Lewis clearly won the second fight but it was competitive. Lennox was no young billygoat himself in this fight. Pick your best version of Lennox. How would he improve his performance in 1999? 1999 Holyfield was considerably removed from his prime since (a) he engaged in 3 wars with Bowe, 1.5 wars with Tyson, not to mention Foreman, Dokes, Qawi etc - these things make you age very quickly (b)37 years old and clearly no longer a prime athlete (c) He showed signs of reduced work rate, speed & reflexes, skill etc. I think Lennox would not be able to improve his performance significantly (because he was so good in 1999) whereas Holyfield would have a much greater work rate to earn more points, would have the speed and reflexes as a young man he didn't have at 37 to better box the larger Lennox and better avoid Lennox's brutal shots. This plus his optimal skills at 29 - I think he would SIGNIFICANTLY improve his performance to decision Lennox. It goes without saying, that this match up would be very competitive (just IMO in favor of Holy this time). Lennox's increase in speed & reflexes wouldn't be as helpful because again, he was very good for a 37 year old. I consider this Lennox's greatest achievment (and a win over a legit version of Holy but NOT a prime Holy who was a much better fight for Lennox). So gentlemen, where am I going wrong here? Explain.
I think a younger peak (1990) Holyfield would have a great chance of out-working Lennox Lewis. The truth is, Holyfield lost the intense youthful edge sometime around '93/'94. He was certainly at his best when he fought Douglas and Foreman, despite the critics negative slant on those fights. (in fact, there's been a negative slant put on almost everything Holyfield does, for some reason). Having said that, Lennox Lewis had a style that might always beat Holyfield. Lewis at his best doesn't like to engage too much, very cautious, very calculating. Holyfield has always thrived as against aggression, he's a tremendous counter-puncher and counter-attacker. But he's forced to push the action and chase his man against the laid back Lewis, and Holyfield is less impressive in that mode. Prime for prime, it's too close to call.
That's my key argument. This improvement over the competitive 1999 fight would give him the decision.
If they fight 10 out of 10, Lewis beats Holyfield every single time. By huge margin in 3 of those fights, and the rest of the 7 fight by close boring UD or could be MD/SD. But Holyfield, as great as he is, will never solve the problem that is called Lennox. The combination of size, skills and ring intelligence is just too much to overcome for the ex-cruiserweight.
Evander by very close UD or late TKO. Holyfield was well past his prime in 99. Lewis was in prime at the time. Still their second fight was very close (Roy Jones Jr., Duva, Angelo Dundee, both Klitschko, Mark Rathner, Larry Holmes gave it to Holyfield ).
I strongly disagree with the little reasoning you provided. Ring intelligence? Holyfield may have had a temper problem in the ring at times - but he was a brilliant tactician and one of the cleverests ever. Lewis at best could break even with him here. Skills? I don't think Lewis had better boxing skills than Holyfield. Obviously it is ridiculous to judge "Lewis" without his awesome power, but if you want to zone in on skill or boxing ability alone - see that Lewis had a tougher time against Mercer when his power wasn't a factor whereas the lighter handed Holyfield beat Mercer for convincingly with boxing skills. Size difference? Holy made up for it with his speed, strategy, etc. "Ex-cruiserweight"? If that was the case then why was the second fight so competitive when Holyfield was clearly much past his best than Lennox? Can you refute my reasoning in the first post and tell me where I'm going wrong with the idea of improvements?
I think a '90-'91 version of Holy has a pretty decent shot at a '95-'96 Lewis... Just by the number of punches he would have thrown would've given him a chance... Remember that version of Holy only weighed about 208ish... I don't think he stops Lewis nor do I believe Lewis stops him... I think the most likely outcome would've been a split decision for Lewis though... Too big, and that jab would make it pretty tough for Holy..
I think Lewis wins this fight 8 out of ten fights. If Lennox happened to have an off night Holy could get a close decision (ala Holy-Bowe II) but it would never be convincing. Lewis' Jab, Height, and ability to fight at a distance would ALWAYS trouble any version of Holyfield. Prime Holy lost to prime Bowe and that Bowe didn't want any part of a pre-Steward Lennox Lewis. That should pretty much sum it up. It's a "styles make fights" deal. It's why Bowe always had the edge over Holyfield, So too would Lennox Lewis.
I dont think Bowe's "edge over" Holyfield is the same as Lewis over Holyfield. Actually, I think Holyfield completely under-estimated Bowe's heart and he simply tried to out-slug him. But Bowe turned out to be a great infighter, AND a gutsy fighter. Holyfield had all the tools to out-box Bowe, but he fought to Bowe's strengths in two of their fights. If Holyfield had respected Bowe like he respected Tyson I dont think he would have ever lost to him. With Lewis, I think Holyfield actually had a few stylistic problems in front of him. Ironically, I dont think he'd ever lose to Lewis as bad as he lost to Bowe, because Lewis makes him think and box, and Lewis is cautious. Holyfield would never look great against Lewis, but he could have outboxed Bowe rather easily if he didn't have such a macho mentality. The first Holyfield-Bowe fight you can see Holyfield boxes him well for a couple of rounds then just thinks, "Ah, to hell with it, lets' fight ! I'm gonna knock you out or make you quit, sucker!" but Bowe proved tougher than that.
I never said Lewis's skills was better than Holyfield. I said the combination of size, skills, ring intelligence of Lewis is too much for Holy to overcome. It is the total of those qualities, not individually. The 2nd fight may have been close, but don't ever think that that was the best Lewis ever. :nono Lewis had problems with Mercer but so what? Everybody had problems with anybody at times. Ali had with Jones, Holyfield with Moorer, Holmes with Wihterspoon, etc. Fact is that Lewis beat Holyfield 2X, 1 clearly and the other one very very clearly. Was Holyfield at his best? Maybe not, but so was Lewis. Was Holyfield thought to be the universally recognized HW champ at that time? Did Holyfield just beat Tyson and Moorer at that time? Was Holyfield considered good in those times? The answer to all these questions is a resounding YES. But of course, since Lewis made him look bad, Holyfield must have been close to shot back in those days...:-(
Prime for prime, Lewis was still 4 inches taller, had longer reach, was about 40 lbs heavier and worked off the end of a jab that effectively kept smaller guys outside. Of course Lewis wins. In 1993, when Holy was prime and Lewis was more raw, Holy wins easily.
