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Originally Posted by Jones
I don't disagree with your points. I too am guilty of turning a blind eye to those boxers who never captured my imagination at all, but I would never disregard their skill level.
I feel Lewis did enough to get placement in a top 10 or 12 at the very least. To deny him top 20 is beyond ridiculous and is absolutely biased.
Another thing, sure his fights weren't the most impressive and he didn't have many wars like Holyfield, Frazier, Ali and the like. But to say he was boring, well I think if one had followed his career as it enfolded, they would have a very different opinion. One only needs to see a handful of his best fights to realize that he gave as good as he got when the fight was brought to him. Many of his fights did have placement in "Heavyweight Fight of the Year" discussions. From his all out wars with Ray Mercer and Vitali Klitschko, to his highlight reel KOs against Razor Ruddock, Andrew Golota, Francois Botha, and Hasim Rahman, to his flawless top notch boxing performances against Tommy Morrison and David Tua. He fought the best fighters at the time when these fighters were at the very top of their game at the top of the rankings, with the exception of Tyson and Holyfield. Both Tyson and Holyfield, for reasons I already stated, chose to fight Lewis only for the payday and not for the inclination of unifying the titles, despite what they might sugarcoat their words with today if the topic came up. Why risk going after a 6'5, 250 man with that kind of power and skill level when you can easily go after lesser fighters for good money and stay champ? That's the thing about boxing's dirty business, fighters just pick and choose who the hell they want to fight. Same thing has been happening with Floyd Mayweather Jr who declined an $8 million payday against Margarito to take on the lesser Baldomir for just as much or a tiny bit less.
That's how boxing is run, and fans are blind to the backstage antics of these promoters who try to protect their investment, the same way Rock Newman tried to protect Riddick Bowe from risking his titles against Lewis when Lewis was his mandatory challenger. So they ducked Lewis and gave up the WBC belt to go and fight 2 old men who had no business even boxing at that stage in their lives. But the majority of fans bought the story as being that Lennox Lewis was safely tucked away and hidden while these big superstars were duking it out. It shows Luis Cruz's ignorance on the topic. He's the prime example of these types of fans who don't know what they're talking about because they never paid attention to these events as they enfolded back in the day.
Just like today in the UFC, what would life be like for Chuck Liddell if Tito had never fought him? We all know that Tito ducked Chuck and tried to use the friendship excuse in order to sabotage the fight and keep hold of his title despite Chuck being the rightful contender. And what would've happened if they had never fought? The ignorant Tito Ortiz fans would be going "Chuck ducked Tito!" When we know very well this is absolute rubbish!
That's how alot of fans are, they don't have a clue. That's reflective of Lewis' career where promoters tried to keep him away from their investments. Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe....all 3 men wanted nothing to do with Lewis, and both Don King and Rock Newman made sure that Lewis would not get in their way despite being the rightful contender for the belts that were held by these fighters. It has absoluely NOTHING to do with Lewis was tucked away safely as Luis Cruz alluded to, ignorantly. That's all I'm saying.
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