BoxRec

One of the knocks (well two if you count McCall and Rahman) was Lennox Lewis chin, but you watch this little batch of highlights showing some of the punches our Lenny took and came back from and you have to say that the punches that did finish him off were excellent shots and that his chin weren't that bad really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4SQmxIP5Bk

Very nice montage - Lewis took some humdingers there didn't he.

I always said Lennox's chin wasn't as bad as people made out. The 2 ko's he suffered were equaivalent to big men taking a run up before delivering the shot.

When he was on his game he could hang tough.

lennox just got tagged against mccall.

and got bloody careless against rahman and was blowing thru his arse cos of his lack of prep.

lewis chin was fine.

I wouldnt say Lennox had an "iron chin", but he hasnt got the glass jaw that a lot of our American counterparts on boxers of the past try to portray. He certainly took a lot of good punches and looked solid in most of his fights. The Bruno and Mercer fights spring to mind where Lennox took some very good punches, and even in the first round of the Tyson fight he got caught with a few. I'd give Lewis a B or B- for his ability to take a punch.

Nobody is saying Lennox's chin was made of granite (I think Dirts subject title was tongue in cheek) or that he had a Heavyweight Steve Collins chin.

However you don't get to be the dominant World Heavyweight of your generation (and the next) with a glass chin. Simple.

Get a montage of Lewis sucking up some humdingers from Mercer, Tyson, Holyfield, Bruno etc if you're that bothered....

I'm no Lennox "nut hugger" but I can't believe people still prattle on that he was hurt by Briggs. The punch carried very little impact and only sent Lewis off balance.

Briggs went beserk and blazed in for a finish that wasn't there. More fool him. Lewis did the right thing and covered up, ending the round no worse off than when it started.

Give over Search.

It's finished. Lennox spanked Briggs and went on to prove himself the best Heavyweight of his generation.

He won.

We won

He's retired now, get over it.

Lewis well and truly outclassed Briggs.

There are not many heavies that would not have gone down from McCall or Rahmans big shots. Lewis had a good enough chin to comeback from most heavy hits, he left himself wide open on the two occasions that he was beaten. The important thing is that he came back to avenge both of those defeats as he knew very well that they should never have happened in the first place. Holyfield probably could have taken those shots though!

Those punches would have knocked anyone down - Holyfield or Mercer or someone probably would have got up.
I thought Lewis could maybe have carried on against McCall, but the refs call was probably right in the end. Against Rahman he was knackered as much as anything at the time of the KO, poor training and altitude, crap conditioning, more than a crap chin

Thanks to the guys at Boxing Monthly for actually citing the forum in the editorial comment regarding this thread.

I think its the first time us anoraks got cited.

It would be nice to know if Glyn et al actually post here.

I don't think it will be particularly fair to discuss the piece while the Magazine is still available to buy - pick up the copy.

Here's my take on things.

Whilst Lewis' chin certainly wasn't great, it certainly wasn't china like some people are claiming.

The shot McCall caught him with was whilst he was rotating into his own shot, increasing the force of the blow, and preventing him from doing anything to ride the shot out.

The McCall punch was whilst Lewis was backpedalling in a straight line (very amateurish mistake) and thus has nowhere else to go, Lewis was blowing hard, and his arms were by his side.

In both instances Lewis did make it to his feet, though not before the count in the Rahman fight.

There are some other heavyweights with thicker necks or different neurological systems who would have ridden the effects of those shots, or recovered quick enough to continue, but I have no doubt that most of them would have at least gone down from that.

Nobody would claim Lennox had an iron chin, at least not in seriousness, but it was stout enough to soak up some mighty blows on occassion, at least when Lennox was properly prepared and saw the blow coming and was either able to ride it out or tense himself up and prepare for impact by pulling the chin down.

Lennox took shots from Vitali that had Danny Williams reeling all over the place like a drunk, and was with it enough to marshall his energy, find his timing and begin turning the fight around, even walking through some of those shots with blatant impugnity in the 3rd and 4th rounds, as if to prove Vitali wasn't a big enough puncher to hurt him.

