Lewis's chin was neither iron nor glass. It was a servicable jaw that stood up to the power of many respectable hard hitting heavyweights. I won't use Ruddock, Grant, Briggs or Golata as examples because they were all beaten before they had a chance to get any real shots off. But, Gary Mason, though limited was a hard hitter by all standards and he traded with Lewis in a war of attrition. Vitali Klitschko has proven power, and was nailing an aging Lewis left and right with big shots. Frank Bruno hits as hard as anybody, and Lewis took a lot of big punches from him. Ray Mercer had above average power as well, and hit Lewis plenty of times. I'm not claiming that the guy could take punishment like Tex Cobb or George Chuvalo, but I'm also not buying this crap about him having a wine glass for a chin.
That's why i said shaky. But to think that it would stand up to someone as quick and as powerful as tyson is lunacy.
As already mentioned, I would favor a peak Tyson over a peak Lewis, but its not lunacy to say that it could go the other way. If Tyson landed flush on Lewis's chin with the same kind of shots that he was whaling on Jose Ribalta with, or the kind that nearly decapitated Trevor Berbick, then yes, I could see him finishing Lewis early. The problem however, is that he would need to connect with those shots, and preferably long before the latter half of the fight, when Mike typically loses steam. Lewis has a lengthy reach, good boxing ability, and the right techniques for tying a swarmer up on the inside. Not to mention plenty of power to hurt anyone including Tyson. As pointed out, he also has a fairly good chin, not necessarily the kind that could take Tyson's absolute best shots, but remember, some of those punches may lose a bit of their power hitting at such a tall target that isn't always there to be hit.
Reading your post, i learned the following things about boxing: -A chin is either "shaky" or "iron". There is no way in between. -Bruno, Tua, Morrison, Klitschko, Tyson, Mason, Ruddock, Briggs and Mercer have decent power. -Tucker won 4 rounds against Lewis
By the way, Quick Tillis was stopped a lot of times. Thomas stopped him in 8. Witherspoon stopped him in a single round. Page stopped him in 8. Bruno stopped him. Holyfield stopped him. Mason stopped him. I think it's fair to say he has a "shaky" jaw (it isn't iron after all!). Yet Tyson couldn't finish him. So why would it be "lunacy" to suggest that a fighter how is more skilled, bigger, stronger, harder hitting, more athletic, more proven against punchers and in general just a million times more proven a fighter could go the distance with Tyson?
Tyson was very green when he fought tillis, and he blew tillis out of the water. 8-2 is the closest any rational observer could have it. McCall and Rahman were one punch KO losses in the heart of Lewis' prime.
We look through the magnifying glass to broaden things, he doesn't. Lewis was knocked out my McCall and Rahman, thus Tyson knocks him out. Thats his arguement simplified, more or less.
And the other argument simplied is merely. A. I like lewis, i hate tyson. LEWIS KO 8 or if the other person is feeling verbose B. I like Lewis. I hate Tyson. TYSON FRONT RUNNING BULLY NO STAMINA MENTAL QUITTER LEWIS GODLIKE JAB LEWIS INVINCIBLE LEWIS LEWIS LEWIS LEWIS LEWIS. LEWIS KO 8.
That's the simplied version. The lewis supporters take great care to seem fair, but you can easily break down what they say to that.
If robbi can simplify my argument into "MCCALL RAHMAN LOL" then i can simply any argument into " I HATE TYSON. LOL"
Very well, with that in mind, why don't you disguard that tactic and present your argument with a more detailed array of facts, comparisons, etc? This nonsense about claiming that Lewis would get knocked out by Tyson because of the McCall fight, is no more or less over simplified than saying that Tyson was beaten by a tall rangy fighter with a good jab and decent boxing skills, named Buster Douglas, therefore any guy of that description can do it. We all ( including yourself ), know that Tyson's losing to Douglas and Lewis losing to McCall is not the end all be all of everything. This is coming from a guy who picked Tyson in this matchup.
Trying to use buster douglas as a stylistic comparison to Lewis makes far far far far less sense than using McCall as a testiment to Lewis' chin.
