Prime Mike Tyson vs Prime Lennox Lewis

Not sure thats relevant anyway. Holyfield and lewis had the better careers....won bigger fights but its not really the question. The question is who,d have won if the best tyson fought the best lewis. Tysons prime was brief... but at his very best...he,d have beat lewis imo. He got to the 8th round against him as an alcoholic with drug problems consistantly not training properly. Not sure lewis wouldhave got that far if the show was on the oyher foot.

Tyson was on course to become one of the best we,ve ever seen....then through his own fault he chucked it all away. Guy was training like an amatuer for years...was testament to cus,s training etc that he was still able to win at that level.

 

Depends on the ref. Lennox doesn't have the legs, or really even the jab for that matter (mostly used as a pawing rangefinder) to control distance against Mike so he'll turn it into a clinchfest like did in their actual 2002 fight.

 

IMO Lennox at any point in their respective careers is an extremely bad matchup for Tyson. Like, truly horrible.

 

No, Tyson would have smashed pre-Steward Lewis. Pre-Steward Lewis wasn't even 50% of the fighter he has become under Steward's tutelage. Prime, Steward-trained version of Lewis would demolish pre-Steward version in 2 rounds at most - that's how much he has progressed while being trained by Steward

 

Geez, I feel sorry for Lewis if, after his career, people really think he'd have lost to Tyson in his prime.

 

Very debatable if Tyson would've smashed pre-Manny Lennox. He still would've been a terror for Tyson, a long, rangy mobile gunslinger. Tyson had problems with tall guys, even the guys he dispatched.

You're arguing something I agree with.............

 

Blimey ! This old chestnut again. Even at his absolute best, Tyson couldn't counter when the opponent's jab landed, left his left low after throwing his own jab and couldn't punch at all off his back foot.
Lennox feints him, draws him, counters him and flattens him.

 

I agree with a previous post where it was said that prime Lennox would be too big and he controlled distance really well. I agree

not to say prime Mike couldn’t catch him because he could have. But even Tyson said after the fight he could never have beaten Lennox, he was too big... I don’t know if he was being sincere or just humbled at that moment.

 

Tyson by KTFO.

 

Lemmux would get chinned .

 

Lewis of McCall I and Bruno was a fighter powerful, technical but defensevely few self confident. Probably Prime Tysons aggressiveness and intimidating aura would have prevailed...however all Tysons versions after Douglas would lose with Lewis 80% of fights imo.

 

Mike Tyson is still celebrated because of his very crowd pleasing style, and he had all the hype because the heavyweight division at the time wasn’t exciting at all, so once a great knockout artist comes along everyone was hyping him up and overrating him, and most casuals would prefer Tyson’s style over Lewis and Holyfield’s, but all the hype won’t save you when you face a big man with who has better boxing skills and better power. Lewis by ko

 

Watch the first round of their actual fight. Lewis was completely frozen by Tyson's early rush. He was holding on and getting rocked by jabs. Only when he slowed him down with his uppercuts did he take over and keep him on the outside. At that point tyson was too fat, shot and heartless to compete.

Tyson in his prime could fight well on the outside. He outjabbed Tony tucker, Tyrrell Biggs. Boxed on Par with Tony tubbs and then iced him with one shot.

If Tyson came mentally prepared to either win or die, his chin and skills would keep him in the fight long enough to land the big shot or combination or keep Lewis timid enough to win on points.

Problem is that after prison he didn't have the heart or conditioning to stay in a fight when it got rough.

 

I feel like every conversation surrounding Tyson ends up with someone saying 'pre-prison' using him being locked up as the ultimate excuse for his supposed decline. I agree he was a more formidable fighter earlier in his career but think this fight was all wrong for Tyson at any point in his career. Lewis too big, too cerebral for him.

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