I hate to admit it but a prime Lennox Lewis...

Lewis fought tall as well as anyone in history. He always knew what he was doing in there and never sold out to please the fans. His amateur career was so extensive that fighting as a professional almost became a mere formality. Lewis was always in control of the ring. You can even see in the Vitali fight that he had that self-belief. He smiled a few times when it looked like he was in big trouble. He knew that he was ok. He wasn't knocked down by the right that hurt him so as long as he was still on his feet all the experience he had gathered over the years would get him out of trouble. So much so that he came on and split the next 4 rounds. Another thing is that regardless of how exhausted he was, Lewis still composed himself like a professional and found a way to get what he could out of himself for the duration of the rounds. It's like being in cruise control when you're tired. Lewis was great in every sense of the word. The Rahman loss did him in unfortunately. It really hurt him in the longrun.

 

Spinks lost before he even stepped in the ring, Holmes was so far past his prime that I can't believe you're quoting him as a reason Tyson would beat Lewis.

Lewis had enough ability to keep Tyson of any era on the outside, Tyson was just too short to take on the mammoth fighter.

For an idea of how the fight would have gone? Take a look at how Lewis handled David Tua. Tyson is a far better fighter than Tua but the result would be similar.

 

2 words

Rahman & McCall:deal

Tyson in his prime > Rahman & McCall @ any point in their careers

 

I Think Lewis is number 2 H2H behind Muhammed Ali

 

Two Words

Stylistic Challenge.

Tyson wasn't a stylistic challenge for Lewis.

McCall was.

Rahman got lucky (as shown by their rematch)

 

:good

 

size,size,size.and a better punching arsenal than lewis!!!atsch

 

It would have been an interesting fight and I do not see Lewis as a 100% winner against both Klitschkos...

 

I agree, tyson was primed around 23/24 yrs old. That tyson would have koed both klit bros, holyfield, lewis, & chicken bowe. The handspeed, the head movement & savage body punching. He was the heavyweight champ & the world knew it. No way ever does prime bowe beat a prime lewis, there was a reason bowe thru the belt in the bin, he knew lewis would ko him, look at the probs he had with golota. I hated bowe for the fact that he refused to fight lewis & tyson for that matter. He always be chicken bowe to me, a total waste of talent.

 

And prime lewis wipes the floor with both prime klits, hell he beat the main one in his out of shape decline. All savage cuts due to blows to the head, people tend to forget this.

 

I think Lewis would have beaten Vitali had the fight gone the distance.

He would also have beaten pretty much any heavy of the modern era, with the possible exception of Ali - not sure how that would pan out to be honest. Lennox had everything - a brilliant jab and sufficient pop to be able to keep the best inside fighters at a distance, whilst outside fighters were pretty much slaughtered at will. He also had a lot of bottle to come from behind and win, such as the Bruno fight - the only thing missing was a granite chin, but you can't have everything.

 

Nah, Lewis wasn't one of the best distance fighters. At his best, he still allowed smaller fighters on the inside when they would try jabbing and stepping in.. Lewis was quite refined at taking advantage of a fighter who tried to lob something without setting it up with a jab. Good tall fighter, but he did allow fighters to get inside.

Hence his reputation of tiring out his opponents by leaning on them..

Inside prime Tyson would have opportunity to sap the body.. Lewis was always open to a body shot.

I'd say the Wlad has a more refined Steward Style, but obviously doesn't have the Chin.. If Vitali would have stuck around and recieved the same training his brother did, he would have been a shoe in for being a guy who could defeat Lewis, who had far superior training and tutelage.. Put up a good fight with an inferior game plan and training.

 

While Lennox would have been a dangerous opponent for any champion of any era, glaring flaws have been exposed over the years, indicating that he would have been beaten by several of the true all time greats. It is true that Lewis avenged his losses , but the way he crashed and burned when he did lose, show a vunerability that was unshared by the guys who would have undoubtably beat him, like Ali, a prime Frazier and Foreman, probably Joe Louis too. Hasim Rachman wasn't much, so the avenging kayo was what should have happened in the first place.The win over McCall had more to do with Olivers mental state than anything Lennox did to him during the fight. He couldn't even hurt McCall while Oliver was blubbering like a schoolgirl with a skinned knee, despite catching him flush, and Ali had at least as good of a chin as did "The Atomic Bull". Lennox would never had been able to go 15 rounds with the Fraizer who beat Ali, and Foreman would have outchinned Lewis in a brutal slugfest as well.