Lennox Lewis fought almost every great boxer from his generation during a legendary career.
‘The Lion’ enjoyed three separate reigns as heavyweight world champion during the 1990s and early 2000s en route to establishing himself as the best big man of his era.
His crowning achievement came in 1999 when he beat Evander Holyfield to become the undisputed heavyweight champion in a barnburner at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
But he also defeated the likes of Mike Tyson, Vitali Klitschko, Donovan Ruddock, Andrew Golota and Ray Mercer during a stellar 44-fight run (41-2-1).
The only two fights he lost, to Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall, he avenged.
However, there is one man missing from his résumé – ‘Big’ George Foreman.
The pair could have squared off in 1998 were it not for Foreman losing a contentious decision to Shannon Briggs.
Foreman vs Briggs had been ordered as a WBC final eliminator to determine a mandatory for Lewis’ world title.
Yet Lewis claims he wouldn’t have fought Foreman even if he had got his hand raised against Briggs.
“No, I never wanted to fight George,” he told Ring Magazine in a recent guest column.
“It is a lose-lose situation. If you beat him, like I would have, then you beat an old guy and everyone hates you because they loved George.
“And if he beats you, you got beaten by an old guy and you are rubbish.”
The Briggs defeat marked Foreman’s final professional fight and the end of his remarkable boxing resurgence.
In 1977, the former heavyweight world champion retired from boxing at 28 years old following a unanimous decision defeat to Jimmy Young.
Foreman left the sport in order to focus on his newfound Christian faith but returned 10 years later to raise funds for a youth centre he had built in Houston, Texas.
Against all the odds, he strung together an impressive 24-fight winning streak to earn himself a shot at Holyfield’s undisputed crown in 1991.
He lost the bout on points and was then beaten by WBO champion Tommy Morrison two years later.
But at the third time of asking, he shocked the boxing world by knocking out WBA and IBF title holder Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight world champion of all time at 45 years and 299 days old.
By the time he fought Briggs, he was 48 and would have just turned 49 had he been granted another title fight against Lewis in 1998.
