The best Lennox Lewis vs The best Evander Holyfield: Who wins?

I thought Holyfield squeaked-out the second fight and he got jobbed on the cards, much as Lewis did the first fight.

Both prime, I think Holyfield outworks and outwills (which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone) Lewis to take a UD.

Even though Lewis scared Bowe, I think style-wise Bowe was tougher for Holyfield than Lewis was. Bowe would stand and trade with Holyfield, which was not Lewis' strategy or his wont. Because of Lewis' shaky chin and his respect for Holyfield's chin, he was not inclined to get into extended exchanges with Holyfield.

It's a classic case of "Fighter A > Fighter B," and "Fighter B > Fighter C," but "Fighter A is not > Fighter C." "A" is Lewis, "B" is Bowe, and "C" is Holyfield.

Bowe beat Holyfield twice (although Holyfield had his supposed heart issue in the second fight), and it is well-known that Bowe didn't want to face Lewis, but, IMO, prime Holyfield > prime Lewis, based on style, physical tools (chins), and fighting disposition (mixing-it-up vs more reluctant).
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- Lewis was a very good HW champion, in many people's top-10 all-time.

- Holyfield is the greatest crusierweight ever, and a 4-time HW champion.

He is a legendary figure in the sport, one of the main reasons being because
of his incredible will to win. This is what separates him from Lewis, despite
Lewis' superior size and strength. That's no shame to Lewis, who is himself
extremely competitive -- almost no one in the history of the sport possessesd
the will to win that Holyfield did.

 

I personally don't think that the will to win, replaces the ability to win. I don't think many fighters go into a fight expecting to loose, but it's their respective abilities that determine the outcome. And on this basis, I would predict a Lewis victory.

 

i think you can remove lewis power from the equation....in his prime, holyfields chin was up there with ray mercer, and lewis couldnt shake him. lewis couldnt faze the older version of holyfield....im no lewis hater, i didnt appreciate him when he was around, but sure can see his acheivments nowdays....a prime holyfield gives lewis fits.....if a one speed come forward brawler like mercer could give a prime lewis hell, holyfield, with his superior workrate, greater speed and greater accuracy, would manage to turn the fight into a dog fight and take over in teh mid to late rounds with a u/d...i actually think lewis chin was ok to above average, so i doubt the relatively light hitting holyfield would ko him, but for me, prime for prime, holyfield wins an exciting but clear decision...

 

What tremendous amount of improvement for Holy?? That is crap. Many people thought Holy back in 96 was much better than the prime Holy in so many ways. He had better chin, he punches harder, better pacing and fights more intelligent. I would bet the 96 Holyfield had higher chances of beating Mike Tyson than the prime version.

The Holyfield in 93 would have prolly been koed by the Lewis of 98.

Prime HOlyfield's workrate, speed and stamina could not overcome Bowe's size. And Bowe, although similar to Lewis in size, fights small which means he is giving up some of his size advantage. Lewis wouldn't make that mistake.

Comparing side by side? Was he fighting the same guy for you to make a fair comparison? Just because he beat (barely) a fat out of shape Bowe in 93 whereas he lost to Lewis in 98 doesn't he was much better back then.

Don't be fooled by Lewis' performance in the rematch. Lewis usually just does enough to win rounds. Just because Holyfield made it a bit closer in the rematch doesn't mean Lewis remains static. If he was facing a prime Holyfield, he would rise to the occassion, just like he did against so many fighters who were perceived to be a high threat to him. He did it when he fought Holy (1st time), Rahman (rematch), Tua, Ruddock, Golota, Briggs, Morrison, Tyson, etc.

When Lewis thought that the fighter has small chance of beating him , he becomes complacent e.g. Vitali, Holyfield (rematch), Rahman (1st fight), etc.

 

Foreman?

Bowe who although similar in Lewis' size fights on the inside? Bowe who was awefully out of shape but still almost beat HOly?. Bowe who beat Holyfield 2 out of 3

Who are you kidding?

 

Very well said :good

 

Actually I am beginning to change my mind. I say that the 96-98 Holyfield would only lose to Lewis by decision, The prime 208 lbs Holyfield would probabyy lose by KO. His aggressiveness will be to his own detriment.

 

I always thought tha a prime Holyfield was better than a prime Lewis because Evanders work rate was far superior

 

imo lennox in his prime beats every heavyweight in history hes the perfect heavyweight.

 

Not a chance.


Holyfield took some huge shots from Foreman when they met in 1991. He was stung maybe once or twice, and there is no way on this earth Lennox hits harder than Foreman.

On the flip side, Holyfield had Foreman seriously dazed during the fight, landing something like 19 unanswered punches during one stretch. I believe it goes without saying that Foreman's chin is exponentially superior to Lewis.'

If Lennox was foolish enough to trade with the 208 lbs., 29-year-old Holyfield, he would get hurt and probably dropped. Remember, Holyfield brutally KO'd Adilson Rodriguez and he put Mercer on the canvas (1 knee), which is something Lewis never came close to doing. Holyfield would have stayed in the pocket, took or dodged Lewis' shots, and found LL's glass mandible with his own bombs.

I can't stand Bowe, but he is a much, much better infighter than Lewis and has a far better chin, which is what allowed him to fight Holyfield the way that he did. Bowe also has lost exactly 1 time - to Evander Holyfield. Lewis fought more tenatively against Holyfield because he was wary of Holyfield's ability to take a shot and his own ability to not be able to take a shot. The ENORMOUS shots that Golota hit Bowe with - in both fights - would have definitely KO'd Lewis and his wanting chin. Which is one reason LL jumped on Golota - he didn't want to take those punches because he knew the damage they could do. I don't even remember if Bowe has ever even been off his feet (although I know Holyfield almost had him ready to go in one of their fights), let alone suffered two crushing 1-punch KO/TKO defeats as has Lewis.

