Lennox Lewis is considered by some to be the greatest heavyweight of all time.
The Super-Heavyweight Olympic Gold Medalist turned over to the paid ranks in 1989, picking up the European title in his 14th fight, the British in his 15th, the Commonwealth in his 20th and was elevated to world champion in 1993 after Riddick Bowe refused to fight him.
Lewis made three successful defences of his WBC belt before a shock loss to Oliver McCall. He would avenge the loss in a rematch later, as he did with his only other defeat to Hasim Rahman.
Known as ‘The Pugilist Specialist’, Lewis used his impressive reach to keep opponents at range. His traditional heavyweight style had few flaws, but he could get aggressive if need be. He hung up the gloves after a bloody win over Vitali Klitschko in 2003 with a record of 41 wins, 32 knockouts and just the two losses. For over two decades he was the last division’s last undisputed champion before Oleksandr Usyk repeated the feat this year.
In a ‘winner stays on’ feature for Mail Sport Boxing, multi-division world champion Roy Jones Jr had ‘The Lion’ beating a prime Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Wladimir Klitschko. He backed him against the current top dogs in Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. The one man Jones picked against Lewis was Muhammad Ali.
As fantasy fights go, they don’t come much better. Ali (56-5, 37 KOs) was as significant inside the ropes as he was outside them, a slick-moving jabbing machine with sneaky power and a confident unmatched.
Far from a cross generational rivalry, Lewis considers the man formerly known as Cassius Clay as one of his heroes. On being a pallbearer at Ali’s funeral, he said, “Ali has always been an enormous inspiration to me, not only in my boxing career, but also in life. His journey began 74 years ago, and in that time, he not only transformed the world of sport, he used sport to transform the world.”
