurt.
Please, when making horribly outrageous (and frankly untrue) statements such as this, you need to add 'in my opinion'.

-bennie

How do I respond?

I do not think Lewis is the greatest heavyweight of all time...IMHO, I think for a true big man (6'5 250 pounds) he was freakishly skilled and a decent argument can be made that he is a top ten heavyweight...

IMHO, George Foreman knows a thing or two about boxing...In his humble opinion he said that "Lenox Lewis is the best heavyweight of all time, ergo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RB6KjXIf5A

My saying he was the most skilled big man of any era that I have since qualified seems like faint praise...

PEACE

TheOneIsHere2008 wrote:He was defintely the most skilled big man of any era.

I'm sorry but skilled fighters do not get sparked by Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall, regardless of the circumstances, or outjabbed by Ray Mercer, or fiddle around when Evander Holyfield is on the ropes and clearly hurt.
Please, when making horribly outrageous (and frankly untrue) statements such as this, you need to add 'in my opinion'.[/quote]

How do I respond?

I do not think Lewis is the greatest heavyweight of all time...IMHO, I think for a true big man (6'5 250 pounds) he was freakishly skilled and a decent argument can be made that he is a top ten heavyweight...

IMHO, George Foreman knows a thing or two about boxing...In his humble opinion he said that "Lenox Lewis is the best heavyweight of all time, ergo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RB6KjXIf5A

My saying he was the most skilled big man of any era that I have since qualified seems like faint praise...

PEACE[/quote]




PEACE. Lewis was so inconsistent: great one night, stand-offish the next. Without Bowe, he needed to really belt Holyfield in the rematch to secure a place as a true great.
He didn't.

bennie wrote:

TheOneIsHere2008 wrote:He was defintely the most skilled big man of any era.

I'm sorry but skilled fighters do not get sparked by Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall, regardless of the circumstances, or outjabbed by Ray Mercer, or fiddle around when Evander Holyfield is on the ropes and clearly hurt.
Please, when making horribly outrageous (and frankly untrue) statements such as this, you need to add 'in my opinion'.

How do I respond?

I do not think Lewis is the greatest heavyweight of all time...IMHO, I think for a true big man (6'5 250 pounds) he was freakishly skilled and a decent argument can be made that he is a top ten heavyweight...

IMHO, George Foreman knows a thing or two about boxing...In his humble opinion he said that "Lenox Lewis is the best heavyweight of all time, ergo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RB6KjXIf5A

My saying he was the most skilled big man of any era that I have since qualified seems like faint praise...

PEACE[/quote]




PEACE. Lewis was so inconsistent: great one night, stand-offish the next. Without Bowe, he needed to really belt Holyfield in the rematch to secure a place as a true great.
He didn't.[/quote]

I want to be clear...

I was trying to establish Lewis' place in heavyweight history...

The man is a giant...He's 6'5 240 to 260 pounds...I don't think there has ever been a boxer that big who is so sound fundamentally...

It's all about opinions lads, no need to get your knickers in a twist.

Even The Ring has printed utter shite before(Dempsey-Lewis-TIMMMMMMBEEERRRRR for example. If Luis Firpo had Dempsey in la la land and needing the help of the ref to get the win, I'am sure a 240-lb focused Lennox Lewis could easily hold his own)

In my opinion, Lennox makes top ten.
I base my top ten picks on achievement and how I think they would match up, on their best night against the other ATG's.(Note-Tyson does VERY badly in this!)

Lewis is between 6-10 for me(my list changes quite a bit and there is not much between them outside the top 5-Louis, Ali, Holmes, Johnson, Marciano)

Holyfield and Tyson do not make my top ten and if anyone can rank them higher than Lewis, in my opinion they are talking utter shite.

Lewis was the best of his generation. Bowe had the potential to challenge him but didn't fancy it for whatever reason(I have always believed Bowe hated Lewis, but hated the thought of losing to Lewis more so never fought him.)
As it turns out, Bowe comes in behind Tyson and Holyfield too, although talent wise, I would pick a prime Bowe on his best night over both Tyson and Holyfield(both of whom avoided Lewis during their career. Indeed, it is Holy and Tyson's fault that they never got beat by Lewis earlier than they did...they ran on more than one occasion)

Lewis never ducked anyone. In his generation of step aside money, that was an achievement in itself!

