lf Lewis landed first he could win. That should be pretty obvious even to those who question his chin.
No it is not pretty obvious because foreman had a much better chin than lewis so i doubt that it is that pretty simple like saying who lands first
There are intangibles in the two losses which we won't go into as they have been posted plenty. He was also hit plenty of times on the chin and didn't get exposed every time it was hit clean. He would also have good vision of Georges punches as they are quite wide so he wouldn't get hit with anything he couldn't brace for. One could take a critical view in reverse. Lyle had George up and down like a yoyo and was oh so close to ending him. Lyle for me is a hard puncher for sure but his power is somewhat overrated imo. He gets immense mileage out of the Foreman fight power wise but outside of that vs his better opposition can be found plenty that handled it. What is his best knockout/s? Shavers durability sure isn't all that. Ron's success was based on very good (not enormous) power and if anything underrated skills. He was a decent heavyweight boxer to go along with the power. There are more dangerous fighters than Lyle that's for sure. A shallow view would simply state - if Lyle could do that to him imagine what x, y, c and g would have done! Personally i think it's much more complicated and can be seen on record as saying i believe George lost quite a bit post Ali both in the head and tactically. I also picked the Ali version to beat Lyle somewhat easier. That however is the shallow flip side (Foreman) when thinking Lewis is going to be ko'd anytime anyone hits him hard. Even slugging Lewis would have some sort of chance if he got in first. As said i firmly believe he hits harder than Lyle and George was easy to hit with right hands if you had the gonads to go at him as such. Again there's no-one i'd favor but a few certainly could have some sort of chance. Pre Ali i'd be backing none of them tho.
I guess you could pick any fighter with a legendary punch to do it, seeing as how they would have to go "toe to toe" with Foreman at some point to win the fight... Guys like Sam Langford, Curtis Shepard, Bob Saterfield, Earnie Shavers. Ron Lyle came within spitting distance of actually turning the trick so you've got to mention him. I think Sonny Liston has a strong set of attributes that could see him potentially going "toe to toe" with Foreman and coming out on top. Big power with deadly accuracy...
Iron chinned could do it if the perfect storm of Foreman punching himself out and pushing the pace late in the fight. That could be McCall and Mercer, maybe even Tex Cobb or Marion Wilson.
To suggest Lewis couldn't hurt Foreman if he lands a couple of clean punches is ludicrious and not worthy of a reply. Foreman might be the favorite and yes he has a better chin, but Ruddock might also have had a better chin than Lewis and that never helped him whatsoever. Ike and Liston also could potentially hurt and stop Foreman as well. It's not like Foreman was undefeated and every fighter including Foreman can get KO'd if the right punch lands. Lyle's proof positive of that.
I don't think Foreman - Lyle is a good example of 'prime Foreman'. Mentally Foreman was anything but prime at that time.
Prime Liston. Nobody else I could think of. Well... Someone like Shavers or Tyson could always be a wildcard against anyone in the first couple of rounds, but I would still only give them a very small chance. Prime Liston may beat Foreman in a toe to toe. Maybe.
Well like you love to heed to the opinion of rivals of certain guy to rate his hitting power.. Leroy caldwell said that lyle and foreman did hit around the same, and what is the best knock out of shavers? He stopped pure trash... And still nobody question that he could bang. And the only important thing is that foreman showed that he could comeback after getting hurt and win, lewis was drunk by Bruno. .you put lyle 1975-76 in the place of bruno that night and lewis would get stopped