Lennox Lewis is seen as the greatest heavyweight from his era.
He turned professional with a lot of fanfare after winning a super-heavyweight gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and it didn’t take him long to make an impact in the paid ranks.
After becoming British, Commonwealth and European champion, he was named the mandatory challenger for Riddick Bowe’s WBC heavyweight championship.
Bowe refused to face Lewis, choosing to relinquish the belt instead, and that led to the WBC declaring the Brit as world champion.
‘The Lion’ made three defences of the belt before he lost his title after suffering a surprise second round stoppage loss to Oliver McCall in 1994.
He rebuilt his career with four straight wins, and then gained revenge on McCall when he stopped him inside five rounds to once again claim the WBC heavyweight title in 1997.
It was during this reign where Lewis established himself as the best of his era, defeating the likes of Evander Holyfield, Shannon Briggs and David Tua, but another shock loss then came when he was knocked out by Hasim Rahman in April 2001.
Lewis righted the wrongs from that fight when he won an immediate rematch seven months later, before then ending his career with wins against Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko.
Having fought an array of boxing stars, Lewis was asked on social media who he deems to be the most underrated, and he went with a man he took on during that initial rebuild into becoming world champion again.
Mercer!
— Lennox Lewis, CBE, CM (@LennoxLewis) March 31, 2023
Lewis met Ray Mercer at Madison Square Garden in New York in May 1996, claiming a narrow majority decision win after an extremely close 10-round battle.
Despite the loss, it was seen as one of the best performances of Mercer’s career, which first came to prominence when he won a gold medal at heavyweight during the 1988 Olympics, the same Olympics as where Lewis claimed his gold medal.
Mercer won the WBO heavyweight title in 1991 with a win over Francesco Damiani, before a successful defence against Tommy Morrison, though the WBO belt wasn’t seen as prestigious back then as it is now.
Mercer also fought the likes of Holyfield, Larry Holmes and Wladimir Klitschko during his career, ending with a record of 36 wins, 7 defeats and 1 draw.