In my book Lennox Lewis is over-rated... (Partly because of the British press and partly because the lack of quality heavyweights in his day)...

Remember, Lewis only Unified the world titles because of a 2 point deficit over Holyfield... Hardly convincing in my eyes...

Joe Frazier
Lewis would try and stay Frazier, using his height advantage and his leaning jab... But Frazier would get in the inside... Let's face it folks. If Hzsim Rahamn can KO Lewis, Frazier would hurt him... And hurt him bad.

Ken Norton
I actually think tha tthis would run out to be a pretty close fight... If Norton didn't win by stoppage, I could see Lewis hanging on for a slim points decision.

Muhammad Ali
Ali would outbox, outspeed, outskill Lewis... Lewis would be lucky to last half the fight.

George Foreman
Foreman wins by KO 4th round (and that's being kind to Lennox)

Earnie Shavers
Lewis might be able to keep Shavers at bay, but again, he would have to be fighting defensively against such sa hard-hitter... Lewis could win on points.

Jimmy Young
Lewis wins points decision.

Larry Holmes
Holmes beat Lewis to the punch, better ring awareness... Holmes wins on points.

Yiddo14,

I just can't agree with what you're syaing there:
"Lewis never ducked anyone. In his generation of step aside money, that was an achievement in itself!"

Rest assured, he did duck fighters, it was a terrible habit of his... 2000 would've been around Lewis prime, and even then he wasn't a soul-destroying fighter, (the likes of which Ali, Louis, Marciano are).

In 1999, (following his victory over Holyfield) he relinquished his WBA title so that he wouldn't have to fight John Ruiz.
In 2002, (following his victory over a tired, old Tyson0 he relinquished his IBF title so that he wouldn't have to fight Chris Byrd.

PLUS, In those 3 years between 2000-03, he never once made an effort to fight Wladimir Klitchsko.

However, later when he had to fight Vitali, he won by a referree stoappage (while some people, myself included had Klitchsko ahead).

THEN, the WBC demanded a rematch and what does Lewis do? He chickens out... "I'm retiring is the excuse".

Lewis would have enver fought a prime, destructive Tyson because Lewis would have got KO'd... He had enough courage to dfeat aon old version of the fighter though... Hardly "the lion" which he became later known as.

And he didn't have no promblem in fighting a soft Frank Bruno, but he would stay well away from Tyson.

The vidence ios there, all you have to do is look for it... Lewis was a media darling, who's profile (and "greatness") was bumped-up by the British Media looking for a new champion whom they could glory in (following the retirement of Chris Eubank and the downfall of Prince Naseem).

No, he wouldn;t make my top 10.

Crease... Do I come into your bedroom and tell you how to blow your boyfriend?

No... Go away.

You are entitled to your opinion Crease, I simply don't share it mate.

You under-rate Lewis.
Ducking Byrd and Ruiz is clutching at straws.

Lewis pounding both these two into submission would have meant nothing. He did not duck them in the true sense. These two brought no interest, no challenge and no money to the table. Lewis vs Tyson/Bowe/Holyfield would have been absolutely huge as proved when Lewis did eventually get 2 of them in the ring.

A fight with Wlad was being built up, but Wlad went and got himself knocked out by Sanders so Lennox took care of his older brother. Lewis was behind on points at the time of stoppage, but Lewis had won the previous two rounds and was starting to get the better of the action, hence Vitali's ripped up face and the correct stoppage.
Lewis was an old man to boot.

Tyson didn't want any past of Lewis once he got out of nick and for good reason, he knew he would get beat.
Prime Tyson IS a fighter much over-rated and it is a crying shame Holyfield never got to him before he got sent down...Evander would have exposed the mythical "Prime Tyson" if their first scehduled fight had gone ahead.

