Prime 4 Prime - Tyson vs Lewis

I agree with your little run down, but there's more to a fighter than whats on the outside. You forgot to mention stamina, heart, mental toughness, ring generalship etc... I do believe a prime Tyson would beat Lewis, probably by mid round knockout, but there's more to a fighter than the reasons you gave for that fighter winning.

 

Chin-Tyson
Jab-Lewis
Power-Tyson
Hand speed-Tyson
Movement-Tyson
Defence-Tyson

 

Chin: Mike Tyson
Jab: Lennox Lewis
Power: Mike Tyson (pretty damn close though)
Hand speed: Mike Tyson
Movement: Mike Tyson
Defence: Mike Tyson

 

Prime Tyson had the best chin in the game in his prime, he took the most powerful one punch in the game at that time, in Razor Ruddicks "Smash". The man took serious punishment in his prime, Busters trainer made a comment about Tyson after the fight, he said "If Tysons neck wasnt so big, his head would of came off after getting hit with that uppercut".

 

Lewis is 10x the fighter and man Tyson will ever be.

"End of"

 

My bad, meant to put Tyson atsch

 

Tyson but only the one throwing combos once inside with great constant head movement while coming in !

That Tyson would have a bit too much speed and power for Lewis to handle !

 

Assuming 1988 Tyson was a prime Tyson and 1997 Lewis was a prime Lewis-

Chin: Not as cut-and-dried as it looks. Tyson was stopped five times and officially knocked down six times. Lewis was stopped twice and was down twice. One of Lewis's losses was due to a very disputed stoppage; none of Tyson's KO/TKO losses were close to controversial. While Holyfield only stopped Tyson when he was on his feet, it's notable that Holyfield didn't punch anywhere near as hard as Rahman or McCall.

The big punchers they faced-

Tyson: Bonecrusher, Bruno (twice), Ruddock, Golota, Lewis, Williams

Negatives- Bruno staggered Tyson in their first fight; Lewis and Williams of course knocked him out; Holyfield, McBride and Douglas weren't big punchers at all

Positives- Tyson didn't get knocked down in 17 rounds against Ruddock and was barely hurt. When he was stopped, it was on an accumulation of shots rather that single punches.

Lewis: Gary Mason, Ruddock, Bruno, McCall, Morrison, Golota, Briggs, Mavrovic (underrated and sneaky puncher), Tua, Rahman, Tyson, Vitali (arguably)

Negatives- Rahman knocked him out with a single punch. Even considering Rahman's power and Lewis's lack of conditioning, that's bodes very badly for Lewis's chin. Being knocked down and prematurely stopped against McCall was not shameful, but hardly a good case for his chin. Briggs staggered Lewis with a single shot. Bruno had him hurt with clean right hands in the 3rd round of their fight.

Positives- He faced far more punchers throughout his career than Tyson and was knocked out on fewer occasions. Unlike Tyson, Lewis came back from being seriously hurt to win impressively against Bruno, Briggs and Vitali.



Overall, I give the edge to Tyson. While, if hurt, Lewis was better at being a man and fighting back, Tyson was good at standing rigid and getting leathered repeatedly before being knocked out.


Jab: They both used their jab for very different purposes. For Tyson, the jab was a means of working his way into mid-range, which was his best range in terms of landing his power punches. For Lewis, the jab could either be a means of keeping his opponent off him while on the retreat; it could be an offensive weapon as he moved into punching position on the front foot; it could be just a means of picking up rounds with minimum effort. Tyson used it more rarely but put more behind it. Lewis rarely put full force into his jab, using quantity rather than quality.

Lewis had the more tested, more versatile and (considerably) longer jab.

