Lewis vs Rahman I & II

[Beanz]

Lewis was a quality heavyweight and a quality individual. He is still a classy guy. He made the most of his abilities and would have held his own in any era.

[Spicoli]

Like that you posted both Rahman kos, best and worst. There was a point when I couldn't stand Lewis up until he made Ruddock do his Superman pose on the canvas and went to war with Mercer. I actually think the later is a plus. Lewis did the best you could hope for in terms of 'crossing over' state side and took some getting use too. But before Country, he did all you could ask of a top Heavyweight champion. Took his licks and came back. Bowe, Foreman didn't want him...Tyson, Ruddock, Bruno, Golota, Tua, Holyfield, Mercer, Vitali got him...called out everyone and never dogged it in the ring. Gotta respect that.

[Mars_ax]

Like that you posted both Rahman kos, best and worst. There was a point when I couldn't stand Lewis up until he made Ruddock do his Superman pose on the canvas and went to war with Mercer. I actually think the later is a plus. Lewis did the best you could hope for in terms of 'crossing over' state side and took some getting use too. But before Country, he did all you could ask of a top Heavyweight champion. Took his licks and came back. Bowe, Foreman didn't want him...Tyson, Ruddock, Bruno, Golota, Tua, Holyfield, Mercer, Vitali got him...called out everyone and never dogged it in the ring. Gotta respect that.

His only real loss was to Rahman and that was a lucky punch, (that's what he gets for clowning) the KO loss to McCall was bullshit. In any event he avenged his only 2 losses, and officially ended his career, with 41 wins, 32 by KO and 2 losses, not too shabby.

I thought one of his best efforts was against Vitali, he came into that fight out of shape and overweight and took a pretty good beating before sucking it up and stopping Vitali on cuts. Granted that was a bit early on in Klitschko's career, but nobody since has gotten to Vitali the way Lennox did.

[TysonBomb]

I'm not a fan but I have to admit that he deserves respect for being the last undisputed heavyweight champion

He put on some good shows ... even though most thought he was boring at the time

Him against the elder Klitschko was truly the last great heavyweight bout ... just hoped that his twin robot successors would give us some entertaining fights

[Fenster]

Lennox Lewis was one of my favorite fighters, nobody gave this muther-fucker anything, he took names kicked ass, and when he lost he came back like a Champion to settle the score. IMHO, one of the most underrated Heavyweight Champions, he fought everyone who was anyone.

Wouldnt go anywhere near his mandatory Chris Byrd

Lucky to get the decision against Mercer and was just as much to blame as Akinwande for holding and I think Akinwande even dropped him but it didnt get called?

Chris Byrd LMAO

Ray Mercer - a common myth! Watch the fight and score each round independantly - Lewis won fact

Akinwande - LMAO

Ross generally - LMAO

Another Big H beatdown. Send Ross to the burn unit.

Yeah, ouch...

Laugh all you want, Lewis dropped the IBF to fight Kirk Johnson () instead of Chris Byrd.

Lewis dropped/was stripped by the IBF because he was contemplating retirement. While he was doing this Don King in conjunction with the IBF were able to cash-in on a Holyfield-Byrd fight.

No TV company, promoter, fighter or fan ever gave a shit about Lewis-Byrd (hilarious). The WBC were threatening to strip him too because he was so inactive.

Lewis only came back for Johnson because it was a massive PPV double-header with Tyson to set up the rematch. Tyson pulled out, Johnson pulled out and Lewis ended up taking Vitali.

[greynotsoold]

I thought he thoroughly trounced Holyfield in their first fight.

[Master]

Lennox Lewis was a great heavyweight champion, he was royally screwed by WBC/Don King at times but he played the long game and won in the end against them. Lewis could have told them where to go and stick with one title like Holmes did but Lewis controlled his career and used those that worked so hard against him.

Lewis peaked later in his career and certainly was the better fighter with Emanuel Steward. Had he not lost he would probably never have got with him.

[ross]

Lennox Lewis was a great heavyweight champion, he was royally screwed by WBC/Don King at times but he played the long game and won in the end against them. Lewis could have told them where to go and stick with one title like Holmes did but Lewis controlled his career and used those that worked so hard against him.

Lewis peaked later in his career and certainly was the better fighter with Emanuel Steward. Had he not lost he would probably never have got with him.