The only difference between the 1970s Heavyweight greats and the 1990s Heavyweight greats is that the 1970s mob actually fought each other.

One last thing, you want to see how Lewis would have fared against Ken Norton?
Cast your memory back to when Lewis faced up and coming, supposed dangerous contenders that had the beating of him according to the press...He could come out and mix it if he felt it right. Knowing what Foreman did to him, I can envisage Lewis jumping on Norton early and taking him out.
On his very best night, Lennox Lewis would have held his own against any Heavyweight in history, and I would only favour 4 from history(Louis, Ali, Holmes and Johnson) to actually beat a prime, focused Lennox Lewis on his best night. And even then, I would only favour them by small margins.

yiddo14 wrote:You are entitled to your opinion Crease, I simply don't share it mate.

You under-rate Lewis.
Ducking Byrd and Ruiz is clutching at straws.

Lewis pounding both these two into submission would have meant nothing. He did not duck them in the true sense. These two brought no interest, no challenge and no money to the table. Lewis vs Tyson/Bowe/Holyfield would have been absolutely huge as proved when Lewis did eventually get 2 of them in the ring.

A fight with Wlad was being built up, but Wlad went and got himself knocked out by Sanders so Lennox took care of his older brother. Lewis was behind on points at the time of stoppage, but Lewis had won the previous two rounds and was starting to get the better of the action, hence Vitali's ripped up face and the correct stoppage.
Lewis was an old man to boot.

Tyson didn't want any past of Lewis once he got out of nick and for good reason, he knew he would get beat.
Prime Tyson IS a fighter much over-rated and it is a crying shame Holyfield never got to him before he got sent down...Evander would have exposed the mythical "Prime Tyson" if their first scehduled fight had gone ahead.

The only difference between the 1970s Heavyweight greats and the 1990s Heavyweight greats is that the 1970s mob actually fought each other.

One last thing, you want to see how Lewis would have fared against Ken Norton?
Cast your memory back to when Lewis faced up and coming, supposed dangerous contenders that had the beating of him according to the press...He could come out and mix it if he felt it right. Knowing what Foreman did to him, I can envisage Lewis jumping on Norton early and taking him out.
On his very best night, Lennox Lewis would have held his own against any Heavyweight in history, and I would only favour 4 from history(Louis, Ali, Holmes and Johnson) to actually beat a prime, focused Lennox Lewis on his best night. And even then, I would only favour them by small margins.

We could debate Lewis s greatness or ability for ever, IMO he is top 15 at best and there is one fact that cannot be disputed, when he very contriversially beat Vitali he was ordered into an immediate rematch, now in the first fight Lewis apperaed very luck to have won and he has an oportunity for a rematch in whihc he could have proved his greatness with a solid winnig performance. And he retired !!!!!!!!!!!!Come on. If he was a great Champ he would have fought Vitali again and won and retired. BUt he did not, and agin IMO, a prime Holyfield and Tyson would have both KOed Lewis, McCall and Rachman did.

ross

Lenox retired at thirty eight...Me thinks that's ripe...He didn't like the way he fought against Klitschko and admitted it...But he went out on a win...I wish my favorite boxers-DLH, SRL, and Ali were as coldly rational as Lenox...

Even if he becomes the King of England, I could never see him in the top 10 all-time greatest heavyweights. I do not even have him in the top 100 greatest fighters pound per pound of all-time.

He is probably a top 15 all-time heavyweight....That is about it.

Ross wrote:

observer1 wrote:

bennie wrote:He would have beaten Young and Shavers. That's it.

Agree.

ANd so do I

Maybe ONLY Earnie Shavers...Against Jimmy Young? It depends how Jimmy comes into the fight. I don't think that Lennox Lewis would have beaten these guys at their very best:
1. Riddick Bowe
2. Evander Holyfield
3. Mike Tyson
4. Buster Douglas
5. Jersey Joe Walcott
6. Ezzard Charles

Hate Lennox the man all you want, but it's pretty clear you are letting that blind your opinion of him as a fighter.

