Lennox Lewis vs Olexander Usyk

Lewis did have some gassing going on here and there but he's poleaxed people when gassed before, to put it mildly. One only has to watch the video, which MM put up. The right hand in the 4th knocked the guy halfway across the ring and there were some monstrous punches landed throughout.

Can you not see the blows he took vs Golota's? The impacts are audible.

Terrible angle. Lewis had 11 bouts under his belt when he fought Ocasio and 13 when he fought Chanet. He was at least half a decade away from his peak. Lewis was 20 pounds heavier and not remotely the same fighter when he fought Mavrovic. As i say practically weekly - context is everything.

 

Mavrovic indeed showed great chin against Lennox. But saying he was never stopped in pro career... Outside of Lewis fight his best opponents were Marion Wilson and Julius Francis! That says a lot about level of his opposition which was on par with Vaughn Bean before his title fights.

And truth is that Mavrovic was indeed knocked out by Ray Mercer and Monty Wright in 1 round while wearing headgear. So he is certainly not an unknockoutable force.

I doubt too that Usyk could have taken as many punches as Mavrovic, but he is light years ahead of Mavrovic in terms of speed, boxing skills and ring IQ (and it is not debatable by anyone) so he wouldn't be hit by so many clean shots, no chance of it happening.

 

Holmes was stopped twice in the ams by Nick Wells. Different animal in the pro's. Vitali was KO'd in kickboxing. No-one is claiming Mav as an unknockoutable force....we will never know. The punches he took off Lewis vs the reaction he showed is unreal tho.

Usyk was caught by plenty of flush punches by Fury, particularly the uppercut. He was hurt too. The Lewis uppercut is far harder and his right hand in the running for the best in heavyweight history.

The leading vote comfortably is a KO for Lewis. There's a reason for this.

 

I like Lennox and he was an ATG fighter with great career. But I don't like how he is supposed to be a favourite in every single fantasy matchup on this forum. Dubblechin even went so far once that he said Lewis would go 61-0 vs Ali opponents and that he is unbeatable against anyone. Whereas in real life Lewis was knocked out twice in 44 fights, and both times not by some great opponents. No one is unbeatable, and Lennox Lewis was beatable too.

Lewis certainly could be favored in this fight, but it is just an opinion and Usyk is very live opponent here. Don't forget that you pick 37 y.o. Usyk as an example (who in addition fights once per year since 2019).

 

The thread is best for best at any rate. Lewis is considered around #2 H2H by many and it's hardly ridiculous. Usyk has had 6 fights at heavyweight, Lewis has had 44.

I'd like to see how Usyk would go over the course of these 44 fights and 14 years. Usyk is at the 11 year and 22 fight mark even if you lump in the cruiserweights - half the fights and just half a dozen at heavy.

Fighting once per year vs opponents usually in the same boat is no disadvantage. It also saves the wear and tear and schedule pressures busier heavyweights were under.

He's a great fighter but how he'd go across the pantheon of great heavies is open matter.

 

You make reasonable points.

I don't think Usyk goes anything close to unbeatable against the best h2h HWs in history. He will have his share of stylistic nightmares (and it could be a small HW like Tyson or Frazier as well).

By the way, not even the best h2h HW in history would go undefeated against top-10.

I might think it could be Ali (though he had stylistic nightmares too), but he ends like 7-3 against that list.
Lewis might end like 6-4 and in would be fine.

My key point is no one is unbeatable even in span of 20 years, let alone throughout the history.

To judge Usyk's abilities against other ATGs we have to watch him more, but most likely he will retire soon. So far we know he knows how to deal with large strong HWs, can take a punch, has great skills and stamina and his southpaw stance is a hard puzzle to solve for anyone (either his amateur career, WSB or CW and HW pro career).

 

LL

 

statuesque opposition Lewis could always poleaxe when he was gassed because he had all the time and the room to do it. A lumbering oaf makes a nicer target.

He didn’t poleaxe Mavrovic because the guy was busy. He didn’t poleaxe Mercer because he was busy. Having good whiskers is part of it but not getting to pull the trigger in his own time is a huge factor. That’s all I am saying. Landing blows later in a fight against a busy guy when you are out of breath won’t have the same effect as pulling the trigger in your own time against a stationary target.

 

Who is AI?? I must have missed something along the road.

 

And, to think, you used to have an official role counting punches landed in amateur contests

 

Usyk. Isn't his 1st name Alexander?

 

As much admiration as I have Usyk, to see him staggered so bad against Fury...

Lewis was a better (far purer and just plain effective) boxer than Fury, with a MUCH bigger punch. He was also so much a better finisher than Fury it's almost night and day.

I amend my previous opinion, Lewis would have him out in 6.

 

Lennox: I could ramble on about why he would win a very pedestrian fight..............but I won't here. Just Lennox UD12

 

Oleksander Usyk.... How does that transform to AI??? Hahaha.

 

Ok I anglicized it. Hows about Big Ol?