Lennox Lewis vs Olexander Usyk

He didn't poleaxe Mercer because Mercer was inhumanely durable until way late in his career. He landed fight ending shots multiple times on Mercer, but Mercer being Mercer, it didn't have much effect.

 

Lewis certainly scored with good blows against Mercer but not anything like as sharp as he was able to nail more statuesque fighters with .

 

Your key point is not something I've argued against or ever would. It's common sense and reality.

Another point is that earlier you said you "don't like how he is supposed to be a favourite in every single fantasy matchup on this forum".

This is miles from the truth. There was a load of votes for Foreman over him recently, he never comes out on top of Ali, he and Holmes usually get a similar vote, same with Tyson, Liston gets plenty of votes etc. Joe louis too for that matter. We also have a share here who think Holyfield would roll him. So it's not right to say he's favorite in all his fantasy matches. At the same time he is enormously respected by most H2H and so he should be.

 

All anyone has to do is simply watch the video of the highlights chok. Anyone who knows anything will clearly see Lewis hitting Mav with immense punches and plenty of times from range. The type of punches that left people that made Dunlop happy.

He didn't poleaxe Mav because he soaked up a number of immense punches. He knocked him halfway across the ring with a huge long right hand "in his own time".

Film don't lie.

 

I will concede that Mavrovic was hit plenty hard enough. It must be quite telling that he never fought again. So it really couldn’t have done him that good to take those shots anyway.

 

He had a rare muscle wasting disease they say.

Bonus - For all the hustling and bustling Lewis threw over 500 punches vs Mavs 298.

McLine had some interesting things to say -

"That was my amateur career," said McCline, lounging in his suite under the watchful eyes of his beloved New York trainer, Jimmy Glenn. "I sparred with everybody who was anybody from 1995 to 1999."


Larry Holmes, Tim Witherspoon, Hasim Rahman, Henry Akinwande, Larry Donald - "everybody but Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and David Tua," he said. Surprisingly, he said that Mavrovic, a Croatian who went 12 rounds with Lewis in 1998 and then retired, was "the best, a very sharp puncher, until I went in with Lennox."

 

I suspect Usyk wouldn’t fight the same fight against Lewis as he did against Fury. Usyk comes across a pretty intelligent fighter who can adapt his style accordingly depending on who is in front of him…and as such he would probably figure… “If I try to pressure this guy he’ll either jab me to hell or uppercut me out of the ring. This ain’t no (relatively and comparatively) light punching Fury hitting me! This guy has bombs in those fists. I’m gonna make this big so n so come looking for me. See how he likes that!”
Or words to that effect.

As a result I can see a pretty cagey affair going the full 12 rounds with the bigger guy’s power and aggression impressing the judges. Usyk’s footwork and movement will stop this being a KO defeat IMO, but I just can’t see him being as bold as he’d need to be to rack up the points.

 

maybe he was he talking about Bob Mirovic?

 

Lewis fought squat bangers like
Tyson
Tus
Butler
Boxer punchers like
Tucker
Holyfield
Golota
Good jabbers like
Biggs
Bruno
Tucker
Great left hookers like
Ruddock
Morrison
Tua
Cagey boxers like
Ocasio
Quarless.
Big right hand bangers like
Butler
Bruno
Weaver

He fought as many diverse styles as anyone who has held the title imo

 

Yes, Lewis would have battered Fury the other night, big time.

 

Good breakdown. Lewis resume was brilliant really. Even guys you missed out would be higher regarded today. Derrick Williams. Mason. Phil Jackson.

 

I’m not saying Lewis doesn’t have a good resume, obviously he does. I disagree that his resume is as stylistically diverse as any man that has ever held the title though. That honor goes to Ali. Wlad also faced a more diverse line up as well.
Lewis punched holes in the sluggers of his era, but he didn’t face many great movers. Not many great counter punchers. There are no Quarry’s or explosive trap setters like Haye in his resume. There are no southpaws, and that’s the point I’m making - he never faced a good southpaw. Usyk is a great southpaw - he also has great lateral movement, another attribute that’s not high on Lewis’s opponents list and a really great gas tank, let’s face it Lewis fought in an era with many big muscled guys that got tired. Mercer got tired, Briggs got tired, Vitali and Lewis were gasping for air by round 4 in their fight, Tyson was a 2 round fighter when they fought, Bruno always had stamina issues and so forth. Lewis got tired quite often in his fights as well.
Most of Lewis’s best wins are against the same type of mold of fighter in regards to footwork and stamina. Guys whose style maximized Lewis’s superior size and skill. Lewis’s career ended right as the influx of excellent Eastern European fighters began to take hold with deep amateur backgrounds. I’m not saying Lewis couldn’t defeat the majority of them but I can’t dismiss that he walks away clean from them either. And we can dismiss Usyk out of hand for the lack of body work he has in the division against Lewis if we want to, but I think Usyk has multiple attributes to pose problems for Lewis. Stance, stamina, speed, movement, pedigree. Could Lewis catch him, and Ko him I can’t rule it out but I can’t rule out other possibilities either.

 

Agreed, he's have ko'ed him inside 8, and brutally.

 

If anything, the Fury fight has cemented that Lewis would KTFO Usyk. I'm very high on him right now but Fury found some brilliant uppercuts in there, and Lewis's would leave Usyk on the floor.

 

Maybe. But Lewis couldn't put Marovic away.