Lewis's chin gets underrated, it was solid enough, he just got caught with a perfect punch twice is his career, he was hit plenty and took solid punches, was hurt and came back plenty as well. Foreman landing a punch like that on a focused Lewis is very unlikely, he would have to face a solid Lewis defense with huge counters coming his way. Foreman himself rated Lewis very highly, he knew how good he was. This content is protected edit - I guess we might not be talking about a focused Lewis but even his 2003 version would have handily beat Foreman imo, against Vitali he showed a lot of heart and will to win.
Hard to think of another great heavyweight that was twice KTFO with one punch like Lewis was and that will against always be held against him as a big negative but in reality his chin was solid enough. Not quite as good as Holyfields or Tyson but durable enough to not hinder him from having a great career.
I don’t think 1991 was the best version of comeback Foreman. He was in top form against Qawi. Foreman showed up out of shape and fought terrible against Holyfield, which is why Charlie Snipes kept trying to help Foreman make adjustments, but Foreman didn’t listen. The only reason the fight with Holyfield was as competitive as it was is due to Holyfield ignoring instructions and trying to fight Foreman toe to toe. In the later rounds when Holyfield actually started listening and started attacking using angles he didn’t have too much trouble with handling Foreman.
I do respect your opinion, but to me that means that Floyd Patterson had a tough jaw like Lennox Lewis, because he was knocked down in his title defenses, arose and won, but got kayoed by Sonny Liston twice in the first round. Foreman does hit harder than Hasim Rahman, and Oliver McCall. A fighter with a tough jaw, just does not go down and stays down, for the full ten count. Lewis was a good champion, but like every fighter, has a weakness. I guess that Oliver McCall was not focused when he lost his belt.George Chuvalo had a tough jaw, never knocked off his feet. He fought a prime George Foreman, and a prime Joe Frazier, lost by TKO to both, but was still on his feet.
Prime Sonny Liston, 1958-1962 hits harder than Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall, he would kayo them both in the same night, Liston kayoes Lewis early, one right cross on the jaw, after connecting with pole like left jabs. Size would not scare Sonny.
fighters with great chins get knocked out as well, look at Paul Williams, his chin was damn near cast iron before the Martinez rematch. It depends on what you rate a tough jaw, earlier you called Lewis's glass, which it was proven not to be, otherwise he would have been KOed more often. As said I think it was solid enough, his reign was more successful than Patterson's for instance. I don't know how you can prove Foreman his harder than those guy by 91, if anything I think his power was overrated (by then), he had plenty of shots on Holyfield but never really hurt him bad, Bowe did though? I just don't think Lewis would even give Foreman the chance to land his power anyway. By the fourth round George's face would look like he'd been attacked by a swarm of bees, he wouldn't be able to see ****. I agree Lewis had weakness, yes he could be taken out in the right circumstances as proved but I think his biggest weakness was against pressure fighters, he liked to set the pace, Mercer put him in a very uncomfortable place by putting the pressure on effectively. That's why I think Holyfield a couple of years younger would have had more success, because when he did put the pressure on he had some decent moments, he just didn't have the energy to remain consistent. I also think Tyson could have given him problems as well in this area, win I dont know, but problems yes.
I am talking about Prime Sonny Liston, not the Liston that was kayoed by Ali in 1965, and Leotis Martin, in 1969. It is like comparing the Ali of 1980, whom Holmes stopped with the Ali of 1967, that was in his prime, no comparison, reaching. Lewis has a glass jaw. Ali was never decked or knocked out during his prime title reign, Lennox was kayoed. I was talking about prime Liston before Ali or Martin.
People are fixated on Listons Ali loses, somehow relating them to prime Liston Was Tyson vs Lewis prime Tyson?