As said here earlier. Tyson had a granite chin on him, one of the best I've seen in the division, but his only survival instinct was to fire back, hence he got battered by Douglas, Holyfield and Lewis after absorbing hellacious levels of punishment.

There is actually a youtube tribute to Danny Williams which shows him taking falling down. Never really realised just how bad his legs do go when takes a full blown shot. His eyes look clear, but its like he is hit on the temple every time he is hit on the chin - really shaky legs.

Generally agree with your take on Lewis, James.

Average is a bit of a ridiculous understatement. Danny Williams has an average/poor chin, Lewis' is above average, but perhaps merely average for a heavyweight champion. Compared to the likes of Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Lewis is not in their league in their ability to take a hit, (though of course Frazier didn't face many big punchers in his career, and the one he did face annihilated him), but to say his chin is average when he was fighting against the top level fighters of his era, is a little misleading. There was nothing average about Lewis at all, almost by definition, by being a champion this is the case.

Ray Mercer clobbered the shit out of Tommy Morrison, but his shots did not have the same effect on Lewis, in one of the few fights where Lewis got dragged into a fair old tear up he emerged the victor despite shipping some big shots. Admittedly, Mercer isn't the biggest puncher the division has ever seen, but he could certainly hit.

AKINWANDE DID NOT FLOOR LEWIS!!!


this myth seems to come from people who have never seen the fight

Exactly. Akinwande taps him with the bottom part of his glove, not even the knuckle, on Lewis's forehead. Watch the fight and try convince yourself Akinwande genuinely knocked him down. TOTAL B#LLOCKS.

As for trolls dragging up the Briggs fight... Lewis was knocked off balance and flew into the ropes. Of course he grabbed Briggs, Briggs went wild in there.

And bringing up Klitschko.. his best shots didnt even knock down a fat near 40yr old LL...

Give it up trolls.

Lewis had a bloody good chin.

Most heavies hit with that punch by McCall would have been out for a while, in my opinion.

This is a little off-topic but there's a photo of Lewis v Tyson where they're both about to land a right hand shot on each other - it was used by SKY and used to be seen on the high street in pub & betting windows. Anyone know if it's a doctored pic or can provide a link?
Great photo if it's legit.

Mr Sugar,

well done mon ami - you've made it (without name recognition unfortunately) into April's BOXING MONTHLY magazine with this topic.



Best wishes

"T.M.K"

T.M.K wrote:Mr Sugar,

well done mon ami - you've made it (without name recognition unfortunately) into April's BOXING MONTHLY magazine with this topic.



Best wishes

"T.M.K"

LEach does quote the source though - some writers just rip off posts on here without shame.....

el tigre del sur wrote:This is a little off-topic but there's a photo of Lewis v Tyson where they're both about to land a right hand shot on each other - it was used by SKY and used to be seen on the high street in pub & betting windows. Anyone know if it's a doctored pic or can provide a link?
Great photo if it's legit.

It's Lewis v McCall not Tyson, and it was used in William Hill betting shops, and in fact, I think still is to this day.

Terence wrote: This place gets credited loads as far as I've seen. It must be the big-dog of boxing forums.

Thats mainly because i post here.

Yeah, forgot about the 'twat of the month' section in Boxing Monthly

jamesmcdonnell wrote:

el tigre del sur wrote:This is a little off-topic but there's a photo of Lewis v Tyson where they're both about to land a right hand shot on each other - it was used by SKY and used to be seen on the high street in pub & betting windows. Anyone know if it's a doctored pic or can provide a link?
Great photo if it's legit.

It's Lewis v McCall not Tyson, and it was used in William Hill betting shops, and in fact, I think still is to this day.

Correct. I've often thought the William Hill proprietor is not a lover of Lennox Lewis if he still has a photo of a fight from 13 years ago (which is taken a split second before Lewis is flattened) in the window of their high street shops!