Muhammad Ali vs Lennox Lewis, prime for prime?

My view is Ali, like all fighters, are product of their times. If you judge Ali by how he did against his peers, you can make an argument that he was the greatest. But since then there have been a handful of fighters who could legitimately beat him. After all if Norton could, others can. Fighters such as Lewis, Wlad, Bowe, and Tyson would at the very least make for competitive opponents and certainly a couple of these fighters would likely beat him.

 

Certainly anyone may beat anyone.

But how likely is it? Fine to weigh in on any side, but it is a basic logical flaw to use a past prime Ali-anytime after the exile-vs. prime versions of whoever you like. Just as wrong as using say an-early-mid '90's Lewis.

Maybe more so, since the years of inactivity robbed some of his physical fifts. Endurance, dancing ability, lack of needing to clinch much, & speed-especially of foot. Norton & Frazier would not do as well if Ali had more of these things.
He would also not fade late as he did in the FOTC.

Apples to apples comparisons are the only fair ones.

 

Fair enough, but my point is that there is no such thing as an unbeatable fighter, and the fighters I put forth, are fighters that could beat him. If you're asking odds I think fighters such as Lewis, Wlad and Tyson would be 50-50 or better. Fighters such as Bowe would be a bit lower.

But the point is, Ali wouldn't be a heavy favourite, at least in my book, to beat any of them.

Against the three super heavies on the list, Ali would be giving up reach, power and about 35lbs. Course he would always have a huge speed advantage, but at some point that ceases to be enough, otherwise presumably those in the lower weight divisions would be beating heavyweights.

 

You are talking about 2 past prime versions of Ali. No way would Ali try to rope a dope Lewis. that's madness.

Couldn't you say that good jabbers also troubled Lewis? I mean, Mercer & Bruno gave Lewis hell with the jab. As did Vitali. I think since Ali was a lot quicker, more accurate, smarter and had a great chin & heart, he would probably win a decision over Lewis.

I believe Ali would use a lot of movement in this chess match, and would befuddle Lewis with his speed. He'd dart in and out with great combinations, and always be on the move, not allowing Lewis to get set with his big punches.

The main factor here for me is the late rounds, Ali always rallied late and Lewis wasn't exactly renown for his stamina. Ali would probably take the fight 8-4 or 7-5 in an entertaining chess match.

But Ali wasn't really a small heavyweight, either. He was around 6 ft 3 and 210-215 pounds in his 1966-67 prime. Yes he gives up some size against Wlad, Lewis, Bowe, and Vitali but those guys also would have a lot of disadvantages vs. Ali.

 

I agree with this, except for the misspelling of favorite!

 

I said in my 1st several words anyone can beat anyone, i got your point.

Weight & strength means a lot, as does speed, endurance, skills, roughness, savvy...But Ali was 211 1/2-214 in his prime fights very lean, 6' 3" with at a good reach. This is not like any other lower weight class in size.

I think Tommy un has it about right. Ali would move every which way but loose & be hard to hit. I would favor Ali against any other boxer or boxer/slugger type.

I agree on the late rounds. He takes 2/3 of them, even if it just goes 12.
Nobody gets stopped or goes down.

 

That's the Canadian spelling of the word.

 

Is that Canadian humour as well, eh?

 

that's humor to you yanks..eh

 

Atta boy Van, atta buoy!

 

The correct spelling of the English word favourite is of course with a " u" .

 

Muricans have no clue regarding the spelling of words contained in the ENGLISH language.

As for the fight. Clay / Ali pre ban dances his way to a clear victory. Post ban Ali gets totally out boxed, and loses a very wide UD. Simply doesn't have the footwork to keep away from LL, and spends most of the fight trying to cover up from Lewis's power. It would be similar to rope a dope, but in this instance Ali would be the dope because Lewis, unlike Foreman, wouldn't be moronic enough to flail away aimlessly until he ran out of gas.

 

Ali wasn't even favourite to beat either Frazier in the FOTC, or Foreman in Zaire. The reality is although he was nothing like the dancing pre exile Ali, he was far from shot. Only fools would believe the outcomes would have favoured Ali if Lewis, Tyson, Bowe, or a K2 brother had been in the other corner for those fights.

 

Yes indeed. Just having a crack at Vanboxingfan. :good

 

Lewis is a plodding sloth next to Ali both at their best.

he's not going to outbox him in a million tries.That inconsistent, often slow "old man reaching for a can of beans from the kitchen shelf" jab just isn't going to cut it here.

So he has to punch holes in him to win, has to put him into a shell, make him worry enough to have the lower output.he'd be one of the most threatening punchers Ali ever fought, and would have his moments but everything would have to align perfectly for him to get any kind of stoppage over a peak Ali, or even hurt him enough to outwork him.

Lewis loses much more often than not.