If Lennox Lewis fought the guys Ali fought

Lennox wipes all of them out with relative ease. Ali is now where close to Lennox' level.

 

He loses 3-4 fights, I don't think anyone gets through Foreman, Liston, Holmes, Norton, Frazier, Lyle, Shavers, and Young without taking a couple Ls. Lewis's main weakness was switching off in fights. Ali faced so many massive punchers I can't see Lewis getting through without being stopped once or twice.

 

If Lennox Lewis had started his professional boxing career in 1960, he would have lost to Larry Holmes in 1980.
OR.
If Lennox Lewis beat Larry Holmes in 1980, he would surely lose to Sonny Liston in 1964.
He wouldn't wipe them all out relatively easily.

 

He could go undefeated or he could get clipped by like 4-5 guys. And that was the enigma of Lennox.

Lennox showed glimpses (IMO) that he was very likely H2H the best (not greatest) HW in history. But at the same time, if he wasn't all the way in, he could turn in some pedestrian wins.

 

Niels Probst. Male, 62, from Denmark?

Skidmark more like it.

 

Lewis was literally getting outboxed by Bruno till stoppage and arguably lost to a fat out of shape Ray Mercer.

 

Lennox is bigger and stronger than anyone on the list except maybe Foreman. He would do as well as ALi and wouldn't have to be gifted decisions like the last two against Norton.

Lennox's problem is he would show up unfocused and get blasted out by Shavers.

 

Bla bla bla bla.... we didn't have this BS here for a long time.

Prime and fully motivated focused Lewis destroys all of that era. The same would do Vitali Klitschko, with only exemption that Klitschko would lose to Foreman.

Easy day for Lennox and Vitali. Both stronger, much more masculine, taller with enough of skill. Fraizer would look like a baby next to big boys.

 

Lennox beat everyone he faced as a pro and only lost twice, both from one-punch KOs that came out of nowhere. And, in the first one, he was up by six, I believe.

I don't see too many of Ali's opponents scoring a one-punch KO over Lennox. And basically none of them are outpointing Lewis. Larry Holmes had a problem with boxers with a long jab. Hell, Carl Williams arguably beat him. Larry doesn't beat Lennox. And Ken Norton isn't taking Lennox's right hand. Shavers had a bad chin. And if Tua couldn't reach Lennox, Earnie isn't. Liston mostly knocked out guys who would be light heavys or cruisers today.

A young Foreman might have a shot.

Otherwise, Lennox drubs them all. Most guys who went the distance with Ali don't even see the final bell in a fight with Lennox.

61-0 or 60-1.

 

Ali fought more quality heavyweights than anyone including Lewis. NOBODY is running that gauntlet undefeated, even if they are the favorite in every fight. The 3 hardest fights for LL are Liston, Foreman and Holmes imo, although a guy like Lyle could pull a Rahman.

 

Yeah I reckon this is about right. Lewis ought to whoop the lot of them except those times when he had an off night against a dude like Foreman or Shavers. At his best I think he sweeps the board. Big bad Foreman is kinda small next to Lennox.

 

Yes. Everyone has an off night here and there. It happens. It happened to Lewis, too.

You're correct, the more likely scenario would be Lewis losing to someone out of the blue who wasn't expected to win (which actually happened to Lennox).

When comparing their opponents, Ali fought a lot of quality heavyweights over very distinct eras ... boxers who competed in the 1950s (like Patterson and Folley and Moore) and boxers who competed in his own era (Frazier, Norton, Ellis, etc.)

Lennox's opponents also spanned distinct eras. But Lennox fought in an era (the super heavyweight era) that Ali just never really competed in, like Lewis never faced the smallish guys from the 1950s/60s. The small fighters Lewis did face never really had much of a shot against him.

If someone weighed in the 220s near the tail end of Ali's era, they were BIG. If Ali weighed in the 220s, he was "pushing it." And Ali was a big (size wise) heavyweight in the 1970s. He was bigger than most guys he fought.

I distinctly remember a news broadcast before the Tate-Coetzee vacant title fight for Ali's belt, where the announcer was just 'astonished' that John Tate weighed 240.

6'4" and 240 pounds! Almost as big as Primo Carnera. Amazing. And Coetzee weighed in the 220s and was as big as Ali. And the announcer was just marveling at how big they were.



So, I think Ali would have more trouble with Lennox's opponents across the board than Lennox would have with Ali's.

Given that everyone has off nights, Lennox probably does lose to someone Ali beat. Ali probably loses to someone Lewis beat.

Hell, Ali doesn't even win a gold medal if he's fighting Riddick Bowe. Ali was a rail-thin light heavy and Bowe was bashing guys silly at super heavyweight.

 

Yes, I am danish.

 

You are so right, but I think Vitaly would win a hard decision vs Foreman. Foreman, in his prime, lost to Young and was in a hard battle vs 220 pound Lyle, Lyle, who never won a big fight.