Was Lennox Lewis the greatest HW of ALL-TIME?

[X]

Lewis is certainly a historic fighter and, as one of the first giant athlete types that will dominate the division for the next generation, he merits a place in history.

Because of his size and athleticism, he would be hard to beat, just like the Klits. The Klits are one dimensional, but they do what they do so well that its hard to see anyone beating them in the near future. Lewis had technical flaws too - his defence wasnt great, he pawed with the jab and he lost focus during fights. Having said that, he would be competitive with most fighters in history if he jumped into a time machine. He is therefore one of the BEST fighters in history.

What that doesn't tell us is what would happen if Ali had been born in 1970 instead of 1940, or if Joe Loius had been his own great grandson ...... better nutrition, good diet, early technical training etc may have meant that they too would have been 6'7" or more nowadays.

For me - a measure of true GREATNESS is how far ahead of the opposition people were AT THEIR TIME. Louis made 25 defences if the undisputed crown, Marciano never lost etc. Lennox did get splatted himself a couple of times by inferior contemporaries, and he never absolutely dominated the division like Ali did. I would argue, therefore, that those fighters were GREATER than Lennox.

Another way of thinking about it may be the 100metres sprint. Asafa Powell has run faster times than Jesse Owens, so he is arguably better ........ but he has not been so far ahead of the field or created history like Owens, so Owens is GREATER.

Just my interpretation of 'Greater', its worth a good debate though?

[FinitoElDinamita]

Head2Head, possibly.. Lennox was one of the very first supersized HW who had the mobility and the skills of a smaller fighter and a guy like that is very hard to beat... ON his best night, he beats everybody.. I have no doubts that he would put a beatdown on Joe Louis, Frazier and the Alis of the world.. Size disparity is a big factor in this case and he'd beat em all...

[rjj tszyu]

No.

Top 10? Maybe!

On his best night did he have the potential to beat anyone? Definitely.

Prime for prime though I'd have Foreman smashing him all over the place and I also think he got his timing of Holyfield perfect too. I think Holyfield on the night he destroyed Tyson would have taken any version of Lewis.

I don't like this because it sounds like I'm getting at Lewis and I really am not. I love the guy and to be honest I miss him and what he brought to the game, but the greatest of all time? For me, NO, but I won't come down too hard on anyone who thinks he is.