George Foreman vs Lennox Lewis

Tyson was old, but he was not shot. Nor was he shot a year later when he knocked Etienne out in less than a minute. To seriously suggest that Tyson was shot is to have no appreciation of how to use boxing terminology.

 

I wouldn't call Joe Frazier inferior opposition. The Foreman that fought Young didn't even try to knock him out for most of the fight, he wanted to show he could go the distance.

Foreman landed a lot more than 5 shots on Ali to the chin.

 

When Etienne was dropped he took the mouthpiece out and then put his head back down and pretended he was out. The fight meant nothing except that Etienne was terrified.

Tyson wasn't as shot as he was against Williams, but if you say he wasn't at least way past his best is crazy.

 

Ring Magazine's "50 Greatest Fights You Never Saw"
14.10.03 - By Frank Lotierzo
George Foreman vs. Lennox Lewis

I know this will upset many Lewis fans, but I don't see Lewis ever beating the Foreman who fought Frazier and Ali in 1973-74. In this match up The Ring picked Lewis to stop Foreman in the 10th round. This after he was ruled down in the sixth round. Excuse me, but I can't recall the time Lewis got up to beat the count after he was dropped. Their theory is based on Lewis being able to circle and box while using his greater strength to hold Foreman off when he gets close. I think it borders on comedic to even suggest Lewis is as strong as Foreman.

Let's make one thing perfectly clear. Despite spotting Lewis some weight, Foreman was definitely stronger than Lewis. In fact, Foreman at 42 or 43 was stronger than any version of Lewis. If Lewis is so strong, how was he pushed all over the ring by Ray Mercer, and Evander Holyfield in their second fight? A prime Holyfield couldn't physically control a 42 year old Foreman. Foreman, is stronger than both Holyfield and Mercer when he's sleeping. When it comes to punching power, Foreman is superior to Lewis with either hand. And that's not up for debate. An old Foreman rocked a prime Holyfield more so than Lewis did a shot Holyfield. There is absolutely no doubt, Foreman is physically stronger, and is a better puncher than Lewis with either hand.

Is there any comparison between Foreman and Lewis when it comes to who has the better chin? This is a no brainer. Foreman was only stopped once, by Ali. And that was due to exhaustion and being hit many times over the course of eight rounds. The only time Foreman was ever hurt by a punch was in his fight with Ron Lyle, who hit harder than either McCall or Rahman, the two fighters who stopped Lewis. Foreman also walked through Joe Frazier's left hook without being shook a bit. Like with Lyle, Frazier's hook is harder than anything that McCall or Rahman posses. To deny this is ridiculous. Lewis on the other hand was not only KO'd by McCall and Rahman, but he was hurt and shook by Akinwande, Tucker, Bruno, and Briggs. Again, nothing they throw is in the same zip code as Frazier's hook or Lyle's right. And Lewis cannot be given full credit for standing up to Tyson's punch, because Tyson never really tug Lewis with his best. Foreman at age 41, even walked through Cooney's best hook's. The bottom line is Foreman has one of the greatest chins in heavyweight history, something Lewis will never be accused of.

In a Foreman vs. Lewis fight, I see Lewis having one shot. Get Foreman deep into the fight. If Lewis could make it to the 10th round versus Foreman, he may be able to out box him and win a decision. However, I don't see Lewis making it that far against a prime Foreman. Lewis has nothing in his arsenal to keep a raging Foreman of the 70's from tearing through him. No doubt Foreman only needs one good one to knock Lewis out. In a match up with Foreman, Lewis' better boxing ability would be a non factor, he'd never last long enough to box him. In a fight matching the best Foreman vs. the best Lewis, Foreman walks through Lewis and stops him within three or four rounds. I don't even think this is an intriguing fight, it's too one sided in favor of Foreman. Lastly, don't believe the crap that Foreman thinks Lewis is the greatest heavyweight champ of all time. I know his brother and some others who know him personally, believe me he doesn't think as highly of Lewis as he says he does on HBO. Get him off camera and off the record and his evaluation of Lewis is dramatically different.

 

Lewis The Boxer vs. Tua, Holy, and, until he judged it to be in the bag, vs. Tyson. All dangerous, all smaller and kept on the outside by the Lewis Jab and reach.

