Should Lennox Lewis have retired? What if?

First topic message reminder :

Its common knowledge that the heavyweight division of today lacks any real talent and is the worst era in history for the big men. A division which once boasted talents like Ali, Frazier, Marciano, Tyson, Foreman and others is now populated by phoneys like David Haye and Audley Harrison or else useless Russian lumps that rely on brawn over brain.

Could anyone have imagined the division falling into such a state of disrepair 15 years ago when you had wonderful fighters and rivalries between Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and even George Foreman making history!?

Im a believer that its good to go out on the top with nothing to prove and that is precisely what Lennox Lewis did. But for us the fans it dealt a killer blow to the heavyweight division. How much better would things have been if he had stayed on and should he have stayed on? What if he had stayed on? I suspect he would still be ruling the division to this day if he wanted do, although motivation would have been lost. But could it have saved the division from falling by the wayside? The heavyweight champion is the pinnacle of boxing and the current state of affairs must be considered a blow to boxing?

Part of me is glad he retired when he did at the top of the sport, but part of me wishes he was still around to inject some much needed life into the sport!

88Chris05 wrote:Lewis timed his retirement pretty much to perfection, and I'm amazed that anyone (even Gordy) would wish in any capacity that he were still boxing today.

Purely for the sake of bringing some talent and life into an anonymous heavyweight division. I agree he retired with nothing to prove and am happy to see him go out on top. But look at the division now! Its dull, lifeless and devoid of talent. Few people even know who the heavyweight champion is now. Shocking!

Devoid of talent? Gordy - there are 2 exceptional heavyweights in the division, at least 3 or 4 in the wings, like your buddy Price, Fury, Mitchell etc. We don't need my hero to come back to get his legacy all tarnished.

There are two good heavyweights but one thing I do agree with Gordy on is that we haven't had an exceptional one since Lewis.

Botha, Grant, Golota, Briggs, Tyson and Rahman may disagree with that slightly.

Lewis was not dull and lifeless good sir, he was a masterful boxer who had some great fights, let's not make out he's Johnny Nelson!

Wladimir is an exceptional heavyweight, its just a shame we won't get to see just how good outside of a rather incredible display against Haye.

alma wrote:I meant as a person, sorry. Dullest interviewee apart from perhaps calzaghe

You do have a point there. Glad you cleared that up.

I liked his disagreements with Larry Merchant

What is it about Lewis that makes you think he could dominate well into his 40s? Tyson and Holyfield for instance couldnt. No heavyweight in history has. Lewis is not immune to the effects of ageing. Nobody would have envisaged Tyson losing to Williams or Holyfield to Toney and Ruiz when they were near their best. I think you would find had Lewis stayed on he would have become very beatable and pretty ordinary when age caught up with him.

Archie Moore is possily the only fighter in history you could say dominated a division into his 40s and even then it wasnt a massively strong one at the time and he was fortunate Patterson bypassed the title on his way to heavyweight.

When Larry Merchant told Lewis the American fans didn't like him cos he was too cocky and Lewis went mad....I forget when that was but it was hilarious