Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield are two of the most accomplished heavyweights in the history of the sport.
Holyfield’s journey started out at cruiserweight, where he became undisputed before repeating the feat in the top division. He was, until May of this year when Oleksandr Usyk achieved it, the only man to hold all belts in both divisions. His heavyweight run included a thrilling trilogy with Riddick Bowe, winning one and losing two.
Lewis was a career-long heavyweight and famously beat every man he stepped through the ropes with, though two of those wins came in rematches after shock losses and one, against Holyfield, after a draw in their initial contest.
In an interview with Boxing News, Bowe – who famously refused to face Lewis and instead binned his WBC belt on live television – was asked to rank the pair and gave Holyfield the top spot.
“Well, I know Holyfield, no matter what you do and how you do it, he’s gonna be there. Lennox I put him number two cause he’s the biggest of all of us and I guess he proved that he was durable.”
Of course, the rivalry was put to the test twice. Lewis and Holyfield first met in the ring in 1999 for the undisputed heavyweight championship. They battled it out over 12 rounds to a split draw, with one judge scoring it 116-113 to Lewis, a second controversially giving it to Holyfield 115-113 and the third unable to split the two at 115-115.
A rematch was ordered quickly and Lewis would win via unanimous decision, becoming the division’s first all-belt champion since Bowe seven years prior.
