What If Lewis Replaced Holyfield In 1996

96 would have been the last year in the timeline that mike would have have a shot at victory.

From 97 onwards lewis was prime and tyson was very very faded and unmotivated.

 

Lewis would have been far more focused than the version that faced McCall, Rahman, Mercer, so throw those performances out the window. Think of the Rudduck, Golota, Holyfield type performances.

Tyson's style of head movement and speed does give him a shot here. But Holyfield kept timing that right hand down the pipe on Tyson, would Lewis do the same? Quite possibly. Douglas suffocated Tyson's inside work and made him pay for coming inside with uppercuts, that is a big punch for Lewis if Tyson gets inside and he landed it in the first round when Tyson did get inside - and Tyson was still hot for at least a round when they did fight. People also forget Lewis didn't use his full arsenal when he did fight Tyson.

I'd lean 80-20 towards Lewis, Tyson has a punchers chance

 

That's fair and reasonable. Lewis kept getting better and better overall during this period ,while outside of a few promising moments Tyson's career and life was in shambles.

 

80-20... how very conservative of you PP.

How about 99-1 to Lewis. :smoke

 

Well, in your endless quest to discredit Evander's win as much as possible, this is not surprising from you two.

If you gouged out Tyson's eye, cut off his right hand, and broke his knee cap. I still can't think of a better more dangerous heavyweight pressure fighter in that decade...don't say Tua, just don't. Even at 20%, Tyson has more complete skills and ability than any of them.

 

Mong, in case you didn't realise, i was being extremely sarcastic. :yep

I actually strongly believe Holyfield beat a better, fitter version of Tyson than Douglas did...

Afterall, i'll take explosive & ferocious over listless & lethargic any day of the week. :deal

 

:think Perhaps I underestimated you.

Yeah, I agree with that. At the very least, Tyson had more than a condom and "punch Mike punch" in his corner.

 

Well because you've mentioned it twice then i suspect that is what you would want to happen.
Personally i see Lewis' chin holding up because he would be prepared and focused for the prospect of facing Tyson. He wouldn't be the lazy, unmotivated Lewis of his KO losses. Lennox threw more rapid combo's and was faster back in 96' as opposed to the 99-00 Lewis, which would also be to Tyson's detriment.

@mongoose.
A big reason for the Mercer fight turning into the fight it did was the tiny ring they fought in. I don't think that should be overlooked.
Also Ray was highly motivated and in good shape that night, it was a big opportunity for him.
It woulda been interesting to have seen how Tyson would of faired with the very live Mercer that faced Lewis.

 

He would go down and not get back up.

 

-The smarter more composed Lennox Lewis of the Holyfield fights would have shut out Mercer in a ring of any size. Lewis had more problems than running room on that night.

-Motivated? Absolutely. Good shape? 14 lbs over his best weight with a noticable soft gut and out of the ring for over a year? The same sorry shape he was in when he got humilated by Ferguson and Wilson? I don't think so.

-I've done gave my thoughts on Tyson vs. Mercer, many times over. Mercer tries to plod forward behind that jab, he's eating left hooks like he did against Evander and of more consequence. Holyfield ate Mercer up with lefts over the jab and hurt him far more than Lewis' "stay away" straight punches. Some rough spots on the inside for Mike, but nothing he can't handle. Mercer may end up with his first stoppage lose, many years before he ever even heard of this Wlad cat.

 

Great post!:good

 

Clean the sand out your vag, I rate Holyfield's win very highly, I also rate Lennox as 1 of the best H2H heavies ever

 

I think it's funny how people bring up LEnnox's below average performances and ignore Holy's run against Bowe, Mercer, Moorer