Quote Originally Posted by Beanflicker View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Greenbeanz View Post

Borne ? With an e ? The first 12 years of a life are a persons formative years, the only way your argument can make any sense is if you put your fingers in your ears and wail like a banshee. Your ridiculous argument about Jamaican genetics would necessitate the complete revision of thousands of medals the world over. You are moving the goalposts. Your question asked who is the greatest British Heavyweight of all time and now you are disqualifying a British born Athlete who refers to himself as British because you have your knickers in a twist over the paucity of Canadian talent. Where did the genetics that make Wladimir Klitschko and David Price such huge "brutes" come from ? Jamaica ?
Well I think you're getting too caught up in the "genetics" thing, it was more of a throwaway point to show that he didn't even really have deep British roots.

I'm not moving the goal post at all, I'm making it very clear where I stand and what I'm saying to you: was Lennox Lewis a British citizen? Sure. And as far as I know he still lives over there.

What I'm saying to you, in no uncertain or ambiguous terms, is that England had absolutely nothing to do with producing Lennox THE BOXER. He learned to box in Canada, represented Canada in the Olympics as opposed to England, and then trained in America with Manny Steward.

Was Lennox born in England? YES. Does Lennox consider himself British? YES. Does Lennox speak with a British accent? YES. I'm not disputing any of those things.

Lennox the boxer isn't a product of England. Straight up. It'd be like saying Arturo Gatti is an Italian boxer.
Did Gatti return to Italy and fight for the Italian Belt ? Do you really think you can get to 12 years old in the East End without having a fight? What do you think returning to England to become a pro actually signified then? Fighting in York Hall on Bethnal Green, The Royal Albert Hall,Crystal Palace,Hull,Gateshead,Sheffield,Cardiff and Wembley is what makes Lewis a product of Britain. He was taught as an amateur in Canada by a Romanian
before the American John Davenport trained him for 19 fights. Then later his British Promoter Maloney brought Steward in to train his British based British Boxer. To claim that Lennox the boxer is not a product of England is like claiming that Amir Khan is not British because his parents are Pakistani and he trained with Freddy Roach in America.