Could Lewis Have Being A Dominant Force In the 1970s?

And Ali got outjabbed by Norton in all 3 fights and i would say Lewis has a much better jab, plus the Mercer fight was before Lewis really developed his jab he became much better with it later on

 

Norton took away Ali's jab by parrying it with his awkward cross arm defence that's not a stylistic issue that Lewis has for Ali.

 

But generally fighters with good jabs gave Ali problems and Lewis has one of the best jabs in heavyweight history especially since this is 70s Ali not prime Ali so it would be a challenging for him to overcome and I don't think 70s Ali would be able to

 

You're saying generally but what other fighters ? I don't recall anyone really noticeably troubling Ali with their jabs other than Norton who had a unique cross arm defence where he could parry Ali's jab.

70s is not prime Ali no but he still had noticeable performances like vs Norton 2 where he looked sharp with his movement, speed, and that would be a stylistic challenge Lewis has not faced before.

 

Doug Jones, Cooper, Ellis, Young, even Terrell in some of the early rounds

True but i think Lewis has the attributes and skills to also give him trouble and is the type of fighter Ali has never faced before either a skilled SHW and Ali didn't constantly have that same form in the 70s he dipped between fights so depends on which Ali shows up.

 

Did Ali have a glass jaw like Grant or Golota? Did Ali have poor reflexes and ring IQ like Grant or was mentally weak as Golota? Well, you know the answers

 

My point wasn't that he would obliterate Ali more so that just because he couldn't do that to Mavrovic doesn't mean he's incapable of doing it to other fighters.

 

As I said in my first post if you're using a realistic scenario and you put Lewis in the 70s his career spanned what like 13 years is it ? It all depends when Lewis fights certain fighters and at what stage in Lewis's career it is.

I know people like to say "prime this" and "prime that" but if you're talking about an era I like to use a realistic scenario where a fighter goes through wear and tear and has different stages of their careers.

And IMO I do not think Lewis would go undefeated from 1970-1979 without a loss or two. That doesn't mean I don't think he wouldn't be one of the best of the era of course he would. But if you get 1 shotted by two B class Heavyweights and have shown some vulnerabilities in other fights vs Mercer, 37 year old Holyfield. Chances are the odds of Lewis going through the entire era which was very strong squeaky clean without a banana skin somewhere is very unlikely IMO.

 

How many times was Ali obliterated in 61 fights against best opposition ever in HW history? Zero, while fighting years past his prime. He was beaten badly by prime Holmes but it was a beatdown not a demolition, and shot Ali was fighting one of the best heavyweights of all time in that fight. And none of numerous big punchers he faced throughout his career ever came close to obliterating him

 

Fair enough but I don't think he's shown vulnerabilities in the fights that you mentioned that fighters from the 70s would be able to exploit because both Mercer and Holyfield had to walk through his punches and take a beating to be able to have their success and I don't think any fighter from 70s era could do that. Lewis could be knocked out but it's always against fighters he either underestimated or didn't take seriously a serious and focused Lewis is very hard to beat and the only ones who would have a chance in my opinion is Holmes and Ali and even then both fights would be 50/50. So while he might get knocked out in fights he doesn't take seriously overall i think he would be a top fighter in the era and perhaps even THE top fighter of the era.

 

Yeah we agree he wouldn't demolish Ali

 

Fair enough we can agree to disagree.

 

I'd favour him over both

IMO nobody. But I do think Holmes might have a good chance, although I still make Lewis the favorite.

 

Irrelevant. Styles make matches. And Lewis is all wrong for Ali.

 

Ali might be fast, but his jaw is not. And he made too many mistakes.