Prime Lennox Lewis vs Prime muhammad ali 12 rounds

Im a huge Lennox fan...but noooo way.
Prime NOBODY beats Ali.
Cant believe any educated boxing observer doesnt agree.
At his peak..the guy ticked every box.
Lennox was superb...but had his weakneses.

 

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Ouch!

 

Thank you.

 

Your opening sentence is the crux of the matter, who adapts best is the key.
For me it is Ali by a close, but clear decision.
I would like to add that}
Outside of Ali , I think Lewis is the hardest guy stylistically for the other champs to face.

N B Not the same as ranking him no 2 which I emphatically do not.

 

I usually like your posts, and obviously Ali was tremendous; I just question the "educated observer" bit!
Ali DID look fantastic in his prime, but even then was he unbeatable? People slate Liston on here all the time, but give Ali huge credit for the Folley and Williams fights. Sonny hammered both years earlier and Williams in particular was a shell of the fighter Liston fought when Ali slaughtered him.

I stress that this isn't really a knock on Ali, because the manner of those victories was certainly mind blowing. I'm just not sure about calling someone unbeatable, though. Even Robinson doesn't get that accolade.

 

Unbeatable doesn't exist in boxing. There's been too many great fighters who would've been enough in a foil in some regard to say that anyone beats absolutely everyone. That's part of what makes "what if" matchups fun.

 

Ribtickler and Rock..yeh fair comments..maybe i'm a little to confident on Ali...and yes nobody is unbeatable...however IMO at his best Ali was the nearest thing..i wont list his qualities we all know them...i think the biggest thing he has over Lennox is speed and intensity..Lennox had lots of quiet spells in his fights...this would catch up with him v Ali IMO...ALI comfy on points if nothing else ,for me.

 

This goes in top 10 of stupid post

 

A prime, focused Lennox Lewis is possibly the most dangerous heavyweight that ever lived .. However, I feel a prime Ali had the size, strength, reach, chin and speed to outpoint him .. one of the very few but I don't see Lennox getting set to land big and Ali's jab would cause him all kids of hell getting set ..

 

I hesitated before posting because I know what you mean about Ali; even past prime he could surprise you. In the Foreman fight he threw 2 lead rights to Foreman's head like another fighter would throw jabs; pop, pop in combination. I think it was the 7th round and you just don't see many fighters doing it.

Even a totally gone Ali was counter left hooking Trevor Berbick in the early going; the man was incredible, no doubt.

As to Ali-Lewis, I think you are right. I can see Ali tagging Ali with the right hand and out speeding Lewis. Lennox had a cracking jab which might give Ali trouble, though.

 

I still can't shake that maybe Lennox's jab might be a touch overrated given the lack of great jabbers he faced (though Holyfield had a quality one) and Mercer completely outjabbing him in their fight. I'm certainly not saying Lennox didn't have an excellent jab, but I don't think it's a given he wins the jabbing battle against the other great jabbers the division's seen, Ali included.

That's not to say Ali was immune to the jab himself, but I think that's the biggest opportunity for Ali to open up his offense in this one.

What Lennox can take away is Ali's reliance on tying up and using his usual size advantage *which he won't have in this fight) in the clinch on the inside, and the opportunity can be there for his trademark uppercuts.

I favor Ali because because of the movement and the jab, but a Lennox victory wouldn't entirely surprise me. Honestly, we really have no idea how Lennox does against a clever mover with a jab period, for better or for worse.

 

While Lennox Lewis is a monster, I like Ali's reflexes against Lennox' long punches. Ali had great awareness in addition to his reflexes and would see a lot that Lennox does coming. When you are that fast and that aware, you're so hard to catch with long punches.

The difficult thing is that Ali would have to come inside a little bit, but I think he generally makes it a masterclass, has to ship a couple of huge punches, survives and recovers to take home the UD.

 

Lewis by decision or late round stoppage.

 

A few years ago...or a few more years ago...I picked Lewis to beat Ali in a hypothetical matchup. I was swayed by the size factor. I though Lennox had enough skill to compliment his size advantage to beat Ali....But I've changed my mind. Ali was close enough in size compared to Lewis but was faster in both hand and foot to avoid being tagged hard enough and often enough to get into any serious trouble. Plus Ali was strong enough to avoid being manhandled in the clinches by Lewis. If Foreman couldn't do it then I doubt Lewis could either. In the end I think Ali's speed combined with his will to win and toughness and chin would see him to a decision.