Steward must have realised Lewis had a crap chin because he made him more boring. Leaning and holding. The fight he had against Grant, I havent wached it since but remember from watching a the tie that Lewis was very amateurish swinging and lucky not to get caught himself.

The one thing I like about Lewis was his belief in his power. He fought brave even though his chin wouldnt hold up if caught. He was always a "lucky punch" away from losing his title.

Edit, just remember how cautious he was against Holyfield. Lost the first fight and some say he was unlucky. Then in the rematch he does even worse and then gets the win! He didnt deserve the win the second time round, no way! In fact, against Tyson he also fought cautious. He could have stopped Mike much earlier and even Steward was screaming athim to step it up but he lost the 1st on all 3 judges cards then Mike had shot his bolt but Lewis could not get out of his negative cautious mode. He was gunshy at the back pf his mind when he felt someones power. Tyson in his orime would have scared the living shit out of Lewis. A fighter he would struggle to hit who when he did could eat up that power and had blistering speed. Lewis would have been a negative Bonecrusher.

[Beanflicker]

Meh, people can nitpick on any career. Lennox was the real deal and brought the pain. Top 5 HW of all time IMO, and I'm not a Lewis fan in the least.

[armyash]

I always liked LL too. I remember when I first got in to boxing in a big way and I was doing my paper round and reading all the sports pages after the first Holyfield fight. We never had sky or internet and stuff back then so had to wait to see the papers.

He doesn't get the credit he deserves now because the people judging him are still the people who may not have liked him just because they were Holyfiield/Tyson fans etc. In many years to come he will be considered a legend especially when the people see the names on his record.

One thing I'd like to say is that I would have liked to see a rematch with Vitali before retirement. People say that Lewis was unfit, overweight. Yes he was but he had been training for a fight (Johnson?) Klitschko took the fight at short notice, so he would not have been in tip top condition or as mentally prepared as he could have been. I always thought that was Lewis's plan. However funny that might sound but a lot of people had been calling for them to meet and I think Lewis intended to offer the fight to Klitschko after paying Johnson to pull out thus catching Klitschko not at his best.

Whatever. Lewis faced just about everyone he could and that KO of Rahman was pure class, the only thing that takes the shine off it is that he should have done it first time round.

[TysonBomb]

Lennox Lewis was one of my favorite fighters, nobody gave this muther-fucker anything, he took names kicked ass, and when he lost he came back like a Champion to settle the score. IMHO, one of the most underrated Heavyweight Champions, he fought everyone who was anyone.

Wouldnt go anywhere near his mandatory Chris Byrd

Lucky to get the decision against Mercer and was just as much to blame as Akinwande for holding and I think Akinwande even dropped him but it didnt get called?

Chris Byrd LMAO

Ray Mercer - a common myth! Watch the fight and score each round independantly - Lewis won fact

Akinwande - LMAO

Ross generally - LMAO

Another Big H beatdown. Send Ross to the burn unit.

Yeah, ouch...

Laugh all you want, Lewis dropped the IBF to fight Kirk Johnson () instead of Chris Byrd.

Lewis dropped/was stripped by the IBF because he was contemplating retirement. While he was doing this Don King in conjunction with the IBF were able to cash-in on a Holyfield-Byrd fight.

No TV company, promoter, fighter or fan ever gave a shit about Lewis-Byrd (hilarious). The WBC were threatening to strip him too because he was so inactive.

Lewis only came back for Johnson because it was a massive PPV double-header with Tyson to set up the rematch. Tyson pulled out, Johnson pulled out and Lewis ended up taking Vitali.

Tyson vs Lewis II was never made

Don King was preventing it so Lewis sued him

[Hulk]

I agree. But this seems more like a "I like Lennox Lewis thread". What did you want to say about the 1st and 2nd Rahman fights?

Nothing other then what I said in the OP, Lewis got his ass handed to him in the 1st fight, but came back like a Champion in the 2nd.

FWIW, I wasn't always a fan of LL and this isn't a "I like Lennox Lewis thread", I just believe that he didn't get the credit he deserved as a HW Champion.

This is called, being knowledgable and objective!! I respect that

Lewis is someone i'd love to sit down with, have a few Red Stripes and talk about boxing, hell, i'd even buy the beer. Lennox is another one of those pugs who came from humble beginnings and mostly through their own initiative along with a big set of cojones became HW Champion of the World. Yes he could be an arrogant ass, but I think a lot of that was because he didn't get the respect he rightfully deserved.
Happy New Year LL, you did it your way.