A prime Mike Tyson would never have beat any of the ATG Heavyweights, but I can understand why some would think he would so fair enough.
Holyfield would never have knocked out Lennox lewis if they had fought 20 times.
Bowe was scared to fight Lewis because he knew there was a great chance he would lose. Lennox had him(and Tyson by the way)mentally beat and they both knew he was tougher than them.

The most outrageous thing I have seen on here is that someone thinks a prime Buster Douglas is better than a prime Lennox Lewis!!!
Buster Douglas exposed Tyson as the myth he was, but trust me, Douglas even on his best night does not beat ANY other ATG Heavyweight. He got to the weakest of all the ATG at Heavyweight and has made a living off it ever since.

Lewis was undoubtedly the best Heavyweight of his generation.
He had the best of the rest running scared at times.
Prime Lewis beats a prime Holy and prime Tyson 7/8 times out of 10.
Prime Lewis v prime Bowe would have been closer but I would still pick Lewis over a series of bouts.

yiddo14 wrote:Hate Lennox the man all you want, but it's pretty clear you are letting that blind your opinion of him as a fighter.

A prime Mike Tyson would never have beat any of the ATG Heavyweights, but I can understand why some would think he would so fair enough.
Holyfield would never have knocked out Lennox lewis if they had fought 20 times.
Bowe was scared to fight Lewis because he knew there was a great chance he would lose. Lennox had him(and Tyson by the way)mentally beat and they both knew he was tougher than them.

The most outrageous thing I have seen on here is that someone thinks a prime Buster Douglas is better than a prime Lennox Lewis!!!
Buster Douglas exposed Tyson as the myth he was, but trust me, Douglas even on his best night does not beat ANY other ATG Heavyweight. He got to the weakest of all the ATG at Heavyweight and has made a living off it ever since.

Lewis was undoubtedly the best Heavyweight of his generation.
He had the best of the rest running scared at times.
Prime Lewis beats a prime Holy and prime Tyson 7/8 times out of 10.
Prime Lewis v prime Bowe would have been closer but I would still pick Lewis over a series of bouts.

I dont think Bowe had the heart to beat Lewis, but Tyson & Holyfield would KO him 10 out of 10 in their primes.

Its been said before Lewis was just there at the right time, he was a great ambasadour for the sport and a gentlemen and a pretty good fighter, but I think your love for the man is clouding your judgement of his ability. He was good but not great.

ross

Love is a bit storng, although I fully admit, I'am a fan of Lewis.

Incidently, my first sporting hero was none other than Mike Tyson and as a young kid I watched him in awe...it's only when I got older I realised how many people he managed to dupe.

Prime for Prime, Lewis, Bowe and Holyfield beat a prime Tyson over a series of bouts.
Holyfield never had the power to KO Lennox, so that's a non-starter and Tyson would win one or two out of ten fights, the rest would be systematic beatings, once Lewis had devised a plan to beat Mike. As I said before, Tyson would never match up well with any of my top ten Heavyweights(Louis, Ali, Holmes, Johnson, Marciano, Lewis, Foreman, Frazier, Dempsey and Liston. These guys were too tough for Tyson, who incidently never beat anyone to suggest he could blow Lewis away 10 times out of 10)and plenty outside of it too.Infact, Tyson barely makes top 15.

It's quite possible we never really saw the best of Lewis given his lack of real challenges during his career.
I blame Holy, Tyson and Bowe(now he would have brought the best of Lewis out)for avoiding him.

I like the way he handled himself after Mike Tyson said "he would eat his children" and bit him in the johnson region...

Tantum... GROW UP!

ROSS SAID:
"We could debate Lewis s greatness or ability for ever, IMO he is top 15 at best and there is one fact that cannot be disputed, when he very contriversially beat Vitali he was ordered into an immediate rematch, now in the first fight Lewis apperaed very luck to have won and he has an oportunity for a rematch in whihc he could have proved his greatness with a solid winnig performance. And he retired !!!!!!!!!!!!Come on. If he was a great Champ he would have fought Vitali again and won and retired. BUt he did not, and agin IMO, a prime Holyfield and Tyson would have both KOed Lewis, McCall and Rachman did."

