How do you rate Lennox Lewis as a body puncher?

[EleventhHour]

He was long retired before I started actively following boxing (I'm only 20, after all), but how would you rate his body attack?

[Xplosive]

I wouldnt

[AnthonyJ74]

He was long retired before I started actively following boxing (I'm only 20, after all), but how would you rate his body attack?

NOthing spectacular. I mean, Lewis had power, and he could hit hard to the body, but he wasn't known for possessing a withering body attack, ala Joe Frazier or Mike McCallum. I'd say his body work was so-so.

[lefthook31]

He threw bodyshots not too many, but Lewis didnt like to leave himself open and fighting mostly from the outside and throwing a bodyshot leaves you more open.

[Jorodz]

nothing i can add that hasn't been said. like most heavies, he was a head hunter. when he did work the body, it wasn't spectacular

[PowerPuncher]

He threw bodyshots not too many, but Lewis didnt like to leave himself open and fighting mostly from the outside and throwing a bodyshot leaves you more open.

This, going to the body didnt suit his style

[RockysSplitNose]

nothing i can add that hasn't been said. like most heavies, he was a head hunter. when he did work the body, it wasn't spectacular

Jorodz kind of put it in my kind of perspective here - there aren't a tremendous amount of truly great body punchers in heavyweight history anyway really - and it certainly never detracted from his greatness as a fighter overall thats for sure. At his best Lewis was an amazing fighter

Of the heavyweight champions, outside of Jeffries, Dempsey, Marciano and Tyson who else was renowned for there body punching?

ps just out of interest, you say your twenty now? - what was the first fight that really grabbed your attention for boxing? Just interested to know

:boxerkeep punching in the meantime btw

[PowerPuncher]

Jorodz kind of put it in my kind of perspective here - there aren't a tremendous amount of truly great body punchers in heavyweight history anyway really - and it certainly never detracted from his greatness as a fighter overall thats for sure. At his best Lewis was an amazing fighter

Of the heavyweight champions, outside of Jeffries, Dempsey, Marciano and Tyson who else was renowned for there body punching?

ps just out of interest, you say your twenty now? - what was the first fight that really grabbed your attention for boxing? Just interested to know

:boxerkeep punching in the meantime btw


Louis, Frazier, Toney, Fitz

[TheGreatA]

Louis, Frazier, Toney, Fitz

All around 6 feet tall. I think we can see a pattern here. Like PowerPuncher and lefthook31 have already said, going to the body consistently did not suit Lewis, who was 6'5 and made the most out of his height and reach advantages.

[The Wanderer]

He was long retired before I started actively following boxing (I'm only 20, after all), but how would you rate his body attack?

Lewis' body work was virtually nonexistent. Almost every time I remember seeing Lewis go to the body, it was purely to set a head punch or weaken an opponent's defense somehow, for example take how he jabbed to Briggs' stomach, making sure that Briggs would keep his hands down, then nailed Briggs with the overhand right to the head. See 3:45 of this video for the sequence:

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(Nitpickers please note the almost in that paragraph before jumping on me ;) ).

I can remember Lewis throwing a good uppercut to the body on a few occasions, but body work didn't really suit his strengths and style, as everyone has already said.

[tommygun711]

i dont think he was that great of a body puncher but he didn't go for it as an instinct like Frazier and Marciano did but that's mainly because he didn't need to he had plenty of power to knock someone out with a simple one two to the head..

[MAG1965]

out of 1-10 10 being best he is a 5.. Not great. Another tall guy like Lennox with a right Thomas Hearns was a 7 with body punches. Just to show you how I rate Lennox.

[Thread Stealer]

Obviously he didn't go the body like a Frazier or Tyson, he could mix it in here and there with effectiveness. At times he used the combo that Tyson is so famous for, the right hook to the body and right uppercut to the head combo, dropping Morrison with it and landing it quite a few times against Mercer. He hurt Mavrovic to the body (more so than the gazillion right uppercuts he landed while holding Mavrovic's neck with his left hand), Holyfield to the body in the 5th round of the first fight, and Tua in the late rounds of their fight. I forgot the round, it was when Lampley was going nuts over Lewis landing the uppercut, but it was actually a bodyshot that did the most damage in that sequence.