You wanna sit down with Lennox Lewis and have a beer? What did you do for New years? Creosote a fence?
I wanna go on the lash with Ricardo Mayorga in a Nicaraguan brothel...

Hell yeah Mayorga shout out !

Lennox is the greatest heavyweight of all time, as far as I believe he could beat any heavyweight in any era, despite not having the very best era himself.

George Foreman agrees with me.

[TysonBomb]

I agree. But this seems more like a "I like Lennox Lewis thread". What did you want to say about the 1st and 2nd Rahman fights?

Nothing other then what I said in the OP, Lewis got his ass handed to him in the 1st fight, but came back like a Champion in the 2nd.

FWIW, I wasn't always a fan of LL and this isn't a "I like Lennox Lewis thread", I just believe that he didn't get the credit he deserved as a HW Champion.

This is called, being knowledgable and objective!! I respect that

Lewis is someone i'd love to sit down with, have a few Red Stripes and talk about boxing, hell, i'd even buy the beer. Lennox is another one of those pugs who came from humble beginnings and mostly through their own initiative along with a big set of cojones became HW Champion of the World. Yes he could be an arrogant ass, but I think a lot of that was because he didn't get the respect he rightfully deserved.
Happy New Year LL, you did it your way.

You wanna sit down with Lennox Lewis and have a beer? What did you do for New years? Creosote a fence?
I wanna go on the lash with Ricardo Mayorga in a Nicaraguan brothel...

Hell yeah Mayorga shout out !

Lennox is the greatest heavyweight of all time, as far as I believe he could beat any heavyweight in any era, despite not having the very best era himself.

George Foreman agrees with me.

Foreman said that as a "in the heat of the moment" thing after he beat the ghost of Mike Tyson. A younger George Foreman would've smashed his jaw and put him down if they ever fought, ironically.

Yet a year later he literally ran into retirement from Vitali Klitschko.

I'm not too impressed with Lewis and his weak chin always puts him lower on the H2H rankings for me ... his accomplishments are good but not as good as some of the others like Ali, Foreman, Holmes, Tyson etc. Lennox Lewis is the same guy who was out jabbed by an older Ray Mercer who he arguably lost too ... he even had trouble with lesser guys like Bruno.

He is a top 10 heavyweight without question though

[Fenster]

Lennox Lewis was one of my favorite fighters, nobody gave this muther-fucker anything, he took names kicked ass, and when he lost he came back like a Champion to settle the score. IMHO, one of the most underrated Heavyweight Champions, he fought everyone who was anyone.

Wouldnt go anywhere near his mandatory Chris Byrd

Lucky to get the decision against Mercer and was just as much to blame as Akinwande for holding and I think Akinwande even dropped him but it didnt get called?

Chris Byrd LMAO

Ray Mercer - a common myth! Watch the fight and score each round independantly - Lewis won fact

Akinwande - LMAO

Ross generally - LMAO

Another Big H beatdown. Send Ross to the burn unit.

Yeah, ouch...

Laugh all you want, Lewis dropped the IBF to fight Kirk Johnson () instead of Chris Byrd.

Lewis dropped/was stripped by the IBF because he was contemplating retirement. While he was doing this Don King in conjunction with the IBF were able to cash-in on a Holyfield-Byrd fight.

No TV company, promoter, fighter or fan ever gave a shit about Lewis-Byrd (hilarious). The WBC were threatening to strip him too because he was so inactive.

Lewis only came back for Johnson because it was a massive PPV double-header with Tyson to set up the rematch. Tyson pulled out, Johnson pulled out and Lewis ended up taking Vitali.

Tyson vs Lewis II was never made

Don King was preventing it so Lewis sued him

Tyson signed to fight Maskaev on the Lewis-Johnson undercard to set-up Lewis-Tyson II. But Tyson pulled out.

King was blamed for bribing Tyson and stuff. Lewis sued them both, for fucking up his original bill (which he fought Vitali on) and costing him millions by blowing the rematch.

[TitoFan]

The way it had been told to me, the ESPN brawl was Rahman's fault. But watching the clip, I think it was really Lewis who started it by mentioning Rahman's sister. Regardless, the whole scrap looked pretty pathetic and.... dare I say it.... GAY!

Still, I enjoyed watching a focused Lewis get his revenge over Rahman in their second fight.