I totally agree Ross, couldn't have said it better myself, lad.


ELMERSALSA SAID:
"He is probably a top 15 all-time heavyweight....That is about it."

Again, I agree. Lewis was a very good fighter, great fighter? HHHHHMMMM.... A LEGEND? Hardly.


YIDDO14 SAID:
"Holyfield would never have knocked out Lennox lewis if they had fought 20 times."

That's a bit of a harsh statement mate, methinks your undervalueing Holyfield as a boxer.... And remember, they did draw first time round... A KO for either man would be conceivable if they fought 20 TIMES!!!! (Plus, with Holyfield's heart - which is where he got the "warrior" label from... I think it more likely that Evander would KO Lewis).

And NO, Buster Douglas wouldn't have had the better of Lewis anyday of the year... That is a bit "out there", like.

And I have to amdit that I struggle to see why people keep calling him a "great boxer" and "best of his generation"...

Lewis was slow, sluggish, heavy, his power was well over-rated (go back to the 50s/60s to see real power in the heavyweight division)... He was hardly an exciting fighter, and frankly, I thought he was a bit tame... I have heard Lewis described as a "big, wind-sucker"... Bascially, he throws a leaning jab all throughout the round, to keep his opponent at bay... Then he was throw a heavy right and then lean into his opponent and suck the air back in again... Lewis was hardly a 12-round conditioned fighter...

Now imagine him to the likes of Marciano or Dempsey, (who would give way an enormous height/reach advantage) YET, these boxers were trained to go 15 gruelling rounds... I've always found Lewis' stamina lacking.

The "best of his generation" label, bascially comes form him defeating Holyfield and winning 3/4 world titles... It is that acheivement alone that gives Lewis his so-called "Greatness".

I remember on the Jonathan Ross show (in British television = BBC 1)... Ross asked Lewis to explain how judges would score rounds... Was it the amount of punches landed? The numbe rof headshots? (Ross was thinking in Amateur-scoring terms).

Lewis spent about 3-4 minutes describing the system, a knockdown, a standing count... etc..... He even said that if he was jabbing an opponent the other guy would get points for coming forward "being agressive" and wlaking into the punch...
I remember watching that, that Lewis was unconvinced that an opponent should get points just for coming forward.

Lewis was a very good fighter, no-one who follows heavyweight boxing on this planet could dispute that, but I would have him in my top 15... Not my top 10.

CREASES TOP 10: (in no particular order. PLUS, I will only include boxers who I have actually watched fight, some people in this forum include boxers who they have never seen... HOW CAN YOU JUDGE A BOXER YOU'VE NEVER SEEN?)

Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, George Foreman,
Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Larry Holmes

Lennox Lewis beat:

VK
Tyson
Tua
Morrison
Ruddock
Holyfield
Grant
Golota
Mercer
McCall

and others. That's not a bad line up of fighters, in what was a decent era. To accuse Lewis of ducking John Ruiz is nuts. Likewise Chris Byrd.

The VK stoppage was not controversial in any way. He had serious lacerations to the face and the fight was correctly stopped. It is not a big scandal that he was ahead on points, pretty much everyone I know had VK ahead on points, but a stoppage is a stoppage, regardless of the score at the time. And to accuse him of cowardice after retiring at the age of 38 is excessive as well.

I also have Lennox as fringe top 10, but some of the justifications for this ranking, like the ones above, are over the top and suggest natural bias.

LEWIS GOT KNOCKED OUT BY TWO BUMS in his prime. Now, he would have beaten Bowe, Tyson, Holyfield and Buster Douglas at their very best?

I cannot see a guy that have one of the weakest chins in boxing history beat skilled and hard hitting fighters like Bowe, Tyson or Holyfield. Buster Douglas in Tokyo that night would have beaten any great heavyweight fighter in history. The problem with Buster was that he was A LAZY FIGHTER WITH GREAT TALENT. HE DID NOT LIKE TO TRAIN. He had all the physical attributes of a great heavyweight: Tall, great jab, great mobility, speed, decent stamina if trained hard, better chin than given credit for, and could outhink his opponent, plus can hit hard.

