1A He faces in Bowe in 1993 - what happens here? I think he crushes Bowe but then what? 1B There would be a Holyfield fight, but if he beats Holyfield without Holyfield beating Bowe and Tyson, are Holyfield and Bowe no longer seen as top opposition? 1C Lennox still had defensive frailties, which were partly down to him being compacent, maybe better opponents would make him more focused. 1D If Lennox KOs Tyson after prison without Tyson grabbing a belt is Tyson simply considered a shot fighter? 2. In another scenario, If Tyson doesn't drop the WBC belt and faces Lennox instead of Holyfield? If Lennox gets out of the first 5 rounds Lennox wins imo. But is Tyson considered shot? Will a forthcoming win over Holyfield be seen as a win over a shot fighter as Holyfield would no longer have a Tyson win.... 3. Golota doesnt get DQ'ed and gets a decision/ko over Bowe?
Obviously a big win that elevates Lewis' standing significantly and lowers Holyfield's. If he wins (which is no given, in 1993), many people at this moment will claim it was a foregone conclusion because of their olympic meeting, or because he wasn't in the same shape he beat Holyfield, just like many pretend the Ruddock and Golota fights were meaningless, while at the time both were at the top of the division. Well, if Holyfield never beats Tyson at all, then he'd lose a lot of greatness, as most of his legacy at heavyweight is based on that, though he does have several other good wins, obviously. Still an excellent win. Exactly what is the question? I think the only time in Lewis' career he lacked focus was against Rahman (first time), and perhaps against Klitschko although he was naturally going to put on a few pounds around the age of 37. The McCall loss had nothing to do with being focused, even if he may have been over-confident since all of his opponents up to that point were outclassed. A think a lot of people would say so; they're saying so now about Holyfield's victory, and that's WITH Tyson picking up a belt and looking spectacular against Bruno. Couple that with the fact that Holyfield is a lot more popular than Lewis, especially back then, and you can be pretty sure he'd receive not all that much credit for the win at the time, though by now it would be recognised as an excellent win by most fair observers. As i said before, he'd not receive much credit for the Tyson win, and even less for the Holyfield win because he'd be considered washed up and not have a spectacular Tyson win to prove he still is one hell of a fighter. To me it doesn't change much, because the way Lewis destroyed Golota had nothing to do with the reason Bowe was saved from officially losing to Golota; his frail mind. For the public it would help quite a bit though.
Hmm... 1A If he got to face and beat Bowe in '93, the next biggest thing (apart from a rematch) would be Holyfield as you said next. 1B I think you can make a case for this. Without Holyfield's revenge win over Bowe, his victories over two 42-year-olds and the scary moments against Cooper get magnified without the tremendous Bowe II effort to back it up. I'd say Bowe would be viewed as tip-top competition, Holyfield just under as a kind of brave but outgunned guy. 1C Mmm, I'd be more inclined to think something like the McCall loss was inevitable. Now, if he had Steward from the start that's a different kettle of fish, but as it stands I think at some point a wake-up call was needed. 1D I reckon so, depends on whether Tyson could do anything afterwards. He'd still only be about 30, it would be a pretty good bet he could still look good for three or four years. 2. Tyson wouldn't be considered shot no, just as he wasn't going into the first Holyfield fight. He looked pretty much the same kind of destroyer against Bruno. He would be seen as past prime but not shot. With Holyfield, I think he'd definitely be viewed as shot. Take away the Tyson wins, and therefore arguably the Moorer II win as well, and people will be focusing on the Bowe III loss more. 3. Pretty much the same. Golota's DQ losses were as good as wins anyway, he looked like a relentless killer (if mentally suspect) while Bowe was battered.
Not completely, but it is worth noting that 238 was the heaviest weight of his at the time (and unlike the later Steward fights, not extra muscle). Mike Katz in particular reported about Lewis looking a little soft in the build-up and tipped the upset. There had been problems with Correa in camp, something which had caused underlying tension since the Bruno fight where Correa nearly was sacked. Lewis no-showed a few training sessions, which was something he'd never done before, and had a sparring camp consisting only of a young John Ruiz and Garing Lane...and for the last two weeks of training, didn't even have Ruiz, Correa only bringing Lane along. Neither guy was what I'd call suitable for a McCall fight. I think there were definitely some things not quite right and focused in that fight. Not that it was the only one. Lewis didn't even get a proper warm-up for the Bruno fight, rushed out to the ring before Correa had done it because he hadn't scheduled the time correctly. Cracks were there, and in quite a lot of ways McCall did Lewis a big favour. He had the focus, he had the gameplan, and by the end of the night he had the belt!
I didn't know that, though i had heard about tension between him and Correa. Interesting that Ruiz was a sparring partner. Wasn't he about 190lbs back then?
A bit heavier, around 210. Ruiz was just starting to dip his toe into the heavyweight waters around that time, fighting guys like Julius Francis...he'd only been boxing for about a couple years by that point, pro at least.
