Lennox Lewis vs Usyk

Late stoppage? No way! Lewis never stopped anyone past round 8 and Usyk has one of the best staminas in the heavyweight history.

Plus Usyk's chin is FAR more proven than Mavrovich's one who was knocked out a couple of times in the amateurs and fought atrocious opposition in his 27 pro fights before facing Lewis.

If Lewis couldn't stop 6'3'', 214 lbs Mavrovich who was far inferior fighter comparing to Usyk, how he would stop Usyk who had far better skillset, much better defense and far more proven chin than Zeljko?

 

Lewis decision

 

Prime for Prime?

Lewis by mid rounds stoppage.

I even think Lewis could take this via decision due to superior jab.

 

I'd have to favor lewis

 

They're emotional or propaganda voters. If they had a gun to their head nearly all of them would change their vote, but they are voting to protect the legacy of Lennox, or because he is a hero to them.

 

Lewis would not KO Usyk. And I cant see him winning a decision either.

Usyk UD.

 

“A real heavyweight” ?

How about whooping up on the guy in your avatar?? Does that not qualify in your little mind or…

 

Usyk wins by decision.

Lennox is a great fighter, but this is the wrong fight for him.

We know Lennox had his issues with Mavrovic, who is about the same size as Usyk (though not nearly as good).

Probably a better comparison is Lewis-Holyfield.

It's been a long time, but I think the feeling was Lewis should have won the first fight (draw) and the second fight should have been a Holyfield win or a draw (Lewis UD).

To be fair to Lewis, the fights with Holyfield took place when Lewis was 33 and 34 years old. Not the best physical version of him, although maybe the best overall version of him. On the other hand, Evander was 36 and 37 in those bouts, so he was far from his best, too.

In LL-EH 1, Lewis threw 613 punches. That's pretty good. 50 punches per round. In the second meeting, he threw 490 punches. About 40 per round. In the first fight Lewis landed 161 power shots, and in the second fight he landed 119 power shots.

In both fights, Lewis out-threw Holyfield.

In Usyk-Joshua 1, Joshua actually out-threw Usyk to the count of 641-529. However, Usyk landed 96 power shots to Joshua's 71.

In Usyk-Joshua 2, Usyk threw 712 punches (AJ threw 492). Usyk landed 131 power shots to Joshua's 101.

Lewis is better than Joshua, I think we all can agree on that. But Joshua is a big guy with a powerful punch, as is Lewis. So it's a similar match-up for Usyk even though Lennox is of course better than Joshua is.

Let's assume both guys are more in their physical prime, make them both like 29 or so. Workrate would be up for both guys.

Lewis would not be able to walk through Usyk because Usyk can hurt you (as Joshua found out). And someone with Lewis' chin would have to be wary of that.

Lewis also would not be able to muscle or lay on Usyk. No one is doing that to Usyk -- not Fury, not Lewis, not anyone -- and they certainly aren't doing it to Peak Usyk. He's simply too athletic, too fast and too conditioned to have that happen. Joshua tried to do it in the rematch and had no success. Usyk is not Canelo, a guy you can count on to gas out and lay on the ropes later in the fight.

Usyk likely would out-throw, and IMO he definitely would out-land, Lewis. So Lewis' best strategy, IMO, would be to try to slow Usyk down with body shots (as Joshua did in the rematch). I don't think this works against a Peak Usyk, but it would probably be Lewis' best hope. Otherwise, I don't think he could "find" Usyk much in the bout. As various people have said, fighting Usyk is like fighting a ghost. You just can't get to him.

Usyk is not getting knocked out but for a lucky shot. Usyk has a great chin (as shown against Joshua) and he would fight with respect for Lewis' power. Usyk has been buzzed a few times in his pro career, but he's never been off his feet.

I said at the start that this is the wrong fight for Lewis. The reason for that is because he's so big. Usyk does best against larger fighters (like Joshua), guys he can out-speed and whose reach he can get inside of. Joshua has an 82" reach; Lewis' reach is even longer at 84". Styles make fights.

Usyk loves nothing better than to have long-armed guys throw looping shots he can time and then counter. He would do that to Lewis, as he did it to Joshua. Usyk has more problems with smaller guys than he does larger guys, and Lewis is a large guy. That's not the right kind of fighter to try to beat Usyk with (as Fury likely will find out should he and Usyk meet).

It's a competitive fight, and Lewis could win it if there were UK judges (see the 115-113 score for Joshua in the rematch). But with fair judging, Usyk wins the bout 8-4 or 7-5. He probably out-throws Lewis, he likely out-lands Lewis, and neither fighter suffers a knockdown during the bout. Nor is either fighter really hurt in the bout. And if one fighter does get hurt, it would be Lewis (as was the case in Usyk-Joshua 1).

If I had to pick one historical fighter to beat Usyk I would pick Vitali Klitschko. Even though Vitali is huge (the kind of guy Usyk tends to do well against), Vitali has a monstrous workrate, iron chin and good power. Vitali probably wouldn't be very worried about Uysk's power and he could probably out-throw Usyk and thus bank rounds. On the other hand, Usyk being smaller could present some issues for Vitali (think Byrd here). That would be a great fight.

Would also like to see Usyk-Tyson, because Tyson's smaller size (and all the other attributes of Peak Tyson) could give Usyk fits.

 

Lennow lewis is the goat in fantasy matchups.
He never really takes an L in these polls sunce nobody favours him to get outboxed.
Its usually LL wins by ud or ko unless the guy gets a lucky punch in.

 

Baby Joyce in a 5 rounder is not a fight

 

I went with LL close decision, but these are really great points - we have only seen Lewis in with one southpaw, and not any slicksters.

If we had seen Lewis dominate a Chris Byrd type then maybe we would have more ammunitition.

On the flipside, I still rate Lewis MUCH higher than AJ and anyone else that Uysk has fought at heavy in the pros - I have Lewis top 5 H2H (beats Fury for example) and he would be a much harder fight for Usyk than AJ.

That said, the Usyk that shutout Gassiev would be a really tough match up for Lewis too!

Hard to really say with any kind of certainty!