Gun to your head and your asked who wins between Lennox Lewis and Larry Holmes, who would u pick

Interesting match up. I think its a highly competitive fight with Lewis edging it due to a few 10-8 rounds.

 

Didn't expect Holmes to be so far ahead

 

No. Just NO.

 

Holmes, and in my opinion, it's not even close. He has everything better than Lennox except size and strength, but that's not a huge difference. Larry is faster, has a better chin, better endurance, better cardio, better movement, and better footwork. Lewis would always have a chance for a great KO due to his powerful punching, but 9 out of 10 fights belong to Holmes.

 

For one thing, I don't really accept McCall as a legit stoppage. I watched that on TV live, and the entire world was outraged. The narrative has solidified with time that it wasn't so bad, but it was. In any event, Lewis was not a mature fighter.

As for Holmes not getting KO'd...well, I don't thin Lewis would have went down against Snipes, either, or rocked by Weaver. I think you could pick and choose chin examples.

 

I honestly don't think Shavers would have got out of the first round.

 

Hi Guys.
It would appear this poll has decided the long sought after " who is in 3rd place " debate, must say I didnt think Holmes would be such a clear winner, although I also feel he would win, on points, cant see Lewis getting knocked out by Larry, this could be one of the most interesting HW matchups of all time.
stay safe guys, chat soon.
Mike.

 

I think Lewis was the more dangerous fighter overall. On my top 10 h2h list, I rank Lewis a smidgen higher. Lewis has more things going for him physically (power, height, reach, etc) and was a little more well rounded than Holmes.

But if they fought each other? I think Holmes would narrowly win. His style would give Lewis a lot of problems. Lewis liked to dominate ring center operating behind his heavy jab, and Holmes wouldn't allow him to do that with his own swift, sharp up jab, lateral movement, and stinging sharp right hand. Holmes could be so hard to nail cleanly with his underrated parrying and head movement. Lewis at 240 lbs would be very irritated needing to move a lot attempting to cut the ring off and corner Holmes who wouldn't give Lewis many opportunities to plant his feet and put all his weight into his shots. Holmes had slightly higher ring IQ, faster hands, and was the better technician. He could also counter Lewis. When I envision this fight, I imagine that Lewis would need to become more of a front footed stalker/puncher because there's no universe where he'd outpoint Holmes on the back foot or attempting to fight on the outside. This would take Lewis out of his comfort zone and he would be nervous about pressing the issue given his chin vulnerabilities and preference for a more technical approach.

If Lewis tried ambushing him early and aggressively the way he did against Golota, Grant, etc, Holmes would land that strong uppercut, tie him up, and Lewis would start to run out of gas if he didn't manage to land a bomb or strong combination. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced Holmes would cut off most routes to victory outside of a puncher's chance.

 

The Larry Holmes "marks" are out in full strength in this thread. It's a strange delusion, a guy that ran scared of a rematch with Mike Weaver to unify the titles (and Weaver fought much better comp in his reign too), ducked anybody who he thought would be a threat and got beat by a pudgy novice Witherspoon and a fragile novice Williams and then by spindly Spinks with a bad knee, he's going to beat Lennox EASY... Craziness. Larry is the most overrated fighter ever to lace up gloves.

 

So Lewis of the McCall fight would beat 86-88 Tyson 100% of the time? You're actually dying on that hill...?

For what it's worth, Foreman said Ali and Holyfield hit about the same, but the difference was Ali was faster while Holyfield was more willing to plant his feet and throw with bad intentions.

 

This is far too stupid to dignify with a thorough response.

 

So you're going to selectively pick the worst version of Lewis to prove some point?

For what it's worth, Foreman said that Savarese was the hardest puncher he faced, something he said about 9 or so different guys.

 

Peak Holmes vs peak Lewis--that is truly a FASCINATING matchup--one of those "pay top dollar" to see hypothetical bouts.

I would go with Holmes to prevail in a close UD. (An 8-6-1 scoring sounds about right for a 15 round fight/6-5-1 for 12.) I see Larry's faster jab, great ring IQ, and better chin making the difference.

 

It depends Lewis fought cautiously vs Tua another dangerous puncher.

More than likely Lewis would fight tactically behind the jab vs Shavers and stop him between 6-8.

But if Lewis relaxes and gets caught with Shavers right hand it would be lights out.

But 9/10 Lewis wins obviously.

 

You guys have to be kidding me. Lennox Lewis was the Goat. Too big too strong too heavy too athletic and also just as skilled. Larry could do better than most experts might think against modern heavyweights. He had good size athletic ability and was very skilled. But he would be a little over his head with Lewis the Klitschkos
Usyk and Fury. He could give them a good fight though. Prime Holyfield I’m betting Evander.