Lennox Lewis vs Muhammad Ali

Im a huge Lennox fan..but prime v prime nobody beats Ali simple as that.
Ali at his best was the complete fighter.
Lenny had a few shortcomings that Ali wouldve exposed.
Ali too fast.Too skilful.Too everything.

 

Well Louis was far far more proven against fighters Lewis's size than Ali was.

I would agree that there is an element of Ali getting the benefit of the doubt where Louis dosn't.

 

Well I am one of those who thinks Joe Louis flattens Lennox Lewis so naturally Ali beats Lennox to the punch too. He's not knocking Lennox out but he could grind him down.

Lennox is a great fighter but he was awful against faster men with quicker hands. In the era that Lennox fought not many actualy punched faster than he did but that is not to say Lennox was historically a fast handed heavyweight. He was perfect for his Times. Just as the division got bigger it slowed down. Along came Lennox. he had the height, weight, amateur pedigree and experience to cash in on heavyweights no faster than he was.

But put him in with Joe and Muhammad...

 

Ali had shortcomings that Frazier and Norton exposed. If you want to talk about his prime years, he was just as much of a sucker for the left hook in the 60's as he was in the 70's.
He had no defence other than footwork, speed and reflexes. That's not a complete fighter. That's a very fast fighter with impeccable footwork and good reflexes. When he couldn't move he wasn't hard to hit.
To say prime vs prime he was literally unbeatable is ludicrous. It's fairly astonishing that so many people still can't seperate the media presentation of Ali from the actual Ali, most shockingly in terms of his poiltics but also in terms of his ability. Among the best heavies ever is one thing, unbeatable is another.

I'm not even thinking about whether he'd beat Lewis or not btw.

 

Well said. I quite agree, there has been a lot of myth making and adding it to an already great fighters legacy.

However, stylistically, getting away from the layman's legend, from a strictly boxing perspective, I honestly think fast hands were a problem for Lennox.

Lewis would have to turn this into a hug-a-thon to avoid having both eyes closed up.

 

I am with you on that.

Ali never fought an elite guy the size of Lewis, and while that is not a reason to pick against him, it does introduce an element of uncertainty.

Louis proved himself agaisnt elite fighters the size of Lewis, about as convincingly as you could realy ask, to the extent that the people picking Lewis are taking a bit of a leap of faith.

 

wba champ ernie Terrell, 6 foot 6. ali ripped him to peices.

foreman, 250lbs 6' 4". schooled him.

plenty of actual elites beside that, dozens.

 

Most people don't picture the Ali that beat Foreman, but rather the 1966 fleet-of-foot version. The man that beat Liston and reigned afterwards. And they merge that natural ability with the mental capacity of his seventies reign. Wether that is just, I don't know -- it is probably that the sixties version was mentally inferior.

There's something to be said about having a thing taken away from you to reaffirm your resolve. Ali being forced to retire from boxing played a part in him acquiring an inhuman will, imo.

 

Lennox was not slow at all but he wasn't fast enough to continually trouble ali, nor is he going to stop him, though he may well floor him more than once.

whilst ali wont stop lennox, he might well stagger and floor him and certainly should be able to UD/SD him over 15 rounds, but going life and death to do so.

out of 3, lewis wins 1 by SD, ali one by SD and ali the last by UD.

Lennox would be his toughest opponent IMHO apart from perhaps Holmes would have been if they had met prime 4 prime.

 

Terrell was 6' 6'' but he wasn't that heavy. He might not have been much smaller than Lewis if Lewis, had trained using the methods of that era of course.

Foreman was more like 6' 3'' and 215lbs. He was more in the Max Baer size range, than the Primo Carnera size rang.

Don't get me wrong, I am picking Ali here, but I think that Louis made the stylistic case better.

 

if it was a trilogy, ali would get stopped in one of them.
lewis was far more powerful than holmes,frazier and much more accurate than young foreman and a nasty side he'd use.

 

My thoughts exactly.

That said, this is a very difficult match-up to pick for me. But the idea that Ali was unbeatable is, as you state, ludicrous.