1998 Mike Tyson vs prime lennox lewis

Lewis.

 

88 Tyson tkos lewis or wins a wide UD

 

1985-1988 - Beast prime Mike Tyson (although young)
1988 - 1990 - slow decline and loss of focus leading to douglas loss

prison time you know the rest of the story never the same again


If he had not lost Cus and had a mentor to keep him away from distractions and the troubles in life he'd easily be ranked within the Top 5 heavyweights of all time.


The only guys prime Tyson has trouble with are people like prime Foreman and Ali

But we can't do silly comparisons like this can we?

I voted prime Lennox over 1998 Tyson easy.

edit: It seems you titled the thread '1998' which should be correct to 1988

I'd pick 1988 Tyson.

 

Tyson

 

u mean 1988 tyson? 1988 tyson knocks everyone out including ali. WAR TYSON!!!!

 

Lennox is a terrible style match up for Tyson beats him 8 times out of 10 even in Tyson's mythical prime (where he is virtually invincible according to his fans).

 

1998 Tyson Vs Prime Lewis - Lewis stops him in 10
1988 Tyson Vs Prime Lewis - Genuine 50-50 fight

 

1988 NOT 1998. Change the title
Jesus Christ. I wanna smotherivi you

 

Lewis easily. Tyson is the most over rated fighter in history.

 

He best Lewis but no Ali beats prime Tyson. Ali took Foreman,Shavers,Liston's power shots. Plus had a great chin.
Tyson was great but he was really only a 5 round KO artist.
Ali by late TKO.

 

Tyson had problems with taller fighters. He never beat a guy close to Lewis's height, likely because they could see that looping shot coming and move to avoid it.

I say that trend holds and Lewis wins a UD or late stoppage, unless Mike cracks the not so reliable chin of Lewis.

 

Lets simply say this, Tyson could take punches, Lewis could be taken out by one punch. Tyson punches were no joke in his prime. How Lewis would survive those killer punches, I have no idea.:bbb

 

Stay on ESB, you'll hear far worse (Joe Calzaghe) called legitimate All Time Greats.

 

This is how Manny Steward broke it down on the front page of that interview.



"Mike had problems with big guys! He was still a small guy that was really almost like a cruiserweight, and those big guys who were not afraid of him, all of them he struggled with. So when you look back at history I cannot think of why Lennox—who had more skills than and was just as big as a Mitch Green, ‘Bonecrusher’, Tony Tucker, and ‘Quick Tillis’—wouldn’t have beaten him! Lennox was still a big man, and you have to remember Mike was a little guy. I don’t think Mike would have ever beaten Lennox, because Lennox could box and Lennox could be rough guy, too, when he had to be. I don’t think he would have been able to get to him like some of those big uncoordinated guys who were either afraid or were not well coordinated. So it’s just the case where Mike was a phenomenal fighter, but with the big guys size still matters. You’re going to fight a guy who’s 240-250, with skills, solid amateur background, went through two Olympics—no, I don’t think he could have done anything."

I somewhat agree. I don't really think Mike would have much trouble with big guys. I think that Mike was actually very good at fighting big guys, particularly with his style and his movements.

The issue against Lewis is that none of the big guys Mike fought was even 60% as good as Lennox. Lennox fought in a way few big heavyweights have mastered. He is a mover, puncher, jabber. He also perfected the 'lean' against smaller opponents which could be quite dirty at times, but it is what it is.
This is honestly a very hard debate.

That being said, there is two versions of 'super Lewis'

The first Version is the straight out 'Im going to knock you out' version. All speed and athleticism. Which is early 90's.

The 2nd Version is the bigger more boxing minded version which started around 96 into the Golota fight and ended around 2001.


I feel the first version might have knocked Tyson out. Lewis was just the stronger man. If he went all out aggressiveness, I don't know if Mike could have slugged him down. The 2nd version, if he's too cautious might be caught by a Tyson uppercut or right hand and it'll be GG from there on out.