Lennox Lewis Against Ali's Later Opponents?

He had huge problems with Mercer, who the judges helped win against the almost 40-year-old Whitearspoon, he was knocked out by McCall and Rahman, who were worse than Whitearspoon and Norton both in terms of quality of victories, resume and eye test, so where did the word "Never" come from?

 

Head to head, a 73 Ali versus an 09 Vitali? Absolutely.

 

Norton struggled with every power puncher he ever faced and Lewis is one of the hardest punchers ever. Witherspoon wasn't very consistent and tended to fade in the later rounds but don't see much that he has that would really threaten Lewis. McCall and Rahman were both fights Lewis underestimated his opponent and got sloopy. When he was on point he was very hard to deal with as shown in the rematches and all his other wins.

 

agree, but only because Ali's style was okay for Vit, and Lewis's wasn't. Vit was tragically susceptible to the long overhand, tragically. Besides, despite everything, Norton won more convincingly and later gave Ali a rematch.

 

But are we even talking about a Norton-Lewis fight? We're talking about a Norton-Holmes fight, and Larry's style was fine for Ken. However, it wouldn't be fine for Lewis. McCall called the 46-year-old Holmes the best opponent he's ever faced. The 42-year-old Holmes beat the 30-year-old, undefeated Mercer much more convincingly than the prime Lewis beat the 35-year-old. On what basis can Lewis beat Holmes in 1980 if he's never beaten anyone as strong? Was Vit as strong as Holmes in 1980? It doesn't show in your favorite eye test, your equally favorite resume, or your equally favorite best wins. Furthermore, Holmes's style was a much bigger problem for Lewis than Klitschko's, who had no defense against a long overhand.

 

Goes both ways Holmes never beat anyone as good as Lewis but Lewis beat better opponents overall

 

Beats them all without breaking a sweat, except Holmes who be beats in a very close UD.

 

Only Holmes never got knocked out by someone like McCall or Rahman. That's what makes the difference. And why do we think that no Lyle, no Shavers, no Bugner, or Frazier could have done what Oliver and Hashim did, and no Young and prime Holmes would have been as competitive as Mercer? This Mercer, who couldn't beat Ferguson or Maroon Wilson and should have lost to the 40-year-old Whiterspoon?

 

So I take it you don't think highly of Lewis?

 

Ali s later opponents would be chop meat for the 6 4 240 lb powerful talented boxer.

 

Are you kidding? He was a great boxer. Just because he's worse than Larry Holmes doesn't mean he's bad, damn it.

What's wrong with you guys? From the very beginning, I've been saying that Lewis was somewhere between 9th and 12th in the historical heavyweight rankings. That's higher than the best fighters ranked him in 1998 (before he started his career) and about the same as the best fighters ranked him after 2003.

I have a good laugh, there was hysteria from his fans when he was available, for example, he had a close fight with Mercer, or that LL's victory over Vitali wasn't as big as Frazier's victory over Ali.

I didn't say anything about you because you didn't say anything harmful in that case, but there have been instances where his fans got incredibly angry at such arguments. He's probably the only boxer who expresses strong emotions. Maybe Tyson's fans do too sometimes, but let's be objective.

The fact is, Holmes 80 was better than everyone Lewis rivals, and stands out as better than those who knocked him out or caused him immense problems. Do you see the importance of analysis in this context?

Somewhere on JanThomas. Is this a joke?

 

Sure...because there's nothing like using a Lewis 'W" as a knock against him to get the laughter going.

I think you over-estimate the impact that common sense might have on fans.

 

It's not a punch... I'm stating a fact... He fought a great fight, Ray too. Now explain to me why Lennox fans get hysterical when I say the fight was even and will be okay. There's nothing wrong with that... Two great fighters. Lewis was better. That's all I have. You can be mad

 

It seems likely, with you having spent considerable time trolling on the topic of Lewis (since the moment you arrived here), that hysteria is a reaction you hope for. But it's not happening for you, so you're having to imagine that it is — a kind of wishful thinking on your part.

 

Methinks that "likely" is somewhat of an understatement, MM.