http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_y...--?slug=ap-lewis-retirement&prov=ap&type=lgns
Sad if its true. I was looking forward to a Kitschko rematch.
Sad if its true. I was looking forward to a Kitschko rematch.
Lennox Lewis Retires !
- Thread starter Raoul
- Start date
It will be a shame if true. Great Fighter. Probably sensible for him to retire though, he's no spring chicken and doesn't exactly need the money.
He was good. It's a shame that he came along when there weren't any real good challengers around. I'm skeptical about boxers' retirements though. Larry Holmes came back, Sugar Ray Leonard retired numerous times, Riddick Bowe is trying to come back and now Trinidad is coming back. I'd say it's 50/50 whether he fights again.
Can someone send him a Shareholders Utd Link pleaseWeasteDevil said:
Well he knew that he is going to lose his next match!
If he gives a visit to Magnier just before he hangs his gloves for good, he will be considered as the first boxer to be considered as a Manchester United legend
kennyj said:
Agreed. He was good but not great.
Some people Compare Lewis to Ali, I personally think he doesn't!
Lewis was most certainly great, just not the greatest.
Re_Deus said:
I'm not sure. Through no fault of his own, he never had the opportunity to beat a great fighter. I would rate him better than Holyfield, but below Ali, Joe Louis, Marciano, Frazier, and Holmes at the least.
I think that he would have easily beat Klitschko if they fought again and that he easily beat Holyfield in that draw.
kennyj said:
Holyfield didn't look the same fighter who came of the floor a few times to beat Bowe at his peak. I thought that fight would have been Lewis' defining moment.... ie to win the crown in a truely great style and prove to the world he was the best. Instead, he hid behind his jab, and looked frightened everytime Evander launched an attack..... certainly, not the way Ali, Tyson, Frazier etc won their crowns.
Tyson would have destroyed him in the 80's.... I think Evander would've beaten him easily in the early 90's.
Lewis came in an era, in which Frank Bruno finally became a world champ. I think that goes to show the lack of great fighters the 90's produced. I can recall watching Lennox taking a beating from Bruno....and if Frankie didn't have such a crap chin, he would've beaten Lewis in Cardiff.. seven odd years after Tyson, wiped the floor with him in the US.... amazing that.
Lennox was a good fighter... never a great one.
Personally, I think he was at his best before he put all the extra poundage on......
I agree Giggzy. Shame about Bruno's glass jaw. Usually I fighter can overcome that by more roadwork and strengthening the legs. I thought Bruno's chin improved a bit over time but it never became world class. Lewis had a great jab. If he had had a defining fight, i might rank him a bit higher. I don't know how to rank Tyson in his prime - he was fighting a bunch of stiffs.
FFS! Lewis was by far the best fighter of his generation.
You cannot compare over generations, it's impossible! Same as football.
If you had a time machine and you could take Lewis back to Ali's era, who would win? Lewis would, because the technology to support fitness is so much better now. If Lewis had have been born in Ali's era, well, different matter.
It's pointless to compare any sportsmen over different generations.
You cannot compare over generations, it's impossible! Same as football.
If you had a time machine and you could take Lewis back to Ali's era, who would win? Lewis would, because the technology to support fitness is so much better now. If Lewis had have been born in Ali's era, well, different matter.
It's pointless to compare any sportsmen over different generations.
He'll be back in 12 months when he can get one last fight for double the money he can command now. Boxing isn't that far removed from the scruples of wwf these days.
I don't think that he will fight again.
kennyj said:
Yes, Tyson fought some average fighters, but he destroyed all the boxers in his path during the 80's, you couldn't really ask him to do more. He wasn't a great 'boxer' but he was an excellent fighter. He had awesome power, great reflexes....and this amazing ability to swivel his upper body, to dodge and counter. Once he lost that ability he became, affectively, a punchbag with an awesome punch.
He dominated his era(80's) unlike any fighter after him, I think he'd be up there in the 70's as well. I doubt he would've dominated the division, though...as there were some amazing boxers, in that decade.
As for Bruno, I think Yanks, felt he was too 'robotic', a claim levelled at most European fighters. He wasn't as bad as people made out....but like you've mentioned, he had a glass jaw, which always lead to his downfall against most of the better boxers. He came close to beating Tim Witherspoon, for the WBC(?) in the early/mid 80's, but lost it near the end.. same old problem, couldn't take a punch...(Lost the same way to Bonecrusher Smith for the title, n'all.)
And I agree Lennox had an awesome jab, and a great punch. I think Foreman once said that, his boxing skills are over rated, but he's got an amazing punch, which will always give him a chance against anyone. He also had a dodgy chin.... but not as bad as Bruno's.
Btw.. Oliver McCall had an amazing chin, I can remember his rematch against Lewis, when he came out crying like he finally flipped.... During the fight Lennox hit him, god knows, perhaps 20 or 30 times clear on the chin, but he didn't feel any of them... I never seen anything like it.
Tyson was crap. He dominated in an era of crap opposition. As soon as decent fighters arrived on the scene he began losing.
Raoul said:Tyson was crap. He dominated in an era of crap opposition. As soon as decent fighters arrived on the scene he began losing.
Disagree to a point. Had D'Amato lived and continued with him I think Tyson would have been a completely different fighter/man.
I agree to the extent that he could've gone much further with D'mato and without Don King.
ukbob said:
D'Amato caused much of the problems that lead mike into prison. He never disciplined him. When Rooney was fired his world begin to spiral out of control. Certainly Tyson could have been the greatest but he had a ten cent brain
And lewis IMO wouldnt have beat a in his prime ALI or Foreman.. In fact Foreman would have knocked him out.