In 1990, yes I do. Lewis 1990 was much more aggressive than Lewis '02. Remember that Tyson lost to Douglas at the time. Do you see a 1990 Buster Douglas beating a 1990 Lennox Lewis? Also, remember that Tyson was ducking a 40-year old Foreman at the time. Lewis was on his way up, Tyson was on his way down. Of course Tyson always has a puncher's chance, I think Lewis has everything else in his favour - even the intimidation factor, which was 90% of Tyson's game.
7-0 but he had a much more extensive amatuer career than Tyson. He was bigger, and at that stage in each of their careers I'd bet Lewis was more confident than Tyson. Anyone with an Olympic gold medal is not a rookie. Remember, they had sparred as amatuers (HBO played this up big in 2002) and Lewis got the better of Tyson. Tyson didn't like to fight, he liked to win - if you took him into deep water he would start getting passive in the clinches etc. He was dodging Foreman around this time, he ducked Bowe, he ducked Lewis later in his career, he lost to Buster Douglas this year. In short, although its true the 1990 Lewis was not yet prime, the The 1990 Tyson was already past his prime and I do not see this as a good match up for Tyson.
Tyson would win this one, there's no way Lewis eats the uppercut Tyson hit Douglas with later in that fight, Lewis wasnt a complete fighter at the time, and even Tyson at 50 or 60% would expose him.
His name is 'Tyson', not 'tyson'. Would you care to back up your opinion with an actual argument? Or would that involve too much thinking for you? And does your mother know you're typing bad words on her computer?
This pretty much sums it up. Even a 14-0 Lewis went life and death with Gerry Mason before stopping him, and a 23-0 Lewis was ko'd by McCall. There's no way I'd pick a 1990 version of Lennox Lewis with under 10 fights to best Tyson. Hell, he might even have lost to the likes of Bowe and Mercer back in those days.
You have a point - Mercer did give Lewis a pretty tough fight. I wonder how Mercer would do against a 1990 Tyson?
Personally, I think Tyson would have kicked his ass, unless he showed up as totally unmotivated as he did against Douglas. Tyson's first round dusting of Alex Stewart later that year though, would have been a bad night for an inexperienced fighter like Lewis, Bowe, or Mercer to be in with him. I remember in the summer of 1990, watching Mercer slug it out with Bert Cooper. It was one of the last really good fights that I ever watched on regular non-cable television. Both guys faces looked like basketballs by the end of the 12th round. They fought for like the USBA or NABF title or some ****. THe fight was periodically interrupted with news briefs, because Iraq had just invaded Kuwait, and Bush Sr. was talking about going to war. Man, the things you remember.
Hmm, I thought that was a pretty comfortable win for Lewis actually. He was always in control and although Mason made it competitive and had some successes there was always only going to be one winner. Anyway, 1990 is probably a little too early for Lewis and you'd have to make Tyson a strong favourite. It's not a gimmie, however.