1997 Lennox Lewis vs 1974 Muhammad Ali

Ali knocks him out. His skill is level's above Lewis.

 

Fighters who choose to fight on the outside and use their size advantage like Lewis often get plauded with having a high fight IQ that is completely overrated.

 

Lewis came up with winning strategies against a range of opponents even when he was well past his best against Vitali he still managed to exploit a key weakness and get the win

Lewis with Steward in his corner was a very smart fighter who only took risks when he needed to but always found a way to win

 

Lewis never fought a fighter on the level of 74 Ali, whereas Ali defeated many a fighter on the level of Lewis.

 

Lennox Lewis would have an easier time with 67 Ali, he’d beat this one though but it’d be tactical while it lasted, Everything Norton did to Ali, Lennxo was very capable of.

 

Many? - who? Frazier?

 

Frazier twice , Foreman, Liston twice plus many contenders not far from Lewis level.

 

“Many” so three? Let me get this straight, you think the shot Frazier of “Superfight 2” the Old Liston who quit and George Foreman…. Are on the level of Lennox Lewis? H2H God no, Historically… Yeah sure probably, who were these “Many” contenders who were not far from Lennox Lewis’s level?

 

Foreman would punt Lewis to the moon.

 

Maybe he gets lucky, like Shavers, any man with that much attitude and power like Foreman has a chance, but it’s slim most likely he gets outboxed and Lennox beheads him at some point, Lennox ain’t Lyle or Ken Norton lol.

 

And yet not levels above Lyle, Frazier or Norton? Come on man, all three of those guys have Ali a real hard time he ain’t levels above Lennox Lewis, he wasn’t levels above those guys and in the 60s he had less skill.

 

Dumb and dumber going at it.

 

& Foreman is not Mercer or the corpse of Holyfield, both of whom ran Lewis within a whisker. He’s frankly too sluggish & too big a target. Foreman can’t miss & could just about knock him out with a jab. Lewis was a good defensive fighter but let’s not pretend he was Willie Pep.

 

Cut your nonsense out, no one is calling Lennox Willie Pep lol - when a guy punches starting behind his ear you really don’t need to be. Evander lost… very clearly? Mercer was capable of 12 with a lead chin, Lennox did suffer with a good jab and some speed.. Ray had one of those… Foreman was not capable of 12, Not capable of taking what Mercer did, He was wild with no jab, tense, green and always swinging for the fences maybe he connects? I specified this he has the guts, but more often than not… target practice GF goes down… on the inside, man Lennox is such a physical animal he’d have made Foreman wish he fought Lyle again. I’ll also note it was his first fight with Steward from memory the Mercer one.

 

Depends which Holyfield fight you’re talking about. The first outing was all Lewis but the rematch (both featuring a spent Holyfield) was almost depressing in Lewis’ inability to get anything serious going. It was as if the scandalous draw verdict took all the air out of his tyres, & he was well-established under Steward at that time.

Granted he improved after Mercer, but the gulf between Mercer & Foremsn is cosmic - including in the specific category of the jab, of which Foreman had an excellent one. I have a hard time imagining Lewis never getting caught once, is the real issue, because he had minimal recovery capabilities & a near-glass jaw.

Fair too to say if we’re going to mention Lewis wasn’t quite in his prime for Mercer, either was Foreman for Lyle. Both Lewis & Foreman would have won these matches easier at different points in their careers.

Anyway, I don’t mean to derail the thread. After your reply why don’t we discuss Lewis-Ali?