I will be generous and say that they can come in at 190 lbs provided they are capable of droping back down to 175 after the fight. You can recomend any strategy you want for your chosen fighter. If you cant find sombody who can do it you will fall into a bottomless black hole. Do the best you can and good luck.
Well Bob fitzsimmons won the heavyweight title around 190 Lbs, then dropped down to win the lightheavyweight title, hence meeting your criteria. Here's the problem, I don't think he'd beat Lewis. Although I think its almost impossible to find someone who needs to abide by your exact rules, Roy Jones may be the best possible option ( though I think he'd get knocked out ). Jones could fight well around 190 Lbs, as we saw him easily slap the hell out of John Ruiz, then drop back down to lightheavyweight. This was also a past prime Jones, mind you. Surely a peak Jones could have done it even better. I'd still favor Lewis heavily, but perhaps on the right day, when all the planets are in alignment, Jones may have squeaked out an unlikely decision.
I hate Lennox... but theres NO lightheavyweight I'd pick over him. Spinks, Foster, Moore, M.Moorer, RJ.... Lennox would have knocked out all of them. Just too big, too long a reach, and above all... too damn powerful.
Langford he might be able to catch him like Rahman but I wouldn't favour any light heavyweight against Lennox. Moore has the second best chance as he could catch Lennox with something crafty that Lewis didn't see coming.
Foster arguably has a puncher's chance. Langford arguably has something a little bit more than that. That's your lot.
I'm sure we can do better than that. Foster got Ko'd early everytime he stepped up in weight. Surely, Roy Jones, Ezzard Charles, and perhaps Michael Spinks ( assuming he can lose the weight after ), has a better chance than Foster.
I'm one of the biggest Roy fans on this forum but... Jones would have ZERO chance with any version of Lewis that was halfway motivated. Roy would have to go 12 rounds w/o getting hit AT ALL, and that wouldnt happen. Lewis' reach was too long, plus Lewis wasnt exactly slow either. Not that Roy's chin is terrible, but he aint taking Lewis' right hand. Theres no way. The first time Lennox connected, Roy would have been out for SEVERAL minutes.
These guys all have to outbox Lewis. The difference in size and reach is to much. You need to stop him if you are coming from 175 and I don't think any of these guys can do it.
Thank Janitor for the generous flexibility that he gave us to work with. Not only does this would be lightheavyweight have to beat Lewis, but he needs to be able to lose the weight after - hence he eliminated just about every man whoever rose to the heavyweight ranks, but never went back.. What does that leave us with?
Ezzard Charles faired well against heavyweights of pretty much all descriptions. He also has my confidence that he still could have dropped down in weight late in his career. Though, Lewis would have to be favored to anilate him. This I agree with.
I don't think Foster had any chance whatsoever, in fact he'd be steamrolled in about 40 seconds- too static to pull of this job. Lewis would wade into him from the off. Spinks's style, that 'herky-jerky' movement he used, especially vs Holmes, constantly to the right to escape the big gun of Lennox, presenting Lewis with angles that he'd feel uncomfortable with. I think he'd do quite well- for a while.