Power: I give a slight edge to Tyson, who had much more one-punch power in all of his punches except the overhand right. However, in terms of finishing ability, it's interesting to consider what would happen if Tyson met the men who went the distance with Lewis at an equivalent stage of their careers-

Ocasio: I don't think Tyson would stop him within 8 rounds in 1985. Mitch Green, Tillis and Ribalta all took Tyson past the 8th round, despite Tillis and Ribalta being less than durable. Ocasio was very awkward and was rarely down, let alone out, in a career full of scraps with the best cruiserweights and heavyweights of an era.

Billups: A 1985 Tyson would definitely stop Billups, no question.

Tucker: Well, we saw what happened when Tyson faced Tucker and landed clean shots. While Tucker was older in 1993 (although with little wear-and-tear) he fought much, much, MUCH more negatively. Even so, Lewis knocked Tucker down twice and nearly knocked him out in the 7th round (only the turnbuckle kept Tucker up).

Mercer: I can really see Mercer going the distance with Tyson. Boxers with far lesser chins (Bonecrusher, Ruddock) did so; why not Mercer? Ruddock was just as awful at clinching as Mercer was.

Mavrovic: I suspect Tyson would be less cautious than Lewis and would stop Mavrovic on an accumulation of blows, although I don't think he could knock Mavrovic down.

Tua: I honestly think that Tua would go the distance with a 1996 Tyson, and even stand a shot at an upset. Tua hit very hard, had an iron chin, and with his short stature, physical strength and inside-fighting ability (an area Tyson did not excell at) I think Tua would be very difficult for Tyson. Even Mathis made a post-prison Tyson look laughable just with a bit of bobbing and weaving.

Still, advantage Tyson.

Hand speed: Definitely Tyson. In his prime he threw punches with more of his body behind them and was still faster than a prime Lewis.

Movement: Lewis by a mile. Tyson had good footwork on the front foot, but had almost non-existent footwork on the back foot. He would just go back in a straight line, totally predictably. If you went looking for Tyson, you knew you'd find him (for better or for worse). Even when he was getting the **** beaten out of him, Tyson never knew how to do anything but stumble forwards or backwards.

Lewis, on the other hand, was both a brilliant stalker and dancer in his prime. His footwork was excellent whether he was predator or prey: whether it was cutting off the ring (running was never a viable option against Lewis), moving away himself (look at his combination of fast and purposeful defensive movement against Tua) or a bit of both (the first Holyfield fight was a work of foot-art that could give Jazzo a 3 foot erection) Lewis fit the bill. Lewis's footwork is the most under-praised essential feature of his arsenal; without it, he'd have had many more losses.

Defence: Lewis. Put it this way- if Tyson had a better chin in his prime, and Lewis faced the better punchers, but Lewis wasn't knocked out, then Lewis must have had the better defence, right? Either Lewis had a great chin or a great defence; there is no alternative. Lewis could block and slip; he could take the snap off punches by moving with them; he could clinch better than Tyson; he had better defensive footwork; he could get them to ***** out and give him money in order not to have to face him etc. etc.

Tyson was very good at what he did defensively, but Lewis had many, many more dimensions defensively. That's why Lewis was able to survive more often than not in an era of huge punchers, but Tyson in spite of his chin and power often found himself on his ass, including against boxers with less than stellar punching records.


To recap-

Chin: Tyson

Jab: Lewis

Power: Tyson

Hand speed: Tyson

Defence: Lewis


Thoughts: Tyson had more physical and "raw" talents (except in regard to size and strength) but, as we can see, when it came to technique Lewis was superior. In his prime, Tyson was like a tank: he was very good at moving forward and destroying anything in his way. Lewis was like a heavily armed helicopter: he could destroy a defensive position, evade an attack, or pepper away at the enemy without much risk, all in the same battle. This is why I find myself more often picking Lewis in head-to-head fantasy fights against a bigger variety of opponents: whatever the nature of the fight, there was no guarantee of beating him. Tyson was more limited in the range of types of fights he could win, and thus I view him as less strong head-to-head.


There, I managed to get through that with a minimum of bias, and not mention that Lewis would destroy Tyson in 3 rounds if they faced each other in their primes.