I think Lewis was a very fortunate fighter to be honest. If ever there was a guy who was in the right place at the right time it was Lewis.

Holyfield and Tyson are the only serious names on his record and both were well past their best when he fought them. Tyson in particular was a fat and empty shell of the fighter he once was and lost two of his next three fights to journeymen. Lewis' win over Tyson is about as legitimate as Berbick's win over Ali.

I just don't see Lewis beating a peak Holyfield or Tyson. Any fighter who gets flattened by a single punch from a couple of average fighters like McCall and Rahman isn't getting through a fight with peak Tyson and I think peak Holyfield would have out worked him for a UD. It's also questionable whether he'd have beaten Riddick Bowe.

Lewis struggled badly with Bruno who was comfortably beaten by every top heavyweight he ever fought and he also struggled with Mercer who was quite comfortably beaten by a positively geriatric Holmes, who Tyson easily blew away many years earlier.

Who did Lewis beat that was anywhere near the top of their game? Absolutely no one really. He's lucky Vitali was cut so badly otherwise he'd probably have retired on the back of a knockout defeat as well.

I'll give him credit for essentially beating every guy he fought due to him avenging his losses, but he was a very well managed fighter as much as anything else.