Muhammad Ali vs Lennox Lewis

Ali was a better puncher than either McCall or Rahman.

 

He was? Well, that sure comes as a surprice for me, Sir...

 

Norton was a pressure fighter. Lennox was a safety-first out boxer. One is not a proxy for the other. That being said these cross era comparisons are difficult.

 

I have the impression that those hypothetical H2H matches are quickly becoming a boring exercise on "The bigger guy wins and there is nothing we can do about that".

Of course, we all know size matters in boxing and sometimes physical differences are simply too wide and big to be overcome. But there is a lot more to boxing than just sheer size.

As a personal opinion I think Ali wins but I don't totally discard Lewis' chances, and I agree he has significant physical advantages over Ali. Who knows? Maybe Lewis even has the upper hand.
But this whole “Lewis is bigger than Ali, therefore Lewis defeats Ali” argument in some posts is becoming kinda a tiresome tautology by now.

 

Who did either guy stop other than Lewis? Ali stopped an iron jawed Bonavena, was the only guy to stop Foreman, was the only guy besides Foreman to stop a prime Ron Lyle. Who did Rahman or McCall stop to make them big punchers?

 

I'm really surprised with many people saying either Ali or Lewis wins this easily. It's a very close fight imo and nobody is knocking out each other also imo.

I think Lewis wins this but idk if this is a 15 or 12 round fight. If 15, then Ali has more chances.

 

Yes...He beats a shopworn past his prime Ali of the Spinks fights in 1978...but Ali of 1963-1967?...That's a different proposition...

 

Because Oscar and Forman ran out of gas...pure and simple...

 

Oscar did not run out of gas. Ali caught him with a beautiful hook.

 

Would be a great fight. Imagine Ali with today's training. Scary.

 

Aren't these mythical matchups supposed to be when both combatants are at their absolute best? Why are we bringing up the Shavers fight? Teddy Brenner said he would never promote an Ali fight at the Garden after seeing the punishment he took and told his manager that if Ali was ever to fight again at the Garden they would have to replace him.

 

Pre exile Ali--particularly the Ali of 1967 vintage wins a UD. But Lewis would not be an easy opponent given his size and technical skills.

 

Ali never had any issue with size. He would outspeed and outbox Lewis. In a 15 round bout no chance Lewis sees the final bell. Lewis ends the bout with greatly misshapen facial features which ultimately ends the fight. Ali is unmarked.

 

Norton never fought prime Ali. Prime Ali, no chance Lewis sees the 15th round. He is cut to ribbons.