Lewis the Destroyer vs. Golota, Grant and Ruddock. All big men, strong but less polished than LL. This version even showed up in LL last fight, but he was past peak and got into a whale of a scrap.

Who's to say that v Big George it isn't Lewis the Destroyer who steps in the ring. It Foreman Lyle all over again, but this time Lyle is bigger, stronger and WAY better schooled.

George, you're one of my ATG's, but I don't see you gettin' out of the second round. Lewis be too damned scared of you to let that happen.

 

Unfortunately incorrect though IMO. The author does not attempt to hide the fact that he is not a Lennox Lewis fan. That alone invalidates his argument to some degree if he can't show a degree of impartiality. It is a bit misleading to use observational evidence from several fights (both their fights against Holyfield) and then deduce some kind of 'fact' from that. Things are not as simple as that. He states that nothing the likes of Briggs or Bruno threw was in the same zip code as Frazier's hook or Lyle's right. Given that Bruno at least was one of the strongest right hand punchers of the last 30 years and someone with a 95% KO percentage I find that slightly discourtious to say the least. To state that Foreman only needs 'one good punch' to knock Lewis out is naive and demonstrates an ignorance of why Lewis lost his only 2 fights. If one good shot is all that is needed how come Tyson, Tua, Bruno, Klitshcko et al couldn't do it with several?

How does the author know that Tyson did not hit Lewis with full power? Tyson may have not been the force of old when he fought Lewis but they say power is the last thing to go and Tyson was probably a bigger single shot puncher than in his prime. He hit Lewis with full leverage left hooks and I cannot see how anyone can categorically claim that Tyson never hit Lewis with his best shots. We just don't know for sure but it certainly looked like it to me watching. The one thing that everyone can agree on with old Tyson was that he was still a fearsome puncher.

In short the author hypes up Foreman's strengths and denigrates Lewis's strengths. Foreman indeed has a very solid chin but he's not invincible. He may indeed be able to take the overhand right of Lewis several times but if he takes too many even Foreman may find himself being worn down. The author builds up Foreman to be some kind of iron chinned, nuclear powered Demigod. The truth of the matter though is that Foreman is a man and not invincible. Foreman has never been in the ring with someone with the arsenal of Lennox Lewis. Lewis would fear Foreman and sometimes when that happens all Lewis wants to do is get the man out of there. Whilst it might seem quite unlikely that Lennox would bomb out Big George early it also seemed highly unlikely that he would bomb out Ruddock and Golota early but he did. As for the article it's a deeply flawed, subjective piece of journalism and not worthy of the 'Ring Magazine' IMO.

 

A mostly spot on post, mate. I couldn't have put it better myself. You've probably saved me from typing what would be a startingly similar analysis to the points you've already made. In addition the Lewis uppercut might prove to be a big factor in this fight.

Foremans good chin might take him a few rounds later than what you've stated. Lewis TKO11 Foreman. :good

 

Clancy claims all Foreman would do training for Ali is chop wood and hit the heavy bag, and nothing was going to change it. He says his punches got wider and harder, as well as slower. He says Foreman was never going to hit anybody with them.

That's his hindsight comments.

 

An interesting post this.

However, barring Lewis getting caught with a huge Foreman bomb, I pick Lewis.
He was more versatile and well-rounded, not to mention more disciplined. I think Foreman's jab gives Lewis problems though...

 

Foreman had a great chin in his comeback, not early on.

He was dropped twice by Lyle (arguably saved by the bell on the second occasion); Lewis punches harder than Lyle and is much better at landing his punches or putting together combinations.
He was dropped by light hitting Ali & Young. You may say that he was exhausted, but so what? What do you think will happen when he's tired and he's facing a devastating puncher instead of relatively light hitting opponents?

Foreman hit Ali on the chin very few times. I would say no more than 8 times in the entire fight, which would be once per round on average. Most boxers can take that and Ali never seemed to be in trouble. Foreman is not a one punch KO type of fighter.

On the contrary, if you watch with how much ease a non-prime Ali was able to land straight shots, then you can be guaranteed that Lewis is bad news for Foreman.


By the way, i do give Foreman a good punchers chance which he has against anyone, but i do favor Lewis because of a stylistic point of view.