Lennox Lewis versus Mike Tyson

No, it is because Lewis was focussed and not overconfident in the rematches.

He was caught by McCall way before his prime. I think everyone realizes he was 10x better once Manny taught him about balance and patience, so we shouldn'e even be talking about that fight if we're talking primes.

In the Rahman fight, he was waaay too arrogant and overlooked Rahman.


Do you seriously think he would overlook prime Tyson? He would fight cautiuously and win a boring UD.

 

That was pretty much how many thought the Tua fight would go too. The problem is that Lewis takes a punch much better than his detractors give him credit for. Tua hit Lewis with some of his best punches..the problem was Tua also received some of Lewis' best punches and he didn't want any part of the trade off. Lewis absolutely rocked Tyson in the first round they fought with those uppercuts..Tyson said as much in the corner in between rounds. So let's not make this a one sided affair where only Tyson is landing and hurting his opponent, Lewis is quite capable of doing the same.

 

Yeah, because we all know it's so easy to box your way inside prime Lennox in order to work his body... :roll:

...especially with a 13" reach disadvantage.... :roll:

 

don't forget a prime tysons commitment to the body as well scar.

 

Tyson's weaknesses Vs Lewis's strengths

Tyson weakness - Susceptible to uppercut
Lewis strength - One of the best uppercuts in history

Lewis strength - Leaning on opponent and tiring them on the inside
Tyson weakness - Short guy, ideal for being leant on, doesn't work when on the inside

Tyson weakness - An opponent with a strong jab
Lewis strength - Brilliant jab

Tyson weakness - Opponent who isn't scared of him
Lewis strength - Fought at his best when faced with quality, dangerous opponents

Tyson weakness (H2H with Lewis) - the weaker fighter
Lewis strength - Possibly the strongest HW ever, as seen by the way he pushes Tyson away with ease in their fight.

Tyson weakness - Has to get close to do damage
Lewis strength - 13" reach advantage


Lewis wins prime vs prime for me, late KO.

 

Dude, there's people here who seem to think he was George Chuvalo, and that guys like McCall or Rahman, who never starched any other ATGs like this, simply hit that supposedly rock-iron chin with shots "that would knock anybody out."atsch

Lewis's chin was very shaky - not glass, maybe - but not strong enough to withstand the bombs of a prime Tyson.

 

Prime Tyson murders prime Lewis in my opinion

 

Yet he withstood the bombs of Tua who KO'd Ruiz in 19 seconds..go figure

 

Lets look at this another way:

Who had the best:
Handspeed: Tyson
Chin: Tyson
Defence: Tyson
Movement: Tyson
Strength: Tyson (although its close)

 

A couple of things: Tyson's "weaknesses" mentioned above are severely overstated. Yes, Tyson is approx 5 inches shorter than Lewis and often had more difficulty decimating opponents whom were significantly taller. However, Tyson still clearly beat several much taller good hw's (albeit not on Lewis' level). Tyson closed distances quickly. His speed and bob and weave style allowed him to get inside and off on taller guys more often than not, although the taller guys like lewis could land sometimes and would be able to tie up him up but they would generally absorb punishment in the process.

Also, you completely ignore Lewis' weaknesses with the most important being his apparent susceptability to hard punches which he doesn't see coming. Prime tyson threw from all over the place and despite the reach/height advantage, believe me, many forceful blows would get through. Given that Lewis was put to sleep by Rahman and McCall, the odds are fairly decent that Prime Tyson would do the same or at minimum significantly rock Lewis. Prime Tyson was one of the greatest finishers ever and once rocked Lewis would be in for a hurting.

 

Tyson trying to get on the inside would leave himself open to the devastating uppercut that Lewis threw.

Once Tyson tastes a few uppercuts, his desire to get on the inside would diminish greatly.

The Lewis who got KO'd by McCall was far from prime, so that KO is irrelevant. Rahman was through poor preparation.

I just think this is a bad match for Tyson styles wise. Somebody who excels when up against great opposition, has a brilliant uppercut, brilliant jab, is stronger, great at tying up his opponent and leaning on them and much taller is a bad, bad match up for Tyson. You have a guy with all the things you'd want in a person to expose Tyson.

 

we'll agree to disagree. 86-89 tyson ain't easy to catch on the uppercut. More importantly, lewis --who is by nature cautius and often fights safety first ---ain't gonna be the guy to start that trend. lewis would be expending all his energy tyring to tie up (or time) the much more agressive and quicker tyson. (don't bring up buster's success with the upper cut as tyson was mostly a headhunter in that fight and had obviously spent most of his training in tokyo geisha houses. )

i'll concede that lewis perhaps wasn't at his peak when mccall ktfo lewis but not too far off and that kind of chin issue obviously wasn't totally compensated for or improved as evident in the rahman fight (but again lewis is admittedly not at his best).

also about the strength issue you keep bringing up, young tyson's legs were massive and he had incredible strength especially in the lower body and i doubt prime lewis is stronger overall and if so, not by too much.

The most important thing is that 86-89 tyson was a better boxer than prime lewis: he had combos that were as fast as welters yet as hard as the best hw's. Tyson had great defense and one of the best chins' in the division. 86-89 tyson is pfp superior to lewis (check tyson's pfp staus for two years in the 80's - he was number 1) and Lewis' reach advantage wouldn't totally negate tyson's many other advantages nor solidfy lewis' chin.

 

If Tyson landed the right hand on Lewis that he landed on Golota, Lewis would have probably been out for the count.

 

...and not strong enough to withstand Tua either, on paper. But what happened in reality?

I don't recall anyone ever saying Lewis had a chin like Chuvalo. :roll:

All most people say is that it's not as bad as some people make out. Which is kinda what you just said as well..... :yep

 

...... wait, WHAT?!??? :blood