Lennox Lewis

Lewis was the smartest heavyweight of his era. At 6'5" with an 84-inch reach, he had the physical tools to dominate from the outside — and he used them. His jab was a weapon, not a rangefinder. He'd pump it three or four times, measuring distance, then sit on the right cross when the opponent tried to time the jab. Emanuel Steward refined his approach: use the jab to control distance, keep the opponent at the end of the reach, and throw the right hand when they commit forward. Lewis was also one of the few heavyweights who could effectively fight on the back foot. He'd let opponents come to him, pick them off with straight punches, and clinch when they got too close. His two losses (Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman) both came from lapses in concentration — he stopped fighting behind the jab and got caught. When focused, he was the best heavyweight of the 1990s.