The only one I'd favor with any certainty is Ali. I'd probably back Holmes, Louis, and Liston to take him as well. 50/50 with prime versions of Foreman, Holyfield, Tyson, and maybe Bowe.
Fair points, actually. I suppose technically Lewis might be Foreman's kryptonite if he boxes and sticks to the outside as everyone did against OLD Foreman, he might have some serious troubles. Still, the flip side is that Foreman has to be the ultimate nightmare for anyone with any type of Questionable chin. My surprise was more with the fact that you gave him NO chance rather than that you picked him. Surely, at worst, Foreman has a decent punchers chance?
I forgot Bowe ,could be interesting but I slightly favour Lennox,better defence. Ali is the only one I would put money on:good
Different ATG heavyweights set the bar at different levels, in terms of the quality of fighter that it will take to beat them. With Lewis it is comparativley low, without that implying that he is less great than some ATG heavyweights where the bar is set higher.
Lennox Lewis has the ability to beat any champ. He can also lose to punchers, but I would take him over the vast majority of lineal champions.
He never met one, Ali beat him with his legs,and Liston was well past it. Lewis had a good jab, but I don't think anyone would put it in the same class as Liston's. This content is protected This content is protected
Lennox faced the following top jabbers: Golota, Vitali, Mercer, Bruno, Akinwande, Tucker,Rahman. Yes he had a few problems with some, others not so much, but many men would have problems with that opposition and he still beat all those men, close fights or not. All but 1 of the men mentioned are bigger than Liston How many top contenders did Liston meet who could match him for size, let alone a SHW who would be bigger? Just Ali and Williams Also being able to land your jab on Lennox is 1 thing, not getting tagged with a massive counter right because he's looking to throw it over your jab is a complete other thing and all the men who gave him problems also had that happen to them Ali didn't just beat Liston with feet he beat him with speed too and his jab. Lennox has speed, range and power in this match up.
Lewis has nothing over Liston in range or power,add chin to that,and he was none too speedy, ever see him up on his toes? Ali was facing a man who had 6 minutes of ring combat in his previous 2 years ,and was around 35, maybe more. How about we put Lewis in with the guy who destroyed Williams ? Williams was also a good jabber by the way. I've said Lewis gives problems to every other champ ,I made the thread , but Liston 's kryptonite was speed, Lewis was flat footed ,and against the young Sonny would have no discernable advantage in hand speed, imo.
If he fought all the heavyweight champions, he would beat some of the greatest, but then he would end up getting starched by sombody like Max Baer or Jess Willard allong the way. Lewis is always going to produce some anomalous results in this regard.
i don't know how a fight between louis and lewis would go, actually. the brown bomber's defense was somewhat lacking. lennox's ramrod jab would be a serious problem there, along with that beautiful overhand right and cutting uppercuts on the way in.... but, if anybody had the punching power and combinations to defeat lewis, it's joe.
Lewis at his absolute best could beat them all apart from peak Ali, who i would favour strongly on points. Holmes would be a struggle too but still i think LL would prevail. Don't misinterpret that has me having Lewis as a top 3 ATG. I have him between 4-6 on any given day.