Lewis fought as he needed to fight Holyfield - tall and out of harm's way. And it worked (or didn't, as I felt in the second fight) against a 37 year-old, already-beaten-by-Moorer-and-KO'd-by-Bowe Holyfield.

Against a prime, much-faster and fresher Holyfield? No way. He would either get outworked and lose on points or else dropped and possibly stopped. That Holyfield was very explosive, very fast and had KO'd/TKO'd the likes of James Tillis, Buster Douglas, Michael Dokes, Alex Stewart, and Bert Cooper. He made the very rugged Pinklon Thomas quit. He easily stood up to the heavy hands of Stewart, Cooper, and Foreman as well as to the speed of Dokes.

The Holyfield of 1988-1992 or so (26-30 years old) would have beaten any version of Lennox Lewis. Lewis' only chance would have been to drop in a huge right while Holyfield was still cold in the first 2 rounds or so. But for that, Holyfield would have either completely befuddled Lewis with his workrate or else dropped and stopped Lewis as he had with fighters whose chins were superior to Lewis' own.

One of Lewis' greatest assets is he came along/into his own as other guys were fading. This wasn't always his fault, of course, as Tyson ducked him and Bowe ducked him. But the versions of Tyson and Holyfield he fought (esp. Tyson) weren't anything close to what those fighters had been at their peaks.

Prime Lewis would have to fight an almost perfect fight just to last 12 rounds with Tyson, let alone beat him. As Frank Bruno has said "I would rather fight Lennox Lewis once a week than fight Tyson once a year." Under no circumstances can I imagine a prime Tyson losing to Lewis. None. And 8/10 times, minimum, Tyson would destroy Lewis with a brutal KO. His long arms and tenative style were absolutely made-to-order for Mike Tyson.

Lewis was a very large man and he developed his jab-and-grab under Manny at just the right time, later in his career when other big-time fighters were either faded or gone. He was a worthy champion, and he took on almost all challengers. He deserves respect and admiration.

But Prime Tyson and Prime Holyfield are two of the greatest fighters the sport has ever seen. Lewis is not only not in the same sentence with those two, he's not in the same paragraph. Prime Tyson would have made Rahman-Lewis I and McCall-Lewis I look pathetic by comparison to what he would have done to Lennox. And although Lewis has a huge advantage in size over Holyfield, he never would have been able to keep up with Holyfield's workrate, dent his chin, or been fearless enough to try to stand and trade with Evander. If he had stopped to repeatedly exchange with Evander, given LL's shaky beard and Evander's list of knockdowns/KO's, he almost certainly would have been dropped repeatedly and likely stopped.

 

Moorer was a southpaw that befuddled Holyfield and I have already discussed twice, at length, why Bowe matched up better with Holyfield than did Lewis. Totally different styles.

And again, a person's peak physical age is generally considered between 28-32 years old. Evander was at the tail end of that when he first fought Bowe and Moorer.

Unlike Lewis, Evander wasn't getting TKO'd by guys who cry in the ring during his peak years. And though I despise Bowe, I recognize the incredible amount of talent which he had, far superior to Lewis' own. If Bowe actually was focused and wasn't ruined by Golota, who knows. But again, Bowe only lost once in like 45 fights, and he was never stopped. Holyfield hurt Bowe badly in one of the fights, the fight which Evander was knocked out in. There is no possible way that that version (and that was when he was like 33) of EH doesn't beat any version of Lewis, including the 'jab-and-grab' Lewis. Evander would have been a blur to Lennox.

 

Holyfield's first run as champion was not that impressive. He was criticised for fighting Foreman, Holmes and Cooper (who dropped him). Holmes and Foreman were old. Pre-title his opposition was not that impressive either, the Dokes Holyfield fought was over the hill and he was not that great to begin with.

Bowe built his reputation off of Holyfield. Bowe did nor beat anyone of significance besides Holyfield. Moorer built his reputation off of Holyfield too (at heavyweight). Holyfield just started getting (real) respect when he beat Tyson to the backdrop of Bowe's retirement and thrashings at the hand of Golota.

Holyfield was never the US hope till after he beat Tyson. Bowe was the man in the eyes of the (US) media, but he failed while the undersized overachiever shocked the world. What made Holyfield great is that he could rise to the ocassion when nobody thought he could. He beat Bowe, and he beat a head-hunting post-prison Tyson.

Imo Holyfield was a better fighter in his second reign rather than the first. He was to light in his first reign, and had less strength. Holyfield misses the main ingredient to beat Lewis, and that is power. Bowe fought up to Holyfield's strengths, and had a porous defense. Foreman was too old and fought in spurts and arches his shots.

How can Holyfield be credited for beating an old Holmes, while Tyson thrashed a younger version and never gets any credit? Bowe lost his title to Holyfield who lost it to Moorer who lost it to Foremen. Moorer regained the title by beating Schultz for the vacant title (as he beat Foreman but was not awarded the decision). And during that time Bowe was still considered the man by many (mainly US).

Bowe was losing to Golota in two brutal beatings, but won through DQs, before opting for retirement. After Lewis' demolished the then boogieman of the division in Golota. Holyfield himself said Lewis was ducked during the early nineties. A prime Holyfield would have a chance against Lewis, but Lewis would always be favoured (even the younger one). I would pick Lewis 8 out of 10 prime for prime.

 

:good