Which Fighters From The Past, Would Lennox Lewis Have Struggled With?

Foreman and Liston would be the absolute worst two for him to trade with imo. Tyson is another.

 

The only guy i out and out favor over him is Ali. Foreman, Liston, Holmes, Louis all open ended affairs. I like him over others, be it mildly or heavily.

 

Hi Buddy.
Share your sentiments regarding who Lewis beats, and paradoxically who he doesn't.
As I have put in print a few times, Ali is my No 1 for a raft of reasons, all well documented, after him you have the hardy perennials, Louis, Holmes, Dempsey, Rocky ( maybe ) Foreman, and Liston.
It has taken a long while for Lewis to be mentioned alongside the above, trust me that's true, obstacles ranged from, well from the Brits mainly, he is Canadian not English, that assertion was held against him for more years than he deserved, from the US ( not for the first time, and with some justification ) there has always been some dismissive element when appraising the UK heavyweights, no arguments please.
Against that backdrop Lewis honed his craft, slowly and with patience he fought his way up the ladder of ranking fighters, generally showing gradual improvement, with each fight looking more like a champ in the making, I won't go into a detailed account of these fights, this forum and its members, are well versed in the results that accrued.
I will say that for me he was a very formidable and imposing fighter, I dismiss the, Dempseys, and Marcianos as a serious threat to the towering 6ft 6inch 18st beast that he became, thinking he would be be too smart for the equally intimidating Foreman, as for Liston, as we all have learnt there was something about the bully with him, deep breath ! Louis would have been a true test, BUT cannot see him avoiding the big shots that were for sure coming his way, sooner or later, add that to his somewhat propensity to get knocked down , it does not bode well.
So , we are left with Holmes and Ali as in my eyes to have a real shot at toppling Lewis, going with Holmes as 50/50 shot, not sure either way, so as you were expecting, the only HW that I can see beating LL overall is Ali.
None of the above can be proved ( sadly ) it's just my appraisal of how said fights would go, not cussing any fighters, having full on respect for all these great HWs, and I am sure their are posters itching to shoot my prognosis down in flames, as long as it's done without malice, and in the spirit of this forum, load your weapons.....
stay safe guys.

 

Lewis was more of a boxer than puncher with Steward. His cautiousness might have spelled a decision loss to prime Norton.

 

the one who stands out most is Riddick Bowe and the Buster Douglas from Tokyo. Too much speed and the way he used those angles, smashing in those jarring right hands would leave LL bewildered and eventually on the canvas in a permanent heap

I also give a prime Foreman a good shot. an underrated boxer himself who I have seen bowl over bigger men in his early days.

 

Frazier could NEVER handle a bigger man like Lewis with his technical skills. at 6 - 6 and the way he uses his reach?

Joe is at too much a disadvantage

 

I used to favor Joe over Lennox but now I lean towards Lennox (Joe is still the better ATG).

 

That's true, but he could still turn it up when he saw an opportunity like against Golota and Botha. Also some of the shots he hit Holy and Vitali with would have stopped Ken for sure.

 

Yeah but at least Tyson has a very short reach. He could at least find a distance (Lewis was very good at doing this) where he could hit Tyson but Tyson wouldn't be able to reach him.

Good look doing that with Liston and Foreman.

 

Not too many.

He basically only lost two times, both by one-punch stoppage. And avenged both.

(In one of them, his opponent - McCall - landed the KO punch with his eyes closed ... and Lewis was still up around the count of six. Just couldn't steady himself in time for the ref's liking.)

I think Lennox Lewis could probably beat any heavyweight who ever lived most nights, honestly.

Everyone has off nights. Lewis had his share. But nobody every dominated Lewis from the beginning of a fight to the end, as is the case with most top heavyweights in history.

When all was said and done, if you didn't score a one-punch KO over Lennox, YOU LOST.

He was great.

Maybe the greatest.

 

I'd pick Frazier to eventually wear Lewis down in a great fight

 

I've always felt extremely confident of Lewis over Frazier and have him a few places above as well.