The Foreman who beat Norton from '74 against the Lewis that beat Golota in '97. Who would take this and why?
Bit unfair as the Norton fight was peak Foreman, whilst Lewis did not hit his peak until Tua.... So I go for Foreman in a wild brawl off the floor in three.
I think most people would pick Lennox Lewis, and while I agree, I also feel that it could go either way. Lennox Lewis was neither Joe Frazier nor Muhammad Ali, but he bore qualities of both fighters. He was a well rounded boxer, with a nice combination of speed, power, footwork and ring generalship. Lewis also had a fair amount of size at 6'5", 240 Lbs, or whatever he was in his prime. Most fighters of the 70's weren't constructed of these dimensions. I'm guessing that George and Lewis would meet in the center of the ring, and right from the go, Foreman would be on the attack with Lewis retreating but only temporarily. Lewis would be cautious in the early rounds ,and apply the jab staying safely out of harms way. George would manage to land a few good shots, and perhaps even get Lennox on the ropes on a couple of occasions, but Lewis's saavy and sleekness would get him out of trouble. By the 6th or 7th round, we would start to see a frustrated Foreman, and a more confident Lewis, who at this point would probably have won 3 or 4 of the rounds. George is still aggressive but getting tired. He tries to tye up Lennox and nails him with a few gut check shots, then pushes him away to get him into mid range for a looping right. Lennox dodges most of George's attempts, maybe only taking a few off the tip of Foreman's glove. Neither man is messed up at this point, but both of them have bleeding lips and mild swelling. George However, is tiring heavily. His corner tells him he needs to get this one out of there. He is unsuccessful and continues to tire as the fight goes on. The increasing dominance of Lewis eventually leads to a either a 15 round decision or knockout between rounds 9 and 15. Granted, George had the power to always have a punchers chance and we can't ignore this, however it wouldn't be enough to favor him either.
After some early trouble, Foreman would shake off some huge bombs from Lewis and eventually land his own in the 5th. Not having a chin as solid as George, Lennox would succumb to a right uppercut-left hook-overhand right to the jaw while George had him on the ropes.
I take Lewis for size advantage - foot work - and a pretty good jab that he would use to try and keep Foreman off of him.
Lewis and Emmanuel Steward would be well aware of Foreman's punching power as well as his technical flaws. Lewis would probably elect to box "small" George behind a stiff jab and throwing the occasional right hand which Foreman was quite open to, as Ali showed in their first round when he moved. Foreman could get away with that sloppy, glove in the air, defense against a smaller come forward swarmer in Frazier and Norton who is bad on the backfoot, especially against punchers. But Ali took advantage of this flaw as well as Lyle and Young, and Lewis would, too. I think Lewis' chin and recuperative abilities would take him through rough moments during the first four rounds. Lewis' chin is not as bad as perceived, took quite a lot of bombs and to top things off, Foreman is by no means a one-punch knockout artist. Foreman was best at landing hooks, uppercuts and wild swings while most of the time Lewis was caught by punches, they were straight shots. After the 6th, Lewis would land jabs and straight shots with sickening regularity on a tiring and frustrated Foreman and by the 7th-8th i think Foreman would be knocked down several times with the referee ending the fight. Lewis TKO8 Foreman.
I think it's quite difficult to pinpoint Lewis at his very best. He was very consistent throughout his career (apart from the two blips). I think an argument can be made for any point between 1997-2000 when Steward's influence had made him a better overall fighter. He had lost a little speed by the time he faced Tua.
Foreman has a great punchers chance, he had better power than both McCall and Rahman but I think Lewis aware of that fact would fight carefully and the younger version of Foreman,wideswinging and lacking stamina would tire, Lennox would keep him honest letting him feel his power and jab but FOREMAN ALWAYS DANGEROUS, AT LEAST UNTIL THE 7-8TH ROUND ROUND WHEN the Ref stops it in favor of Lennox
I agree with everyone who picks Lennox Lewis to win this one, by I find it interesting that most people have chosen the 8th round as a potential stopping point. I assume that this is the concensus due to Foreman's being stopped by Ali in this very round. Keep in mind folks, that Foreman's decline in round eight was largely due to the fact that he had persued Ali very heavily for 8 rounds, had him on the ropes often, and even pounded on him quite a bit before tiring. They also fought outdoors in Zaire Africa on a very warm evening leading to Foreman succuming to heat exhaustion. It's not likely that Lewis and Foreman would fight in Africa if they ever met, and what's more, I'm not sure if Lewis could take the punishment that Ali did before wearing George down. Again, I still agree that Lewis would take this fight, but I fear that some are picking the right man, but for the wrong reasons.
I would agree with your summary, maybe Lewis was not quite as fast in the Tua fight, but he had a better boxing brain by then.
LEWIS HAS TEH GLASSJAW!!!!!!!111111!1!1!!ONEONE FOREMAN KO STAREDOWN (just before anyone else gets here first)
The superiority of the 70s HWs over the 90s HWs has been proved here already. Therefore we gotta pick Foreman.
