Would Lennox Lewis have a better "senior come-back career" than Larry Holmes ?

I doubt if he would have done as well as Larry Holmes did, as an older fighter. I still rank him above Holmes in a prime head to head sense.

 

Close to prime Lennox looked worse against Ray Mercer than past his best Larry did, so no

 

No I don't see Lewis "aging gracefully" in spite of what Lewis and his fans insist. I mean...just look at the Vitali fight. The guy's heart was not in boxing and he seemed to be more interested in a rematch with Tyson (a completely shot fighter he already beat) or taking on Roy Jones for big pay days rather than settling the score with Vitali. Lewis knew his heart wasn't in it anymore and got out at the right time and I don't even fault him for it.

Physically, he was declining too. Still as strong as an ox with good fundamentals, but he kept getting fatter and fatter with worse and worse stamina. He was pawing with his jab and often looked to land one big shot rather than setting things up with combinations. His reflexes had gotten worse and his foot speed was non existent. Had he actually retired and then attempted a come back he likely would have grown to the size of a blimp and a big stationary target with leaky defense. That would not bode well for a guy with a suspect chin and stamina.

Assuming he retires and come back at 38:

Michael Spinks Lewis loses by lopsided ugly decision
Michael Spinks Lewis is more competitive but is just too big and slow to really pin down the tricky spinks
Mike Tyson Tyson by late KO
Ray Mercer Mercer by KO round 9 or later
Evander Holyfield Holy by wide UD
Oliver McCall McCall KO or stoppage
Brian Nielsen Nielson by decision. Lewis is completely shot at this point
James Smith Lewis was too good to lose to someone like Smith even at an advanced age, Lewis UD
Mike Weaver Lewis late round stoppage or UD
Butterbean Lewis UD

 

Both great champions but vulnerable to hard right hands.

 

I think he might have done ok against some of the listed names due to his size and power. Mercer would have been a tough fight.

 

Holmes was younger than when Lewis retired, 35 in the first, 36 in the second Spinks fight.
Lewis was 37 approaching 38 when he fought Vitali, older/38 when he officially retired.
But I agree Lewis would not have aged as well as the cagey boxer Holmes.
Power may stay later, but when you depend neither mainly on speed nor power but guile, that is a better recipe for later success.

The least likely? Smaller, mainly depending upon/needing speed & reflexes that diminish rapidly as youth fades.
Calling RJJ.

 

Yeah - it actually makes quite a difference to the speculative scenario, when you consider Lewis retired at an age when Holmes was making his first comeback.

How would first-time returning, 1988 Holmes have done against 2003 Vitali, I wonder?

It's easy to imagine Lewis struggling a little, had he returned at age 40, but this is because he was thoroughly done with competing by the time he actually did retire (never to return). Lewis had nothing left to prove. Larry clearly felt that he himself had more to do.

 

Lewis goes 7-3.

Michael Spinks - Lewis by TKO.
Michael Spinks - Lewis by TKO.
Mike Tyson - Tyson KO.
Ray Mercer - Mercer TKO.
Evander Holyfield - Holyfield TKO.
Oliver McCall - Lewis by MD.
Brian Nielsen - Lewis by UD.
James Smith - Lewis by TKO.
Mike Weaver - Lewis by TKO.
Butterbean - Lewis by UD.

 

No.
Lewis didn't have the same skills and cageyness to translate into a 40-something fighter like Holmes did.

 

No Way Lewis declining skills would make his chin more vulnerable.

 

I tend to think that Larry would always come out on top in this scenario due to the fact that his cageyness and ring I.Q. are better.

Just a quick observation, I was going thru my Larry Holmes DVD career set a couple of weeks ago, and during one of his comeback fights I heard the commentators mentioning how much sharper his jab was compared to the end of his first career, and they seemed to be wondering why. I figure the layoff allowed Larry to fully recuperate from all the built up damage that had accumulated over the course of his first go round. By the time he got to Spinks, he was just worn down.

 

Butter Bean gets bounced badly..

 

I don't give Holmes enough credit but he really had a solid list of competition being well past it. Lewis picks up Ls he definitely knew when to leave a reason he wasn't pressed to face Vitali again or even Wlad. Got his win over Vitali and dipped.

Few athletes do that but luckily it seems like he's in a decent state of mind few times I c him nowadays. At most he might b out of shape.