Lennox Lewis vs Deontay Wilder

Wilder has a pretty good chance of stopping him. People bring up the Grant fight but don’t mention that Grant landed a massive right hand on Lewis early in 1st round. If Wilder lands a shot of that quality, and there’s a high likelihood that he does, the fight is over. Lewis was very vulnerable in the ring and not as good as a cursory glance of his record might indicate.

 

You're loading the case against Lewis with exaggerations. Holy, Tyson past or way past it... very limited Rahman and McCall. Why add "very", you're making Rahman & McCall into journeymen? Can only agree he s/have re-matched Vitaly.

No. Lewis on an off night might get outpointed by Ali or possibly stopped by Foreman.

Ali was a middling puncher in his era of CW to small HW opposition. Young George was gassed by mid rounds, and old George was too slow. We're not talking Frazier* opposition here, who Ali went life & death in 3 bouts, but Foreman destroyed 2X. Lennox beats Ali or Foreman 8-9 of 10.
* Lewis 10 of 10, see Lewis-Tyson for a clue.

 

Legitimate legend vs can crusher.

Jeez, I wonder who wins.

 

I agree with much of this but Lewis simply does not beat Foreman or Ali 8-9 out of 10 times. I love Lennox and he's top 5 all time but come on now, he never fought anything like the calibre of peak Ali or Foreman. That's not to say he's not in those fights but they are 50/50 propositions at best.

 

Wilders speed could be a problem early but if goes past 3 rounds Wilder gets hurt. I have seen Lewis knocked cold so I know it’s possible, but the smart money is on Lennox to stop Wilder in 5.

 

Also for the record, young Foreman would be a real problem, like a serious problem for anybody. I do not favor Lennox in that fight, respectfully.

 

I would heavily favor Ali, Foreman and Holmes to beat prime and focused version of Lewis. Sonny Liston as well, who would be stylistic nightmare for Lennox (=Mercer with better jab and far bigger power).

You are saying Lewis would win 10 of 10 against Tyson based on their actual fight? LOL, Danny Williams would also win 10 of 10 against THAT version of Tyson.

 

As for the Wilder, I would heavily favor Lewis to win. But it won't be anything like Grant fight. Grant wasn't the puncher of Wilder's calibre + he was VERY slow and had zero agility while Wilder (as crude as he is) has decent reflexes and good speed. Lewis would be reluctant to fight like he did vs Grant. The fight would look like Rahman rematch, IMO. Lewis would outbox Wilder and catch him at some point. Lewis KO6

 

Emmanuel Stewart disagrees with you, and, with due respect, his opinion carries a lot of weight on this one, as Lewis' former coach. I reproduce below the full excerpt of this statement. Also, my intention was not to exaggerate against Lewis: he would obviously be one of the most difficult opponents in Ali's career. But Ali would be _by far_ THE most difficult opponent in Lewis' career.

Have a look at Lewis' struggle with Mercer to see what I mean when I suggest that Ali would likely devise a way to thwart Lewis' gameplan.
Now the Stewart piece (originally from here: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...aid-in-his-on-way-lewis-will-beat-ali.421171/):


A Mythical Dream Bout Between Lewis and Prime Muhammad Ali:

I would think Ali, first of all, was a very special unique fighter, and his rhythm and ability to feint, make adjustments, take a punch, his stamina, everything! But also I think part of what Ali had was a psychological advantage he always had, which no one speaks about that. He intimidated a lot of his opponents. Most heavyweights have big bodies, but ‘inside’ as I call it, most of them are weak. And Ali was so strong, and then his whole image including with Sonny Liston. He did all of that bragging and then he had his entourage, which people don’t realize and they don’t like to talk about it, but it was very intimidating. A big part of it was Dundee and all of them threatening, and they would come in with about fifteen-twenty people, and that was most heavy especially when you had nice passive guys like Zora Folley, and all of those types of guys. It was just too much for those guys, and even for Sonny Liston! Actually that whole gang of his, so to say, broke down most guys.

But in Lennox’s case, I think it would be a very difficult fight for me to even say what would happen, because Ali had a lot of tremendous assets with the movement and everything. But we still have to remember that size is important, and Lennox at 6’5” was about another two and a half inches taller than Ali, and Lennox had a really good jab himself. Lennox was mentally never a weak person. That’s one thing is I don’t think Lennox would be easily intimidated the way those guys were. Lennox had his own built-in gangster and thug side inside of him.

I can’t really put one generation against another one, but in your mind you can look at it. I think it would have been a tough fight. I don’t think Ali would be able to do like he did with Ernie Terrell, who even though Ernie was taller, Ernie didn’t have that mental toughness. He was intimidated by, and I always say ‘Ali’s everything’. It was his whole being. It was not just Ali. It was that whole crowd that he brought intimidated most of those guys. I think Lennox would have been able to hold up to that, and it would have been to me a toss-up fight. I really can’t say.

I just don’t think Ali could have easily outbox him, because of the size of Lennox, and Lennox could move on his feet pretty good, too. But Ali was the type of guy who found a way to win. I don’t know! It would have been a very tough fight for Ali, I could tell you that, though! He wouldn’t have been able to just easily outbox Lennox, and he wouldn’t have been able to intimidate Lennox with his whole gang, so to say. It would have been tough fight!

 

Wilder has a chance v anyone with that right hand but Lewis could do everything else better. His right hand was still bloody good.
When Lewis was up against it when people doubted him, he produced a big performance.

 

I didn't appreciate Lewis during his reign. But he is levels above Wilder.

Lewis fought great fighters and contenders. He lost fights and the fighters who beat him in rematches.

Wilder is basically a bucket boy skill/experience/resume wise compared to Lewis.

 

Wilder has a punchers chance but if Lennox is focused then it'd be an easy night for him.

 

Where is the option
Wilder refuse to take the fight