Lennox Lewis will go down in boxing history as being one of the greatest heavyweight’s of all time.
The British-Canadian great made his move into the paid ranks back in 1989 having won an Olympic gold medal at the Seoul Games one year earlier.
Throughout the course of his 14-year tenure, Lewis reigned as the world heavyweight champion on three occasions, which included a reign as the undisputed champion when he defeated Evander Holyfield in November 1999.
Lewis would also rack up victories against the likes of Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko, suffering just two defeats during his career which he was able to avenge against Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall.
In an interview with Bokser.org, legendary trainer Emanuel Steward, who worked with Lewis for a number of years, had his say on who he believes to be the top three greatest heavyweight’s of all time, as he ranks Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and George Foreman ahead of Lewis.
“Heavyweight’s, I would say Ali, and that’s not so much the skill, you’ve got to look at what he actually did. It’s your performance against the best, in any business whether you’re generous whatever so how do you compete with the best and he fought some of the best in their prime so Ali would be the number one.
“Joe Louis for being the greatest champion, what he meant to the world, in particular when they had the war going on and for the black race and for I guess 25 defences, 11 years, for all of those qualities he would still be in people’s minds back that I know, [they say] he’s the greatest champion because he’s the emotional champion.
“In the ring performance I would say Ali beat him but in the old level that both the two top fighters, but then beyond that I would seriously say people they laugh at me but I think that a lot of people underestimate George Foreman, in his own way, very smart, big, strong guy.”
All three of the aforementioned heavyweights will go down as all-time-greats, proving their credentials through their respective careers that saw them all win the world heavyweight championship on at least one occasion each.
