Editing Lennox Lewis (section)

==Legacy==
{{BLP sources section|date=July 2017}}
Lewis was the seventh [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] gold medallist to become world heavyweight champion after [[Floyd Patterson]], [[Muhammad Ali]], [[Joe Frazier]], [[George Foreman]], [[Leon Spinks]], and [[Michael Spinks]]. He holds the distinction of being the first professional heavyweight champion to win a gold medal in the [[super-heavyweight]] category, which was not created until the [[1984 Summer Olympics]]. He is also the only boxer to represent [[Canada at the Summer Olympics]] and subsequently win a professional world title. Lewis was the first boxer to hold the [[list of British heavyweight boxing champions|British heavyweight title]] and subsequently win a world title. Although three fighters have since repeated this feat ([[Herbie Hide]], [[Tyson Fury]], and [[Anthony Joshua]]), only Lewis also won the [[Lonsdale belt]] outright.

While struggling to achieve popularity and respect earlier in his professional career, Lewis's standing has increased since his retirement in 2003, and he is now considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Struggling to win the affection of the British public and facing indifference from an American audience, Lewis's body of work eventually established him as the dominant heavyweight of his time. He was the last undisputed heavyweight champion, until May 2024, when [[Oleksandr Usyk]] defeated Tyson Fury.

Lewis became one of only two boxers in history, and the first since [[Ken Norton]] in 1978, to have been awarded the heavyweight championship without actually winning a championship bout when the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] awarded him their title in 1992. This was due to [[Riddick Bowe]] relinquishing the title after failing to agree to defend the title against Lewis, who had become the mandatory challenger by defeating [[Donovan Ruddock]] a few weeks earlier. In 2001, Lewis became the fourth boxer (after [[Muhammad Ali]], [[Evander Holyfield]] and [[Michael Moorer]]) to have held the world heavyweight championship on three occasions.

Lewis defeated [[World heavyweight boxing championship records and statistics|15 boxers]] for the world heavyweight title, the fifth-most in history. His [[World heavyweight boxing championship records and statistics#Longest title reigns|combined three reigns tally 3,086 days]] (8 years, 5 months and 13 days), which ranks as the fourth-longest cumulative time spent as world heavyweight champion. His total of fourteen successful defences ranks as the fifth-highest in heavyweight history. At four years, two months and fifteen days, Lewis has the twelfth-longest reign in heavyweight championship history. As of December 2024, [[BoxRec]] ranks Lennox as the 55th greatest fighter of all time, pound for pound.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://boxrec.com/en/ratings?r%5Brole%5D=box-pro&r%5Bsex%5D=M&r%5Bstatus%5D=&r%5Bdivision%5D=&r%5Bcountry%5D=&r_go=&offset=50|title=BoxRec ratings: lb for lb, active and inactive|access-date=24 December 2024|publisher=BoxRec}}</ref>

In 2018, ''[[Boxing News]]'' ranked Lewis as the third-greatest heavyweight of all time, behind [[Muhammad Ali]] and [[Joe Louis]]. While acknowledging that he could occasionally be vulnerable, the magazine stated that at his best, Lewis was as unbeatable as any heavyweight in history. In 2017, ''[[Boxing News]]'' also ranked Lewis as the second best British fighter of all time, after [[Jimmy Wilde]]. In the same year, [[The Ring (magazine)|''The Ring'' magazine]] ranked Lewis as both the greatest heavyweight of the last thirty years and the joint-eleventh greatest heavyweight of all time (alongside [[Evander Holyfield]]), describing him as "a giant who fought with finesse" who beat every available contender.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The greatest heavyweight of all time|magazine=[[The Ring (magazine)|The Ring]]|date=May 2017|url=https://www.ringtv.com/488242-ring-greatest-heavyweight-time/|access-date=12 July 2017}}</ref> Thomas Hauser stated that the idea of Lewis having no [[chin (boxing)|chin]] was a myth, citing his rising from the powerful punch from [[Oliver McCall]] which floored Lewis for the first [[knockdown (boxing)|knockdown]] of his career, and suggesting that he was perhaps stopped prematurely. He also contended that the knockout punch from [[Hasim Rahman]] in their first fight would have knocked out anyone. In 2003, ''The Ring'' ranked Lewis 33rd in their list of greatest punchers of all time.

Along with [[Ingemar Johansson]] and [[Rocky Marciano]], Lewis is one of three world heavyweight champions to have retired with victories over every opponent he faced as a professional. Unlike Johansson, who lost twice to [[Floyd Patterson]] after winning their first bout, Lewis is the only heavyweight to have avenged all his in-ring defeats. He is also, along with [[Gene Tunney]], Marciano and [[Vitali Klitschko]], one of four heavyweight champions to have ended his career as world champion, and with a world title fight victory in his final fight.

In 1999, he was named [[Sugar Ray Robinson Award|Fighter of the Year]] by the [[Boxing Writers Association of America]], as well as [[BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award|BBC Sports Personality of the Year]]. In 2008, Lewis was inducted into [[Canada's Sports Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tsn.ca/other_sports/story/?id=237621&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_main |title=Yzerman, Lewis among Canada's Sports Hall of Fame inductees|publisher=[[The Sports Network]]|date=13 May 2008 |access-date=21 December 2023 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205185347/https://www.tsn.ca/other_sports/story/?id=237621&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_main |archivedate=5 December 2008}}</ref> In 2009, in his first year of eligibility, Lewis was inducted into the [[International Boxing Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7774435.stm | publisher=[[BBC News]] | title=Lewis handed Hall of Fame honour | date=9 December 2008 | access-date=4 April 2010}}</ref> He was inducted into the [[Ontario Sports Hall of Fame]] in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lennox Lewis |url=http://oshof.ca/index.php/honoured-members/item/9-lennox-lewis |website=oshof.ca |publisher=[[Ontario Sports Hall of Fame]] |access-date=25 September 2014 |archive-date=8 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708182619/http://oshof.ca/index.php/honoured-members/item/9-lennox-lewis |url-status=dead }}</ref>