But if you put Douglas in Tokyo against any version of Lennox Lewis and Buster wins...Probably by KO, too.
The Tyson that demolished the great Michael Spinks and Trevor Berbick would have eaten Lennox for dinner.
The Riddick Bowe that fought magnificently against Holyfield the first time, was exceptional. I cannot see Lennox in his best day beating Bowe that night.

And Holyfield in his prime? Once Holy is all over him, forget it...Lennox cannot take those shots.

Lennox Lewis was a great heavyweight by his accomplishments, but if I judge him by his talent, he was ORDINARY LIKE ANY ONE ELSE. He was nothing to be HIGH about.

How could you claim Lewis clearly beats a prime Holyfield when he couldn't make a clear case of beating a very faded old Holyfield in their rematch?

Lewis was a very good fighter. I'd place him top 15 all time overall, but I see Lewis having lots of problems with lots of HWs in history. He never had to go 15 rounds, he was outjabbed by Mercer and Bruno, lost a close one to Evander in the rematch on mine and many scorecards, and of course has the two embarassing knockout losses to C-grade Rahman and McCall.

He was good technically but I can't watch Lewis and see him in the same league of a Holmes or Louis or even Liston skillwise. He was too lazy with his left jab and too limited in his inside game. Of course compared with the Motley Crue of current HWs he seems like Benny Leonard.

Joe Frazier - KO 2

Ken Norton - TKO 5

Muhammad Ali - UD 12

George Foreman - KO 2

Earnie Shavers - KO 3

Jimmy Young - UD 12

Larry Holmes - TKO 8


Lewis looses to every single one of these opponents. And if Lewis fought in the 70's he would carry the same status as a Chuck Wepner or a Richard Dunn - a journeyman.

elmersalsa wrote:LEWIS GOT KNOCKED OUT BY TWO BUMS in his prime. Now, he would have beaten Bowe, Tyson, Holyfield and Buster Douglas at their very best?

I cannot see a guy that have one of the weakest chins in boxing history beat skilled and hard hitting fighters like Bowe, Tyson or Holyfield. Buster Douglas in Tokyo that night would have beaten any great heavyweight fighter in history. The problem with Buster was that he was A LAZY FIGHTER WITH GREAT TALENT. HE DID NOT LIKE TO TRAIN. He had all the physical attributes of a great heavyweight: Tall, great jab, great mobility, speed, decent stamina if trained hard, better chin than given credit for, and could outhink his opponent, plus can hit hard.

But if you put Douglas in Tokyo against any version of Lennox Lewis and Buster wins...Probably by KO, too.
The Tyson that demolished the great Michael Spinks and Trevor Berbick would have eaten Lennox for dinner.
The Riddick Bowe that fought magnificently against Holyfield the first time, was exceptional. I cannot see Lennox in his best day beating Bowe that night.

And Holyfield in his prime? Once Holy is all over him, forget it...Lennox cannot take those shots.

Lennox Lewis was a great heavyweight by his accomplishments, but if I judge him by his talent, he was ORDINARY LIKE ANY ONE ELSE. He was nothing to be HIGH about.

Riddick Bowe gets way too much respect on here. His best over performance was basically a shoot out against a guy he outweighed by 30 pounds. If Holyfield had true heavyweight power, it's quite possibly that he would stopped Bowe, as he nearly did at the end of the tenth.

Bowe was outboxed and beaten up twice by C-level fighter Andrew Golota, who Lewis knocked out in a round. Bowe came within a whisker of being knocked out by a version of Evander Holyfield who was suffering from hepatitis B and had no energy or strength, yet you argue that Lennox has no chin.

Buster Dougles put in a sublime performance against an overweight Tyson but did little else in his career to demonstrate that he could beat Lewis.

And the fact that Lennox did not stop Holyfield in the first fight when he had him in trouble is a sign of his cautious tactics, not of his lack of talent.