Could an Ali handle the size of Lewis?

Old enough, intelligent enough, and experienced enough to know that Lennox Lewis is one of the most over-rated HW champs in history lol. I'm 40, with several years of boxing experience, and nearly 30 years of boxing knowledge & analysis.

 

You disagree with what exactly?

 

Mendoza, everyone has trouble with good jabbers. To me that is stating the obvious. Lewis had trouble dealing with the jab of Bruno and Mercer to name two...both had good jabs, but neither imo were in Ali's league as a jabber.
Again, this argument works both ways.
Lewis has advantages in terms of reach & height, Ali in terms of speed and reactions.
We'll never know who could beat who but I'll say this: If Lewis could beat Ali it's because he's simply better overall, not purely because he's bigger. That is the issue here...whether or not Ali is able to handle Lewis because of Lewis' size advantage.

The 'small' (IE under 220 pounds) heavyweight has not been successful lately I will admit, but is that purely because they are smaller? The Klitschko's dominate, but is that simply because they are bigger?
The size advantage helps of course, but they also have a decided skill advantage over the rest of the division.

It's also been unfortunate that two of the better small heavyweights of recent years (Byrd and Chambers) have also not had much hitting power, which in the heavyweight division is a grand leveller.
But even so, for a little guy without the power to crack an egg, Byrd did pretty well actually.

We must keep in mind that the guys the Klitsckos lost to were all smaller guys, or at least smaller than themselves. Sanders may have been quite tall, but he weighed 'only' about 220 when he beat Wlad. For some, 220 is simply not big enough these days, but I totally disagree.

Truly, I don't think it's so much a size issue as much as it's a skill issue. There are limits to that line of thinking true (Weight divisions do exist for a reason) but to me anyone around the 210 lb. mark, provided he has the necessary skill, is a danger to any man, regardless of size.

 

Washed up Tony Tucker made Lewis look like an amateur 7 years after his loss to Tyson. At this stage of his career he was a drug addict yet was able to win the championship rounds against Lewis.
Prime Tucker would of picked Lewis to bits.

Lewis is definitely overrated. Limited skills and would just look for one knock out punch. Shoddy footwork and as MaCall claimed, had two left feet.

Top 5 ATG? lmao . He barely breaks the top 10.

 

I think size is becoming too overrated these days. There's more to being a good fighter than just being big. Sure size can help, but it's only one ingredient in the recipe for making a good heavyweight. Ali certainly could hang with the likes of Lewis. If men the size of Mercer and Holyfield could then Ali could as well. Ali's biggest asset, aside from his speed and reflexes would be his mind. He wouldn't be intimidated at all and would not be afraid to exchange with Lewis. Lennox, for all his size, apppeared a little timid at times or at least hesitant when he should've been more aggressive. Against Holyfield he seemed content to stay outside too often when he should've tried to impose his size and power more on the smaller, older Holyfield...but he didn't and this was in part because Evander had no qualms about letting his punches go when Lewis chose to mix it up. Ali would exploit this hesitancy while being careful to avoid getting tagged too often. Ali loved being the champ, it was his raison d"etre...Lennox was an intellectual with boxing ability and size but that wouldn't be enough. Ali by decision.

 

This. Great post!