Top 10 boxing heavyweight greats of all-time

8. Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs)

Lennox Lewis is the second youngest boxer to break into our all-time heavyweight list, but he achieved more throughout his career than his former adversary Mike Tyson, which is why he received a higher rating than Tyson.

Lewis could have been higher on this list, but he was born in the wrong generation. He fought during a time when the heavyweight division was at a low. Despite the confines of time and space, Lewis’s record is pretty impressive.

Lewis is the ideal modern heavyweight. He’s 6-foot-5 with a vast reach of 84 inches. He won Olympic gold and translated his amateur success into professional greatness.

Lewis had all the tools. He was an intelligent boxer who could move well despite his height and size. Lewis worked off the jab and would mix in punches to the body and head, and had knockout power in both hands. Lewis didn’t have Tyson’s one-punch KO power, but he knew how to break opponents down.

From 1999 to 2003, Lewis owned the heavyweight division. He didn’t have the early success of Tyson, but he was built to last. He learned throughout his career and progressed where Tyson regressed.

Notable conquests on Lewis’s record are Tommy Morrison, Ray Mercer, Andrew Golota, Shannon Briggs, Evander Holyfield, David Tua, Mike Tyson, and Vitali Klitschko. That’s a nice list, but only three of those names are hall-of-fame material.

His win over Holyfield was legitimate, but he fought to a draw with him in their first fight in 1999. Many thought he lost that fight. He smashed Tyson in 2002, but that was 2002 Tyson, not 1988 Tyson. Also, Lewis was losing the Klitschko fight until he ripped his eyebrow apart, which stopped the fight.

Lewis would be higher on the list if he didn’t demonstrate lackadaisical moments. He was shockingly KO’d by Oliver McCall in 1994 and Hasim Rahman in 2001. Lewis avenged both losses, but the memories of those KOs linger.