Lennox Lewis looked pretty bad in Gary Mason fight

Every fighter has a weakness. At that point in his career it was absolutely tempo and pace that was so crucial to Lewis. More so than any other champion. If he could not control it, dictate the tempo, he was half the fighter. And Wlad was simular in this respect.

As you say, it wAs very difficult to exploit this factor because Lewis was so very good at everything. Having height, reach, weight, punching power and ring craft over everybody was a hell of a combination! But a good pace was something he did not have, and he did not need it when he had so much of everything else.

But the Mavrovic fight does prove if Lewis lost control of the pace, he began to struggle a lot, and against not that good of a challenger.

 

Whatever. Lewis took on a strong hard hitter with much more experience and who would have still had plenty of ambition after only being a pro for two years.

Not many others can say that. How he won is almost incidental. What's impressive is he took the risk.

 

it ws masons only defeat too. impressive though he was 35 of course, cherry pick but not a great cherrypick.

eddie ezzard, interesting name, conjures up the image of a crossdressing ALS patient who make u laugh or bat you one in a heartbeat.

 

yes upon those instances pace did play somewhat of a part when great fighters fought other great fighters or very good ones with a youth edge. Having an unsuitable pace enforced on them is not something that only effects Lewis. However, Lewis was such a powerful guy he really had to ration out his reserves that much more to begin with. even when he controlled tempo. Without that control it is even harder.

And whilst everyone struggles in the most extreme cases of that situation, with Lewis, he appeared to be compromised in a small way immediately. His Focus suffers. And this, even against the Mavrovic's of the world.

For instance I think Maidana was higher regarded than Mavrovic?

it's a toss up. until the Klits, I think Lewis, more than any previous champion, relied upon controlling the tempo and pace of a fight.. it was so crucial to him, and he really was great at doing it.

no, it's a clear observation. Lewis was half the fighter when he was being rushed, tired and losing his composure. To me it appeared Lewis was not the force he was on the rare times this happened. Without the time and space to set himself most fighters also lose quality in their blows too. Lennox did retain power though. For instance, Lewis was not looking good against Bruno who set off far too fast himself, but Lewis woke up just as Bruno began to slow. Lucky for Lewis he had "get out of jail free" power.

Haha, I can't even remember that! Was that even me?

Every fighter in the world can struggle "against not that good of a fighter" if the tempo is too fast?

Most often any fighter can beat a "not that good of a fighter" without needing to control pace.

 

The philosopher Sam Langford once said, What the other guy wants to do- don't let him.

Or something like that.

 

I've just rewatched it for the first time since back in the day. What a war it was!

A very good fight.

 

of course it is but I think there is evidence that In his later career, the Manny Stewart years, Lewis was a little compromised by his own size if he lost control of the pace. What's wrong with that?

bit easier to do when Tyson turned up with one rounds work in him that night.

Was Mayweather better in regard to how high Lewis might be rated as a heavyweight by some historians? Some people have Lewis as the GOAT head to head. Therefore Marvrovic really should not have been such a factor in exposing a key weakness Lewis might have had. Godoy was able to show how a crowding style gave Joe Louis problems but Godoy was better than Mavrovic yet Joe solved him in a return fight. Lewis struggled with Mavrovic then struggled with Vitali.

And by the way head to head I think Lewis is easily top 3 at heavyweight.

Rahman, Briggs, Bruno and I know you won't agree but for as short as the fight was even against McCall it was faster than Lewis wanted to fight.

I dont think Lewis was "even more devastating" once Rahman made him fight faster than he wanted to the first time. I Dont think Lewis was more devastating against McCall the first time. The reality of the situation is Lewis was knocked spark out both times.

it supports my position? It's something that is observable.

I'm talking specifically of Lewis's later career. Being short on gas was an issue for Lewis but he was good at disguising and compensating for this. In few fights Lewis really desperately hung on when he was unable to control things . You know this. Against vitali. Against Mavrovic. There are proberbly other examples. Fights he won.

oh yes I remember that now. You jumped on that ratio to disguise a good point that I was making about if it was so possible for the disastrously mismatched Westphal "being able" to slip jabs then a better ATG fighter also could.

no what I said was should another Champion even have needed to control Mavrovic's pace if He was better in every Department like Lewis was?

Well I think it really all depends dosnt it. Where everything but one weakness is equal Then the one weakness becomes significant. If the one weakness is played off against greater attributes in other departments then the significance of the one weakness disappears. Lewis overcame a situation with greater power, greater ring craft against Grant. Against Tyson Lewis only had to survive the one round Tyson brought any pace.

 

During that time period, he often looked that way

Watch the Bruno fight. He is off balance and lacking coordination. It was a close fight until the rather sudden ko. Bruno may have actually been ahead.

The Ruddock blowout was surprsing to many, me included, because Lennox hadn't looked particularly good, up to to that point.

 

Briggs, Rahman, Tyson, Mavrovic, Vitali Klitchsko.

 

Lewis didn't look bad.

He won a competitive fight against a world ranked opponent in his first step up fight.

He wasn't as good as he would become, but that's obvious surely?