Which Of The 80 "s Alphabet Boys Give Prime Lewis An Hard Fight??

Lewis rarely had to deal with tall athletic guys with fast hands, so Dokes would be a big question mark. He wouldn't be able to comfortably just paw with his jab and throw right hands, he'd need to out-think Dokes.

Thomas at his best was a good all-around boxer puncher and could give Lewis problems if he wasn't in shape or didn't take Thomas seriously. Douglas is another guy that could pull off an upset.

 

Very big IF here but IF Tim Witherspoon Is well trained and motivated he might give Lewis a tough fight, perhaps even score an upset

 

True. But Tim could take a real good shot, and if he hits Lennox with 1 good overhand right, it's a wrap.

 

Witherspoon didn`t score many one punch KO`s and didn`t stop any top fighters aside from Bruno who was stopped by several fighters and hurt badly by journeyman Jumbo Cummings.

 

No, Lewis took Bruno`s right hand flush.

 

Witherspoon hit harder than Mercer with his overhand right, and was taller with a longer reach aswell as being better defensively.

 

Had Mercer not been so durable, he'd have lost that fight via KO. While he was giving Lewis everything he could handle, part of that was because Lewis couldn't seem to hurt him. Among other points in the match, there was a point where Lewis got him with an uppercut that was a fight ender, rag dolled his head like Foreman did to Frazier; it actually did back him up and make him shake his head, iirc. Witherspoon was great when he was on, but I cannot unsee his destruction by Bonecrusher and think of the guys Lewis did that to.

I think the best chance of taking out Lewis would be a banger with an iron chin (Tyson at his best), or a really, really good pure boxer type (maybe Thomas?).

Since people bring up Holmes, I'm not so sure. He had a habit of getting hit by rights. Not a good weakness to have when going up against Lewis. I think Holmes at his best could out-point Lewis, but if he starts slowing down because Lewis keeps landing the right, probably not.

 

Lewis seemed fine against punches he saw coming. Took plenty of hard shots he saw coming without issue. The two that got him were two that he didn't see coming.

 

Tim Witherspoon could if in shape and focused. Witherspoon could jab with the best of them and had a sneaky and quick overhand right. A punch that seemed to trouble Lewis.
Possibly Tony Tucker and Tony Tubbs, who were athletic for big men , and could be a problem with their ability to move.
Pinklon Thomas also could be a serious problem, he also was a big man, with a very good and busy jab.
Those four could not only pose a serious problem for Lewis, but have a very good chance of beating him if they were in shape and focused.

 

I think that the key to answering this question is; where would McCall and Rahman have fitted into the 80s scene? For me, both would have been about average contender status. Top 10 in any given year but nothing standout.

Yet they beat Lewis. So, if they could, quite a few 80s guys could, too. The ones I'd give the best chance would be Witherspoon, Weaver, Page, Thomas and maybe Tucker.

When was Lewis' prime, anyway? 2000? Well, a year before that he really didn't impress against a 37 year old Evander Holyfield. There were a few guys in the 80s who give that version of Evander as hard a night as Lennox did.

This is the conundrum Lewis faces. For all his talent, he has those losses that give fighters in almost any era a shot against him. The 80s, though maligned, were not short of talent. Boxing was experiencing the boost that Ali gave the sport and it was more popular than ever among black American men who have traditionally excelled at the weight. The talent pool was deep, albeit tainted. There's no way it didn't throw up at least one fighter who could achieve what McCall or Rahman did.

 

The biggest problem Lewis had was that Mercer out jabbed him, yes Mercer's durability was certainly beneficial aswell. But the main problem was Mercer's jab in which he landed 60 percent of them, which is a ridiculously high percentage considering he was much the shorter man with a shorter reach.

As for Bonecrusher well Witherspoon beat the living hell out of him in 12 one sided rounds when he was in shape, i wouldn't really look much into the rematch as Witherspoon was having money issues with Don King was well out of shape and didn't even turn up to the fight, he wanted out of Don King's contract because he was getting shafted which equalled the non effort vs Bonecrusher.

I mean i could easily say look at when Lewis was out of shape vs Rahman, and got outjabbed and KO'ed by him. That's not really fair on Lewis and the same goes for Witherspoon, because obviously we are choosing when both men were at their best.

One final point an ancient Tim Witherspoon fought the same version of Mercer that Lewis did, and Witherspoon arguably did better than Lewis did and should've won the decision.

Just to finally say i'm not saying Witherspoon beats Lewis, basically Mark said earlier in this thread that Witherspoon wouldn't win because of his reach ? yet that didn't really make sense to me, as we have evidence of the shorter Mercer out jabbing Lewis and running him close.

 

Not on the chin he didn't he took a few flush punches high on the head, but not any flush on the chin like Rahman, McCall, scored on him.

 

Solid point, Mercer took some huge bombs in that fight. His chin was just crazy.

 

I think the guy that gives Lewis the most problems is Tucker.

He has the size and chin and somewhat negative style to last the rounds. Not going to be a highlight reel type opponent. Not to say he wins, but probably along the lines of the Occasio bout for Lennox. And being he always took a ton of criticism, he would certainly receive criticism for not destroying a guy like Tucker.

 

Tubbs is a good call. At his best - assuming he could get there - he'd give a lot of people something to think about.