(PRIME) Anthony Joshua vs. (PRIME) Lennox Lewis

If HW boxing were a good game these type of characters could all beat each other:

Wlad. Vitali. Lewis. Joshua. Fury. Usyk.

 

Things you critically forgot:
- Lewis was at the end of his career when he fought Vitali and still beat him. There was nothing wrong with him hanging them up because he knew his time being at his best was done
- wasn’t Lewis’s fault Wlad lost to Puritty
- Bowe ducked him clear as day
- Prime Tyson - Lewis was still coming up at this point and when they had the chance to fight earlier on Tyson went in another direction
- He beat Holyfield twice who was still younger than Wlad, the same guy who at 41 gave AJ hell
- Ibeabuchi ruined his own chance by being a criminal
- Sanders was not a factor then.

You can critique Lewis for his losses to Rahman and McCall, but to suggest his resume is overrated and weak, especially in the context of comparison to the modern guys who barely fight anyone is laughable.

Fury has fought 3 top 10 rated fighters in his whole career. AJ has fought about double that. Lewis beat better men and was also a monster himself and showed a better overall skillset to AJ.

If you also think this is the best era of heavyweight boxing I think you should watch more boxing. A lot of the guys today are hypejobs who have gotten lucky fighting a bunch of journeymen and been exposed as soon as they step up (Wilder for example). Also the overall calibre of athlete in boxing is on the decline as more and more guys look to other sports (more so in America which has historically produced the best).

If you also think that Zhang, a guy with no gas tank, would mop the floor with Foreman I think you are suffering from recency bias.

 

Yep. I was going to ask if I had read it correctly that Zhang would beat Foreman? Awful take that

 

Brilliant post

 

Those fights still didnt happen. You say Lewis was old when he beat Vitali but you still give him Holyfiled who was older? Look at their age here. Clearly bias from your side.

Next pro tip. Look at Lewis competition average weight compared to today. There is a big difference here. 90's were small compared to today. There is a reason heavyweight has become bigger in time such as Lewis himself during his time. Or Ali and Foreman during their time.

Bigger is not always better but more often than not it is. Zhang is bigger than Foreman.

 

We could go all day giving examples of Big beating smaller and vice versa.

Holyfield fought on longer than Lewis, Vitali was his last fight and he was blowing out of his arse. He had done everything he needed to do, beat most of his peers except Bowe. You can always carry on and on and on beating the next up and comer, but sooner or later a young lion sends the old into retirement on a loss. I think he knew he was sliding down and stepped away and never came back. Good on him I say, he didnt fight on way too long like Tyson and Holyfield

 

Lennox would demolish the body builder AJ just like he did Golota & Razor Ruddock

 

Yes Zhang is bigger than Foreman but his extra weight is actually a detriment to him because hes faded in fights which has costed him.....

Foreman at 48 years old threw 488 punches vs Briggs, Zhang who is what 7 or 8 years younger ? Only managed 273 punches vs Parker and landed a grand total of 0 punches in round 12.

So that just shows being bigger isn't always an advantage especially if you have to go into deep waters late in a fight.

As for age wasn't Holyfield coming off some of his best performances of his career coming into the Lewis fight ? He destroyed Tyson and Moorer.

 

Great Post just one thing I think you misunderstood Ike Ibeabuchi obviously had mental problems for what he never got the help he needed. He was not a criminal as such plus he never got a fair deal from the US justice system in my book

 

Not how I intended to convey that point - that’s for the correction. I feel bad for the guy, he was seriously mentally ill.

 

100%
Not often we agree lol

 

Again, they didn’t happen for very valid reasons. That doesn’t answer my point on the fact none of the guys today have fought as deep competition or nearly as many of the top contenders in their era.

Holyfield was past his physical prime as was Lewis when he fought Vitali. I didn’t say either were past it though - Lewis retired early in many peoples minds but that’s because he achieved everything in the sport and he felt he was no longer quite at his best. Had he and Vitali rematches I still think he would have won.

Weight and size arguments are very weak generally - skills win boxing fights and there’s a reason both Wilder and Joshua have lost to men far smaller than them (baring Fury). Ruiz was heavy but he was still only 6’2. I’d take guys like Ruddock, Tua, Golota anyway over bigger fighters like Chisora, Whyte or even Zhang who while solid are plodders and do not have as well rounded skill sets.

I believe the calibre of heavyweights has declined since the 90s as more guys choose to go into less damaging sports. You simply cannot compare the top 10 of the last few years with that of Lewis’s time - the guys are not as skilled (bar the very top dogs).

 

I still think Lewis would have beaten Vitali had they rematched, but I support his decision to hang ‘em up.

 

I don't consider Ruddock as a "skilled" fighter. Big puncher - yes, but one,-dimensional. The same goes for Tua. Joseph Parker, for example, is much more skilled and has higher IQ then either of them. Guys like Povetkin, Chagaev, Ibragimov, Haye, Byrd were far more skilled than Ruddock or Tua from Wlad's era and people call that era weak.

 

He was kept in jail for months heavily sedated while being harassed to cop a plea claiming if he did he'd be out & boxing again in no time.He always claimed he never touched that hooker they just argued about the price she tried to jack up. She wasn't hurt at all neither were the cops that arrested him. I'm sure if he'd resisted arrest someone would have been
Folk were claiming Its just another big Heavyweight boxer like Tyson in trouble again That's why the woman judge gave Ike the max sentence 5-30 years that influence her I'm sure. All he needed was help not imprisonment