Lennox Lewis fought virtually each nice boxer from his era throughout a legendary profession.
‘The Lion’ loved three separate reigns as heavyweight world champion through the Nineties and early 2000s en path to establishing himself as the most effective huge man of his period.
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His crowning achievement got here in 1999 when he beat Evander Holyfield to develop into the undisputed heavyweight champion in a barnburner on the Thomas & Mack Heart in Las Vegas.
However he additionally defeated the likes of Mike Tyson, Vitali Klitschko, Donovan Ruddock, Andrew Golota and Ray Mercer throughout a stellar 44-fight run (41-2-1).
The one two fights he misplaced, to Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall, he avenged.
Nevertheless, there’s one man lacking from his résumé – ‘Huge’ George Foreman.
The pair may have squared off in 1998 had been it not for Foreman shedding a contentious resolution to Shannon Briggs.
Foreman vs Briggs had been ordered as a WBC ultimate eliminator to find out a compulsory for Lewis’ world title.
But Lewis claims he would not have fought Foreman even when he had acquired his hand raised in opposition to Briggs.
“No, I by no means wished to combat George,” he informed Ring Journal in a latest visitor column.
“It’s a lose-lose state of affairs. In case you beat him, like I’d have, then you definitely beat an previous man and everybody hates you as a result of they liked George.
“And if he beats you, you bought crushed by an previous man and you might be garbage.”
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The Briggs defeat marked Foreman’s ultimate skilled combat and the top of his outstanding boxing resurgence.
In 1977, the previous heavyweight world champion retired from boxing at 28 years previous following a unanimous resolution defeat to Jimmy Younger.
Foreman left the game to be able to give attention to his newfound Christian religion however returned 10 years later to lift funds for a youth centre he had inbuilt Houston, Texas.
Towards all the chances, he strung collectively a powerful 24-fight profitable streak to earn himself a shot at Holyfield’s undisputed crown in 1991.
He misplaced the bout on factors and was then crushed by WBO champion Tommy Morrison two years later.
However on the third time of asking, he shocked the boxing world by knocking out WBA and IBF title holder Michael Moorer to develop into the oldest heavyweight world champion of all time at 45 years and 299 days previous.
By the point he fought Briggs, he was 48 and would have simply turned 49 had he been granted one other title combat in opposition to Lewis in 1998.
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