Who had more left at age 38. Holmes or Lewis. A poll for Fighting Weight.

Of course Larry is gonna say that he got KTFOD and the Man has one of the biggest Egos in the history of boxing. Leaves it open for others and himself to speculate that he might have beat Tyson had he had more time.

 

Lewis for the old versions and 50/50 in their primes.

 

I agree Spinks gets dismissed here alot as a heavyweight. I THink he kicks ass on a lot of heavyweights from the past and present, that others here wouldnt think he would.

 

Here's what I actually said that prompted this poll....

"Lewis at 38 had more left than Holmes? Well seeing as the only evidence we have is Lewis never fighting again, and Holmes going on to embarrass prime Mercer and give prime Holyfield all he could handle I'd suggest that you're wrong, and Tyson really was quite good"

Just to clarify the last sentence - what I meant was Mendoza is wrong about Tyson being over-rated and his dismissing his win over Holmes is unfair considering what Holmes went on to do after that fight. Of course this is the same man who waxes lyrical about VITLAY beating Corrie Sanders, who was even older than the Holmes that Tyson demolished - and about half as good :nut

I stand by what I say though as Lewis hasn't fought since he was nearly 38 and Holmes continued to beat Mercer and go 12 competitive rounds with an ATG undisputed champion in Holyfield. Holmes was never blasted out like he got blasted out against Tyson again either, so instead of just pointing out what might have happened I'll just go by what actually happened and say that Holmes had more left because he went on to prove it for a few years and Lewis didn't.

Of course it suits Mendozas agenda to say Lewis had more left because if he didn't it puts a big dent in his one man "VITLAY would beat any heavy that ever fought (have you seen how tall he is?)" campaign....

 

Agreed, but he shouldn't have really competed with Holmes, who was biger, had that jab and was just all-round quality.

Ain't scored the 1st fight before, will do it this weekend, but I certainly feel Holmes made amends 2nd time round:good

 

Larry used the Foreman template to reinvent himself in his 40s. Not only was he very obviously rusty and misfiring when he took on Tyson, but he opened that final round on his toes, trying to reproduce what he did in his heyday.

He came back after Tyson considerably heavier, came off his toes, drew Mercer into the corners, and made him look like such a fool that Ray admitted after the match, "I guess I'd better learn how to box!" Mercer was better against Lennox than he was against Holmes (perhaps in large part due to Larry's schooling), while Holmes was far, far better against McCall than Lewis had been in McCall's previous bout!

Obviously, an active Lewis was better against Vitali than a rusty and misfiring Holmes was at 38 against Tyson, but that's not the question being asked. Who had MORE left? Larry had only one decisive loss after Tyson (Holyfield), and he continued to box until he was 53 years old, pitching a near shutout over ten rounds in his last outing (spoiled only by a referee's botched last second call). His official record after he turned 40 was 21W (10KO) 3L(0KO) 0D, over a span of 11 years. Lennox's official record is 0W(0KO) 0L 0D to date during this same span in his life. How rational is it to rate Lewis over Holmes in this respect on the basis of pure, absolute, rampant speculation?

 

Well as far as atg i rate Holmes higher than Tyson but Hth i can see it going either way maybe even possibly favoring Tyson. Reason Holmes was always open to big right hands(mikes money shot) Shavers also caught him with those.

 

Well u will see what we are talking about, I had Spinks winning very convincingly impressive performance 116-112 or 117-111 forget exactly which one but along those lines.

 

Tyson 15 atsch Man i cant see putting him any lower than 10 in fact i have him 7 and Holmes 3.

What about that big right hand Tysons best shot and Holmes open to it at times. Tyson was very fast in his prime and would have definitly landed it on even a prime Holmes.

 

I have Holmes between 4 and 5 and Tyson between 11 and 13. So you are wrong.

 

I'd say the Lewis who fought Vitali at 38 would have beaten a 38 year old Holmes. However, a 42 year old Holmes would probably have beaten a 42 year old Lewis. So if we're comparing Lewis in his late 30's to Holmes I think he was better, but if we go beyond that and into the 40's then Holmes takes it.

Prime for prime it's a very close call.

 

Lennox was retired aat 38, Im assuming were talking about the 37 and 9month old Lewis Vitali faced and the Holmes Tyson faced? Its quite close actually, both were overweight, slow, Lewis more flatfooted though

Lewis however still had the power he could use as an equaliser and for that reason I'd say he was still more dangerous and thats why he ripped Vitali to shreds, had him hanging on for dear life and stopped him.

I dont think a 38yo Holmes beats that Vitali, I think he loses on points but I'm pretty sure 22yo Tyson KO's that version of Lewis

 

The question is who had more left. Lewis retired at 38, Holmes was coming back and starting his second career. It's unfair to compare the 38 year old Holmes to the 38 year old Lewis. Lewis was champion and consistently fighting, Holmes was just getting back into his form.

Now, the question is who had more left at age 38. Lewis retired at 38. So we there's only Holmes career to access. And since he kept fighting, I think it's fair to say Holmes had more left to give at age 38 seeing what he did with his career, and then seeing Lennox Lewis retiring. Now... if the question is who was better at 38. It's probably Lewis, but that's not how the question is structured. That's the best I can answer the question.

 

I don't think Holmes was rushed into the fight much at all. Larry had wanted a crack at Tyson for a long time. There was talk of a Tyson-Holmes fight as early as '86. Jimmy Jacobs talks about setting it up in the post-fight interview after Tyson knocked out Marvis Frazier.

Larry was preparing for Tyson at least as early as Tyson-Biggs, which happened in October of '87, and Tyson fought Holmes in January of '88, exactly three months later.

How much time does the average fighter spend preparing for someone? True, Larry hadn't been in the ring, but he had been training, no doubt. And he had a ton of motivation to beat Tyson. Just imagine.

 

Exactly my point but the thread starter doesn't deal in facts when it comes to anything Klitschko related, never has and never will.