Which Haevyweight Champ Would Pose The Most problems To The Other Champs?

Ali would be the most difficult because of this size, speed, reach, strength, chin, stamina and style ... it's just a tough style to fight ...

 

Apart from Norton, I can't think of anyone Holmes "had trouble with" who Lewis should be expected to do better against.

And I doubt Lewis could do Holmes' first 50 fights without getting KO'd at least once.

 

I don't think Shavers would last long enough to hurt Lennox and I don't believe Spinks would last long enough to outpoint him. For instance. :conf

 

I'm not sure an aging Lewis would have done much better against Spinks, tbh.
It would have helped if Lewis had fought Byrd or some other smaller boxer types.
Shavers, I don't know. He can catch anyone, and hurt them. Holmes survived 18 rounds against him (2 fights) before being knocked down. I don't know if Lewis is guaranteed to do any better, or not get caught early. Lewis was rocked badly by Briggs in the first round.

Amnyway, the point is a flabby old Holmes, basically completely washed-up, turned up in Lewis's era and did better against Mercer and McCall.
And he dominated his own era without the hiccups Lewis had in his.

 

Lewis was rocked badly by a huge jab from Briggs you are correct, but just like Shannon, Shavers is also a poor finisher. Besides, watch the videos that i posted, Lennox had a solid chin when braced for punches & given the reputation of Shavers, i believe Lewis would brace himself very well for impact indeed!

 

Lewis wouldn't have gone 18 rounds with Shavers to begin with, I always thought the trouble Briggs had Lewis in was quite over-exaggerated, by my recollection anyway, and my point was the same as it will be going for your remarks on McCall and Mercer, that both have different strengths and weakness that I think balance out to putting them in similar league, H2H. Also, Lewis at best, it came later than McCall, and I assume we're talking about prime for prime here, as I usually take for granted unless I notice it saying otherwise. The example of Larry doing better against a green Mercer can also be misleading. You could say it means something that Liston did better in two fights against Patterson than Ali did. But, they're operating on totally different attributes, like Lewis and Holmes.

 

... Plus Holmes has a really ****ing small head.

 

In which case, Lewis might do as well as Holmes did against Shavers.

Holmes completely schooled Shavers over 12 rounds in their first fight, and wasn't decked. It's as clear a domination as ever.

 

Hence 'the peanut'

 

I agree that Holmes looked beautiful whitewashing Shavers in '78. :bbb

However, i would expect Lewis to come out guns blazing & slug Earnie right outta there early.

 

Well, if that's your view, why do you use the example of a (purely hypothetical) EARLY KO win for Lewis against Shavers as being better than Holmes dominating Shavers over the first 18 rounds ?

And if the trouble Lewis was in against Briggs is exaggerated, then so is the significance of the trouble Holmes experienced against Shavers. It took Shavers those 18 rounds to catch up with Larry. It took Briggs 2 minutes to nail Lewis. Both incidents were against the general patterns of the fights, there's no doubt that Holmes and Lewis put on fairly dominating showing against those opponents.

Truth is, Holmes had the better, more consistent record.

 

The aging Lewis who fought VK would look slow & silly for 2 rounds (because he was lethargic & rusty), but when he wakes up, & rushes in with brute force & big bombs on the inside at the start of round 3, Spinks would be history.

 

You're using an example of Holmes in the time of Lewis against his opponents, two he had trouble with that Holmes was still around for. I find it hard to actually put Lewis back in time so that he can face Holmes' opponents in Holmes' era for our personal discussion. I mean, it's short notice and Lewis' time is expensive, as is the time machine. Therefore, I'm taking a guess at what I think would happen, because this entire thread is based on mostly speculation, so I'm getting into the spirit of things. Dig?