BoxRec

John Henry Lewis. His knockout at the hands of Joe Louis is all people seem to remember of him and much like Michael Spinks vs. Tyson, Louis vs Lewis is by no means summary of his career.

He beat Rosenbloom,Braddock and Olin as well as knocking out Tiger Jack Fox and Elmer Ray.

I rarely see his name mentioned in the discussion for the greatest light heavyweights of all time. Initially I thought it was because of the lack of footage but Loughran and Rosenbloom still find their way on to lists.


Post any articles or thoughts.

I totally agree, truly great fighter and a Top 10 Light Heavyweight.

lewis had major problems with his eyesight that hindered his career, though he was pretty brilliant anyway. he had a tough time of it in london against len harvey and was losing the fight when harvey's hand got badly damaged and lewis might well have lost his title that night. nonetheless, he was a very skilled operator and a cool customer and i rate him very highly among the best cruisers.

Luis Manuel Rodriguez
Tony Canzoneri
Eder Jofre
Panama Al Brown
Freddie Miller
Jose "Mantequilla" Napoles

We seldom talk about these guys.

If anything, I find Jofre to be overrated. Not on his skill set, but I see him up higher than his accomplishments warrant fairly often on lists.

That's a perfect response to the OP's post about how underrated Lewis is. After 2 responses a poster slams up a list without even mentioning him.

I think part of the issue is that there is no film of Lewis beyond the Louis KO, as well as a general lack of film (or very limited film) for many of the greats of that era 20s-40s.

That certainly has something to do with it, he still doesn't seem to get the same recognition as many of his contemporaries.

Thanks for your lists and opinions but I was asking about info on Lewis.

How about the great Carlos Ortiz? We seldom talk much about this great fighter.

elmersalsa wrote:How about the great Carlos Ortiz? We seldom talk much about this great fighter.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

elmersalsa wrote:How about the great Carlos Ortiz? We seldom talk much about this great fighter.

Sometimes I feel this guy intentionally fucks with me.

It's either that or he's posting without reading any other replies. That's not unusual for a single post, but most come back and see if someone responded to them. So yeah, he's probably sticking it to you.

we've all had the same shite from him, elmer. its the down side of using the site