Muhammad Ali 1974 v Lennox Lewis 1997

The thing is, Lewis would be beaten to the punch, and would be outworked if he fought Ali's fight. Which he would. I can imagine Ali bouncing around on his toes, sticking his jab, and Lewis following. Lewis often pawed with his jab, which is a no no against Ali. He would get countered silly if he did that.

 

Look closer how often Ali bounces off his toes after exile...he has flashes of great footwork but he also often stays flat footed and also often gives away rounds for rest (Norton)

 

Ali's not a puncher, and Lewis doesn't have the ring IQ of the '74 Foreman to be fooled like that. Ali's only chance is a decision IMO which I don't see happening. How could this version of him outwork smart, cautious Lennox? He was nowhere near his speed/workrate from the 60's.

Lennox UD or late (T)KO

 

Lewis is painfully slow and ponderous.
Just look at the videos I posted.
Even Foreman is quicker on his feet than Lewis.
Ali still had blinding handspeed in '74, against Frazier and Foreman.

Lewis fought big slow heavyweights, and clubbed them about. He didn't face many fast guys. He fought at a slow pace. Against someone with Ali's handspeed he'd be unable to do much at all. Ali would outwork him enough. Lewis never had a high output, especially not in a long fight.

Lewis never scored a late KO or TKO either, and even when he KO'd guys in the 7th and 8th he'd been breaking them up for many rounds (apart from Frank Bruno who folded quite suddenly). He's certainly not going to start breaking Ali down early on, and he never showed the ability to really step up and break someone down late.

 

Toss up. I want to pick Lewis, but I don't know. Ali was nothing if not adaptable and he wouldn't be forced to the ropes in the first place, Lewis isn't Foreman in cutting the ring off. Ali would also be able to beat Lewis to the punch, he still had super fast hands post exile.

 

If anyones getting a stoppage here, it's Ali imo. I can see him landing a right cross like the ones that took out Lyle and Foreman and finishing it late.
Lewis had worse stamina than people think, you often hear about guys like Foreman and Tyson not being able to fight past a few rounds but Lewis is worse or the same in the stamina department as those guys.

 

We're talking 74 Ali. Which means he probably wouldn't go the ropes as often as he did against Foreman. Lewis was a smart fighter, and wouldn't just bang Ali on the ropes. So therefore Ali would still be able to dance on his toes, because Lewis couldn't cut off the ring as good as Foreman.

 

Ali fought Foreman in 74.

Lewis's ring IQ is over rated, as well imo. The guys only two losses were due to the fact that he got cocky mid fight and dropped his hands. Not the sign of a smart fighter imo, and Lewis also rarely made adjustments mid fight like guys like Ali and Liston did.
He spoke well and presented himself as an intellectual but I would say that Liston was smarter in the ring and Ali CERTAINLY was.

 

Lennox Lewis was a good boxer, but I dont see how he's beating Ali.
Ali would make him box, and they would both take it in turns being aggressor. It would be a chess match, and Ali would just win it with his speed and a bit of movement, and superior boxing mind.
Lewis was too slow and Ali would find him pretty easy to hit, and he'd soon figure out what Lewis is going to do.

Lewis is definitely good enough to make Ali come to this fight in tip-top shape mentally and physically, and therefore he'd have little chance of beating him.

Lewis was a good boxer :

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaBJ_2y--Yk&feature=related[/ame]


..... but he falls short of being good enough.

 

This is what I'm starting to think. Really the only people that gave Ali a lot of trouble post exile are pressure fighters (Frazier, Norton, Spinks). Lewis isn't winning by KO and outboxing someone who is that much faster than you (and not much smaller) is a hard task.

 

Another thing to note is that Ali from 1970 - '75, for the fights where he was properly conditioned and took his opponent seriously (as he would with Lewis), was certainly not an "old" fighter.
Not as good as he had been in '66 and '67, but still a phenomenally quick and brilliant 28 - 33 year old fighter.

He was a damn sight faster, and generally "fresher", than a 36-37 year-old Holyfield, who was the best boxer Lewis outboxed.
And Ali's style, as well as his speed and relative "youth", make him much more difficult that Holyfield, who tried to brawl Lewis as much as box him.

 

Watch the pace at which Ali fights Frazier and some of the other guys around this time. watch the blistering combinations he lashed out with to rip apart George Foreman's face and psyche.

Now watch the ponderous Lewis. Of course, there were good combination punching every now and then. After all, he was definitely the best of his era. But Ali, even in '74, would be something he had never seen and couldn't cope with. Lopsided decision in Ali's favour.

 

I know. But he wouldn't have went to the ropes like he did against Foreman if he was fighting Lewis. Lewis would be smart enough not to just pound away at Ali. That was Foreman's thing.
And lewis wouldn't have cut the ring off good enough anyway, he was very slow of feet. george was good at that though.

 

My first thought here was Lewis but when I really started to break it down I can't go against Ali here!

This Ali still had plenty left in the tank, I just can't see Lewis beating the Ali that beat Foreman. I have huge respect for Lewis but there are few that I favor against even this Ali..

It is a very interesting fight to me, what does it look like? I see Lewis as the aggressor and Ali targeting Lewis while moving backwards, Ali was so accurate with his punches that even moving backwards he could plant great shots right on the button.. I see Lewis jabbing with Ali, I think Lewis will get there with the right hand often but I am not sure it hurts Ali.. I think Ali though not a heavy puncher with his crisp combos and speed will hurt Lewis in this fight but I think Lewis makes it the distance and at the end Ali wins a Decision..