Lennox Lewis responds to fan saying that Tyson was washed up when he beat him

So Tyson dropped his WBC belt rather than face Lewis and fought Holy, who was seen as easy money at the time.

 

This post deserves more respect.

Doesn’t anyone else remember Lewis’ propensity to pass gas audibly and then ask if anyone had trodden on a duck? The Lion could be a real scream sometimes.

 

Tyson yes can be accused him of avoidance in the 1996 of the Lennox for WBC title.
also but Lennox i would like then to see Ray Mercer matched again at same year. this is just always too often the ways in boxing. we see not logical rematch but only illogical rematch most of often.

 

This is the main reason why their eventual fight was such a let down. Tyson was a robot whose style heavily relied on his youthful explosiveness, speed, and perfect timing. It was a very draining approach that required Tyson to be on high alert firing on all cylinders. Every single year after Douglas Tyson got worse, never really made adjustments, never learned new tricks, declined athletically, etc. He learned absolutely nothing from his mistakes.

Most veteran boxers will at least improve their defense, technique, strategy, etc to make up for the loss of their physical gifts. Tyson did none of the above. He became more and more of a slugger. If he had at least made some adjustments or improvements here or there, then perhaps the Lewis fight could have been a bit more competitive even when he was past it. Lewis, meanwhile, always improved and had a style that worked even as he got older and slower. Lewis was willing to learn, change his approach, and wasn't determined to knock out every opponent (another bad habit of Tyson's that sometimes got him in trouble and sapped his energy).

 

-Use his jab more. He actually had a VERY good jab. In the lead up to the Thomas fight, Rooney boasted Tyson has an even better one when Dundee compared Thomas' jab to Liston. A short guy isn't supposed to abandon his jab just because he's short, if you use it right you can actually outbox a tall guy at mid range to get inside. Step in with a powerful jab taking your head off the center line and even if the other guy blocks it, he'll be forced back or will be in the defensive. The jab can set up dozens of combinations and if you abandon it, you cut your offense in half. It makes no sense for a combination puncher like Tyson to neglect his jab.

-use more conservative head movement. Some people believe part of Tyson's downfall was abandoning his flashy head movement and claim that due to getting older and slower he couldn't maintain it. This is partly true. What's also true is that you don't always need to be moving at full throttle bobbing left and right like a pendulum to dodge punches. Someone should have told Tyson to take it down a notch and only do that in short spurts when he needs to pressure a guy. You only need to move your head 2-3 inches to dodge, and the tighter the dodge the easier it is to counter. Even in some fights in his prime you can hear Leonard and other commentators criticizing him for just walking straight in or using too much excessive movement. Yes he was fast, but he was also very predictable. The most effective head movement is when people have a hard time timing you.

-get better at inside fighting. He doesn't need to be as good as Duran or Frazier, but there's honestly no excuse for a short stocky guy to have a rather mediocre inside game. He was often content to just sit there being clinched until the ref reset. Without a good inside game, all people had to worry about was the incoming bomb. If they could block or dodge that, they could simply counter him on the way in or tie Tyson up, wear him down, then shove him back till he ran out of steam. It was a painfully effective strategy to watch, especially the Hoylfield fights. With a better inside game guys would have a reason to fear Tyson getting close, as opposed to breathing a sigh of relief when he's close.

-simply box more. Tyson was actually a decent boxer when he used his brain and wasn't craving the knockout. The Tillis fight was actually underrated because we saw the gears turning in Tyson's head as he had to figure out how to win when Tillis couldn't be KOd. He also showed good strategy in the Tucker fight. This doesn't mean sacrifice the power or avoid knockouts, but rather simply allowing the knockout to happen naturally if it presents itself as opposed to making it the goal. This would also help him deal with the decline in his late round stamina work rate.

-learn how to survive. Tyson was often sitting duck once he was badly hurt. His only solutions were to either cover up or slug it out. The problem wasn't his chin, which was great, but a lack of imagination and having no idea how to survive and recover. This is one thing you can definitely blame Cus D Amato for as his style doesn't really have an answer for what to do when hurt or being down on points.


As for a comparison to Patterson, there'd be some similarities. I think Tyson fighting at a more measured pace would resemble older Patterson at times. The difference would mainly lie in their intensity and approach. Tyson was like a pit bull who hunted you down every minute of every round and focused more on blistering combinations. I don't think that would ever change, and honestly he'd have to still fight that way to an extend against the bigger heavies due to the clash of styles and reach. With Patterson, he was more like a fox. He was on his toes more, used more lateral movement, and picked his shots more carefully. He also often needed to get close, but did so in a more well rounded way as opposed to just relentlessly pursuing people in a straight line.

 

This is one of the most insightful things I've read about Tyson in the 35 years I've been studying him.

I'll add, only to emphasize one of your points, that I trained (but never competed) in peek-a-boo for years, including four days in Catskill (in exchange for a hefty donation to their historical society), and it is without a doubt a very young man's style. The explosiveness of covering the distance to get into range for all those short punches is by itself exhausting.

 

Taken a time machine to 1991. He might just have taken this Lewis then, for sure in the 80s imo.

BOY did he boo-boo!

 

That's the superficial version that the media ran with. Just like Bowe ducking Lewis that many here still believe was true. Bowe and Tyson ducked Lewis but inferior fighters like McCall, Phil Jackson, Hasim Rahman etc. didn't?

Yeah. Yeah? NO.

 

Lennox Lewis has an enormous ego and is so bothered about what fans think. He should find something fulfilling to do and just let the fans be fans. It makes him look quite simple in that he has nothing else going on in his life. Same as most retirees. You wouldn't see Vitali Klitschko giving a crap about what any fans say about him. Life is more than punching people in the face. It seems like Lennox Lewis's contribution to life is pretty meaningless in that respect.

 

Agreed.

 

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I agree. Even with the adjustments I suggested (slower pace to conserve energy, more jabbing and tighter defense, etc), Tyson's style would be difficult to maintain past your early 30's since it's so intense and requires a lot of energy and aggression to execute. At it's core, the peak a boo style is a young man's style and designed for breaking down opponents as quickly as possible. High risk, high reward.

There's only so much he can do after a certain age. It's no coincidence most of the short aggressive heavies are either retired or washed up past their early 30's.

 

I can attest that it made me aware of every one of my birthdays.

 

Lennox NEVER turned down a pay day to fight Bowe. Lennox always had Bowe number . Eddie Papa Smurf Futch knew it too

 

Boxing is about timing
Tyson won the title in 1986 and they fought in 2002
That’s 16 years
That wasn’t Tyson’s time
He’d been to jail twice in a 8x6 cell for 23 hours a day
Besides, Tyson peaked early in his career
86-89 was his peak
Once Rooney was ousted by Don King he was no longer practicing the things that made him the youngest heavyweight champ in history
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