How does a prime motivated Lewis fare against the best pre ban Clay, and then against the best post ban version that Frazier gave nightmares. Clay/Ali for me was neevr the same after the lay off he was good enough to beat MOST out there, can he cope with a rampant Lewis and his size strength and power. I give the early Liston era of Clay a slight chance on points but think he still gets beaten maybe points maybe a big shot ALA Henry Cooper but Lennox gets him out of there.. Post ban Ali gets caned.
Lewis beats 70s version of Ali. 64-67 was the only version of Ali that would have beaten lewis for his great footwork ,speed, timing and because he was explosive, young and very self confident. LewiS can match 70s Ali at everything he did good except lennox had more power. the chin makes no difference because Ali was not a puncher and he could not stop lewis by a lucky punch plus lewis did not have stamima problemsS so i don't see Ali stopping him late. so 64-67 Ali would outbox Lewis in a competitive split decision and the 70s static version of Ali would lose by decision .
Pre ban Ali was to fast for Lewis and had the chin to last the whole fight. He also had enough power to get Lewis respect imo. Ali UD Post ban Ali has his moments but looses a UD. I don’t think anyone KOs a close to prime Ali.
The best pre ban Clay beats any version of Lennox. Lennox has a reasonable chance against the best post ban Ali. It's not easy though either. Lennox beats the slower, declining Ali from the mid-70's on.
By The best pre-ban Clay, do you mean before he changed his name after the Liston fight? If so, I think he will beat a prime Lennox Lewis. If you mean 64-67 ALI, he DEFINITELY beats Lennox Lewis. Post ban Ali, i'd say from 71-75, where he beat a lot of great fighters like Frazier 2x, Foreman, Norton, Lyle, Quarry 2x, & Patterson to name a few, he would beat a prime Lewis. If you take 76-81 Ali, I think a prime Lewis would beat him.
Young, pre exile Ali gets a decision over Lennox. The older version loses, a slower Ali gets raked by Lewis jab, his size advantage a little to hard to overcome and Lennox s best, hard shots have him losing ground over the fight.
Lennox would beat the 70s version and maybe the 60s version too. Ali had faster hands and feet but Lennox had height and range, much bigger puncher, much stronger with a great jab.
Lewis would beat the 60s version. The Ali from the 70s would stop Lewis late. He was stronger, more experienced, hit a bit harder, almost as fast, still faster than anyone else.
Absolutely, the Rumble in the jungle Ali ko's Lewis . This is a 15 rounder and Lewis would come apart like Chinese lawn furniture in about the 13th round after getting nailed with all those straight rights. Look at the still photos of Ali turning Foremans head around backwards and the sweat spraying for 5 yards, that would have set Lennox up for the KO finish.
The 1960-63 version of Ali gets poleaxed and poleaxed good by prime Lewis. It would be a poleaxing for the ages.
