Gun to your head and your asked who wins between Lennox Lewis and Larry Holmes, who would u pick

Someone pointed out earlier that they thought Holmes would set too fast of a pace for Lennox to be comfortable with and I agree this would be a big part of his strategy.

 

Don't get mad at me because you said, and I quote "no" version of Lewis gets obliterated by Tyson. You're acting like I picked pro debut or amateur Lewis, he was a world champion.

People get mad at Tyson fans for their amazing excuses, but Lewis supporters can be just as crazy too. Apparently neither of his KO losses count...!

Not sure how that's remotely relevant to the thread, but Foreman was very consistent in naming Lyle as the hardest hitter he faced even years after he faced Savarese and was retired.

 

Holmes, Lewis was disgustingly easy to hit with jabs.

 

From interviews I've seen Foreman names Cleveland Williams, Gerry Cooney, Ron Lyle, as the hardest punchers he's fought.

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This makes no sense. Shavers was likely the harder puncher than Lewis (even that’s not a guarantee) but Lewis was by far the better puncher in every category. All the power in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t use it effectively.

 

IF my aunt etc...

We're talking hypothetical bouts here. Shavers name always come up when the question who had the hardest punch comes up. Lewis' name isn't often mentioned. Of course he's a better boxer than Shavers. But harder puncher? Better right hand? Come on, it's Shavers.

Thus, being logical, assuming Shavers has a better right, and he hit Holmes cleanly and put him down hard yet Holmes got up, then Lewis wouldn't ko Holmes with the same punch.

I think my math works. Maybe not.

 

He was even older in this video and immediately brought up Lyle. I think it was after his career was over. No way did he actually think Savarese was the hardest hitter, you can tell by his reaction he was being genuine here thinking back to the fight.

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Shavers sold out on almost every punch he threw because power was all he had. That sort of lopsided approach is way more risky, and leads to losses, but if it's all you got, you go with it. Lewis was far more well rounded and could go a less risky route of boxing, using a variety of tools and his incredible strength. Put Lewis in the position of Shavers, with that approach, and he hits as least as hard, very likely harder.

 

Try rereading my post. I've already stated Shavers was the harder puncher than Lewis. As for BETTER puncher, it's Lewis no contest.

"Thus, being logical, assuming Shavers has a better right, and he hit Holmes cleanly and put him down hard yet Holmes got up, then Lewis wouldn't ko Holmes with the same punch."
No, he wouldn't. But he also wouldn't miss about 20 wild sloppily thrown punches or so in the follow up and tire himself out. He was an infinitely better finisher than Shavers, and likely would've finished Holmes.

 

Can't argue with what you said. Fair points.

 

Ok we agree to disagree.

 

Lewis was also stopped twice by single right hands and more than likely he would be stopped had he took the same right hand Holmes did in the 2nd fight with Shavers.

I do feel Lewis gets a tad overrated on this forum personally.

Don't get me wrong Lewis does rate highly H2H but he isn't quite the unbeatable H2H GOAT that some people proclaim.

 

The h2h goat of any division is someone whose

A) nearly impossible to outpoint
B) nearly impossible to KO

Lewis was neither of these things. I have him in my top 10, he was a monster. I'm not saying he was "easy" to outpoint or KO, but the fact he went through life and death with guys like Mercer, McCall, Vitali, etc shows vulnerabilities from the beginning all the way to the end of his career. There wasn't a stretch of time where he was perceived as "invincible".

Rocky 53-55
Ali has 65-67
Holmes has 80-82
Tyson has 86-88
Wladmir has 2010-2013

Lewis on his best night can give anyone in history problems, but the h2h goat? I just don't see it based on the criteria set above.

 

No one is unbeatable. Those defeats were as much due to Lewis' hubris as any vulnerability to right hands. And both guys, Rahman and McCall, hit very, very hard. Those were two demonstrably strong, full sized heavies. Neither punched with the abandon of Shavers, who completely sold out in his fights. But when they did, it left a mark.

The guy who did not throw a right hand nearly as hard as anyone mentioned above is Larry Holmes.

 

Holmes by late stoppage in a 15 round fight...I've seen Holmes get off the canvas to win. Lewis?,,,,,,,,,,,