Was Lennox truly dull?

[paddy448]

Its often said lennox lewis was cautious and even boring in the ring. People point to his seemingly timid displays against the likes of David Tua. But surely his explosive performances out weigh the timid ones. Briggs, Golota, Grant, Botha, Rahman II etc. Surely the critisicm is somewhat unfair. Far from being timid i would say Lennox produced his most attacking displays when faced with his most dangerous opponents.

I would say the 'boring' tag is unfair on two counts, firstly, as i have said there are numerous examples of exciting, attacking performances. Secondly, is it fair to call his more sedate affairs 'boring'? I for one would say there is nothing boring about an athletic, highly skilled heavy putting on a 12 round demonstration. I'm sure many people that moaned about him at the time would now love to have him about, if he was an emerging heavy now he would be seen as a messiah.
Any thoughts?

first off lennox was definately a safety first fighter, but that was his winning formula, and why not, why would anyone else want to change that, ive seen him throw caution to the wind tho, especially in the golota fight, he just went straight after him, regardless lennox was a great champion, he would of givin any champ in history a good fight and beat most of them, i give him nothing but respect, truly a great heavyweight

Well said, i guess there is a distinction to make between 'boring' and 'timid'. A case could be made that he was timid (although id disagree), but the case that he was boring is far less strong. I would argue though (in regards to timidness or 'safety first') that a list of his aggressive, attacking performances would be lengthier than his negative, timid displays. (Although i accept perhaps this is due to them living longer in the memory)

i hear ya mate, for the people that called him boring, he didint do bad makin 100 million plus in his career, thats not bad for a boring fighter, he basically knocked out most people he faced, compared thru history he was probably less aggressive than a fraizer or prime tyson, but theirs no shame in that, surely, for me personally hes a top 5 heavyweight of all time easily