In some other fights, he didn't seem to even bother with a body attack.

[RockysSplitNose]

Louis, Frazier, Toney, Fitz

sorry meant to type Frazier aswell, - I don't think Louis was especially renowned for his body punching - and was Toney at all? Fitz from what i see on film was definately not primarily a body puncher - he looked more a straight up marquis of queensbury style boxer to me - he just happened to win the title on a million to one shot in Corbetts belly in my opinion - but anyhows my point being I make that about 5 former heavyweight champions in history who were famed for their body punching - only 5 - just an interesting observation thats all.

[PowerPuncher]

sorry meant to type Frazier aswell, - I don't think Louis was especially renowned for his body punching - and was Toney at all? Fitz from what i see on film was definately not primarily a body puncher - he looked more a straight up marquis of queensbury style boxer to me - he just happened to win the title on a million to one shot in Corbetts belly in my opinion - but anyhows my point being I make that about 5 former heavyweight champions in history who were famed for their body punching - only 5 - just an interesting observation thats all.

Louis made Schmelling squeel like a pig from bodyshots and could certainly work the body. Fitz knocked out Corbett to the body, I think he had a few body KOs. Toney does goto the body nicely but obviously isnt very workmanly.

1 point is men with fast accurate hands dont need to goto the body as much as they have more options. If you can land to the head why goto the body?

[Jorodz]

Louis made Schmelling squeel like a pig from bodyshots and could certainly work the body. Fitz knocked out Corbett to the body, I think he had a few body KOs. Toney does goto the body nicely but obviously isnt very workmanly.

1 point is men with fast accurate hands dont need to goto the body as much as they have more options. If you can land to the head why goto the body?

ohhh that's a dangerous question to ask. the body is not just the key to the head, it can win fights on its own merit

[janitor]

Of the heavyweight champions, outside of Jeffries, Dempsey, Marciano and Tyson who else was renowned for there body punching?


Fitzsimmons, Burns, Langford (coloured champion), Schmeling, Louis

[janitor]

1 point is men with fast accurate hands dont need to goto the body as much as they have more options. If you can land to the head why goto the body?

"Because the body aint got any eyes"

Sam Langford

If a fighter is durable or can guard their chin one way or another then a body attack may be a better strategy for weakening them. While head shots may be all or nothing to an extent, a body attack provides a steady atrition.

I would consider a lack of body attack a verry serious weakness in any fighter. I would also categorise any fighter who relied entirley on head shots as being limited in their approach.

[Jorodz]

"Because the body aint got any eyes"

Sam Langford

If a fighter is durable or can guard their chin one way or another then a body attack may be a better strategy for weakening them. While head shots may be all or nothing to an extent, a body attack provides a steady atrition.

I would consider a lack of body attack a verry serious weakness in any fighter. I would also categorise any fighter who relied entirley on head shots as being limited in their approach.

countless fighters have said that you can recover from a head shot but not a body shot. it's a long term investment over fights and when properly utilized (micky ward, fitz, jeffries) can provide stunning knockouts on its own

[Pusnuts]

vs Tua doesnt really count because Tua and his manager Kevin Barry are on record (I watched the news footage myself pre-fight) saying he had injured a rib in training.
I think it was round 3 that Tua got hurt there

[The Kurgan]

When he did it, he was effective. He hurt Holyfield badly with a big looping left to the stomach in their first fight.

However, because of his style of fighting on the outside and his height, it would have been stupid for him to have worked the body. It would have meant lowering his hands and leaning forward, which would have been a bad idea, to put it mildly.

[Mendoza]

Lewis does not have much of a body attack by plan, but this is not to say he could not in fight. Lewis clinched well, and had a heck of an uppercut.

[lefthook31]

Bowe who usually liked to work his way to the inside was a very good body puncher for a tall guy.