1999 Lennox Lewis vs Sept 25 Oleksandr Usyk? How does it go?

Lennox was no Joshua. I think Lennox possibly by KO or decision would be my bet.

 

Lennox by decision.

Wide decision.

 

Right now you'd have to favor Lennox, just based on resume. He also knew how to use his height, reach, weight, and had a great jab and timing. AJ didn't have LL's boxing mind.

 

Lennox also might be the best heavyweight of all time and is a formidable opponent for any heavyweight in boxing history.

 

Lennox wins by KO I think.

 

In terms of H2H there isn't anyone I'd favour over prime Lennox (although there are matchups that would be very competitive)

So Lennox, wide UD

 

Lennox would use his size and power to control the distance between the two, and Usyk doesn't have that McCall/Rahman type one punch power.

Lennox by UD, maybe a late KO.

A very bad matchup for Usyk. I included Lewis in a list of boxers that would beat or win UDs vs Usyk in a post yesterday.

 

Usyk wins on points or by late stoppage.

Lewis was marginally outboxed by the poor man’s AJ Frank Bruno before Bruno’s chin and gas tank predictably gave out in 7, was outboxed by pre-prime contender Vitali 4-2 over 6 before the fight was stopped on cuts and despite turning pro at 23.75 after around 100 amateur bouts, Lewis couldn't beat 10 of his opponents inside the distance (Ocasio, Billups, washed Tucker, McCall 1, Mercer, vegetarian Mavrovic, old Holyfield 1, old Holyfield 2, Tua, Rahman 1) with approximately half of his 44 opponents being bums, 8 of the 34 he beat inside the distance being 215 lbs or less and he never stopped an opponent after the 8th round. Usyk has an excellent chin (never down in 19 pro fights) speed, agility, engine, ring IQ, confidence, heart, experience (350 amateur bouts plus 6 semi-pro) and holistic skills, so he very likely joins the ranks of the survivors.

Manny Steward stated that Wlad was a superior athlete to Lewis, more intelligent, had more punching power and was better in most technical respects: the same Wlad who Usyk was able to “boss” and “twist up” in sparring. Lewis would try to bring the fight to Usyk after being outboxed but he wasn't a better inside fighter than Mercer who he really drew with; a warhorse fringe contender pressure fighter roughly on par with Usyk-victim Chisora. He would be led onto counters and fatigue trying to chase the much faster, more agile, better conditioned and defensively skilled Usyk around the ring. Lewis lost 4 rounds by consensus to a 37 year old small cruiser Holyfield who had been KO’d by a faded Bowe 4 years prior and was on the cusp of losing to John Ruiz.

To top it all off, Lewis never fought a southpaw or a 6’3 mover of any note, while undefeated road warrior modern athlete Usyk outclassed prime elite SHW A-side unified belt holder AJ 9-3 in AJ’s backyard as a 9/4 underdog in his 3rd heavyweight pro fight. Usyk is the best of the best as a southpaw and a 6’3 mover, so Lewis probably struggles even more than Wlad did, who had far more experience sparring, fighting and beating good southpaw HW's than any other HW in history.

 

Lewis by clear UD. I can see Lewis knocking out anyone in history but I wouldn't favor that outcome here. I'm also not saying Lewis is a better boxer than Usyk just that he's a very good boxer and would use his size effectively enough prevent Usyk from imposing his will.

 

Look at this pathetic agenda ridden post. So Lewis was outboxed by Bruno right ? you fail to mention Lewis was pre prime against bruno and massively improved after that fight. You also fail to mention Lewis was in his later 30s, overweight and took Vitali on 2 weeks notice wheras Vitali had been preparing for Lewis several months before the fight. Yet you have no problem mentioning that Vitali was "pre prime" against Lewis. Utter bias. Also why would Lewis gas against Usyk if he had no problem boxing and dogfighting against Mercer for 12 rounds ? And to compare Mercer to Chisora is laughable. Look at Chisoras record, it sucks. He has no wins of note. At least Mercer beat Morrison and Damiani. You also love mentioning fighters success in the amateurs as an attempt to back of your arguments so let me do the same. Did you know Mercer was also an Olympic gold medalist at heavyweight just like Usyk ?

Just because Usyk outboxes Joshua and Wlad does not mean he outboxes Lewis. Usyk's movement will pose a problem but Lewis had great timing with his right hand counter as shown against Mavrovic. Lewis was also a good infighter and wouldn't be gunshy with his combinations just incase Usyk tried to put his punches together like he did against Joshua. Lewis's reach was longer than Joshua's, his jab was also better than Joshua's and Lewis would be landing on the body as they're playing chess. Joshua actually had success when he went downstairs. Too bad he stopped. Wlad on the other hand can barely put his punches together at mid range, can't fight on the inside and last but not least it's sparring. Kind of embarrassing that you have to use an example of Usyk beating a old Wlad in sparring to prove he beats a prime Lewis

Lewis had a hell of a right hand though and Bellew was landing that right at will. And the notion of Lewis never fighting any movers above Euro level is false. Akinwande was a tall rangy mover and won a title. Here's an example of Akinwande boxing and moving around the ring against 6'5, 235lb, southpaw Alexander Zolkin.

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He was also outboxing Mccall and used good movment but got caught with a good shot.

 

Lots of heavyweights these days are falling for jittery jumpy feints, good head movement and the constant on their toes foot movement. I think previous era heavyweights are far better, even if heavyweights themselves lack the skill of lighter weights. I feel lennox would figure out the pattern of usyks faints and thus use traps to counter and corner usyk.

 

Lennox is the favorite but there is a reason he never fought a southpaw.
Just accept it guys usyk is an atg.
Enjoy watching him, he is the definition of an elite fighter. Stamina for 15 rounds, elite skills, killers mentality, road warrior and also a crazy guy.
He would give Lennox a run for his money, Lennox had problems with holyfield and imo usyk is better than holyfield and also a southpaw