Would Ali go Undefeated Vs Lennox Lewis Competition

I never like to give a definitive “ yes “ or “no “ to these types of questions because we all know that anything can happen in boxing. I WILL say however that Ali would have a very good chance at beating them all. My biggest hesitation is whether or not he‘s prime when he faces vitali Klitschko. If was in his late thirties as Lewis was then I wouldn’t favor him to win at that stage.

 

It seems some are attaching too much value to size and strength and not enough to style.

 

Are you assuming they don't get to hit him the way they did Lennox or are you assuming he'd survive those shots ???

 

He ain't got anything. He'd be green against Ruddock, Mercer and Morrison, so there's a good chance he loses to at least one of them.
Vitali definitely beats an old Ali. Holyfield might do it too.

 

Wrong. All his early career matches are a struggle since he's facing way better competition than he did in the 60s.

 

It would be 1963 Ali when he would've fought Ruddock. You're telling me it's impossible for Ali from a year before the Liston fight to beat Ruddock? And by the time he would've faced Morrison and Mercer it was 1966 Ali, he would've whopped their asses then.

And considering how well old Lewis did against Klitschko, it's not impossible for the Ali that beat Foreman and Frazier in 1974 to beat him. Far from it.

 

He'd survive them. He might get knocked down, but he's getting right back up, and isn't going to be wobbly and have the ref wave it off.

 

Holyfield was smaller than Ali and did well enough against the bigger guys of the 90's. Usyk is almost identical in dimension to Ali and seems capable of handling the even bigger super heavies we have today. An old Holmes, who was the same height/weight as Ali when they were young, had no issues taking Mercer to school and was competitive with McCall.

I'm really not seeing size as being much of an issue to Ali unless you're talking about him facing off against Lewis, and even then, the issue there wouldn't be size.

 

Without considering weights & measurements and just picturing them fighting in my head, Ali whups all of them.

When I do consider the weights & measurements, Ali gives them all an even bigger whipping.

 

As others have said, much would depend upon how you matched the timelines.

The strongest argument for Lewis, is that Ali would be unlikely to beat Vitally Klitschko, at the age of 37.

Very few would have in my opinion.

 

Holyfield was a versatile fighter with good power and he did well with who he fought, but the only big, athletic guys he fought from the 90s who also fought Lewis were Mercer and Rahman. Don't remember either fight being a cake walk. Then he also fought Bowe and Lewis, didn't have a good record with those two, and he fought Foreman and Holmes, good workouts, but neither opponent was a real threat.

Usyk is a southpaw, IMO that makes everything different. He can only be compared with other southpaws, just because someone is about the same height, weight does not make them similar. Ali never fought an athletic 230 pounder and he had to go the distance with 3 of his bigger opponents although they were an inactive, fat Mathis, club fighter Wepner (stopped in last round), and Bugner. That makes me question whether Ali had any power against bigger fighters. His punches didn't seem to affect Norton either.

 

Observation by Lennox Lewis about his later career:

"As I got older, my body got older. That makes a big difference if you're a boxer. Toward the end of my career, there were things I could no longer do physically that I could do before. But at the same time, my mind was getting sharper and my boxing skills kept improving. My biomechanics got better. I was more relaxed in the ring. l could do things more efficiently and put less demands on my body to do what I had to do to win."

That is the difference between him towards the end of his career, and Ali towards the end of his career.

 

Lewis wasn't cursed with bad health like Ali. I would assume if you interviewed other fighters who fought into their late 30s and early 40s, they'd say much the same. I wonder what BHop would say.

 

Literally the entire argument is about size with zero mention of skill.

Apparently the main reason Ali became a hall of fame 3x champion and touted as the greatest was because he was taller than average. I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner.

 

The bad health that you refer to, is called being an active champion.

If Lennox want's Ali's schedule, we can damage his brain just as quickly!