Personally I think that while Foreman had the potential to beat Lewis, the two versions of Foreman that we saw would both lose. What I mean is that if Foreman had switched to a more relaxed, intelligent and patient boxer puncher style instead of retiring the first time, that version would have beat Lewis, but as they say, if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. The young reckless Foreman has a shot at catching Lewis and koing him, but most of the time, I think that Lewis superior abilities and skills would enable him to land the big cross before that happens, or at the very least to drag Foreman in the latter rounds where he would be a sitting duck.
I favor Lewis as well. His size, jab and power should prevent George from getting close enough and often enough to land a big enough blow to negate those advantages. Obviously if it's the lazy Lennox that got knocked out twice Foreman wouldn't have much trouble duplicating those results. Both "focused"? I pick Lewis.
For Lewis this is about being conservative and sticking to his jab and keeping distance... I think if he can do that, he can win it... If it's a firefight, or if he is not committed to that jab, he'll get knocked out
I pick Lewis also. Lewis would recognize the threat and be clever and would take him out at some point.
No way Lewis can contain foreman the way he did Tua or Holyfield- itd quickly devolve into a firefight
What about Foreman's chin? A lot gets said about him having a good chin, but weak-ass Ali KO'd him and brawler Lyle dropped him two times. Lewis would fucking decimate Foreman if he landed.
Which version of Lewis? Cause Foreman would KO the early-to-mid 90s Lewis. I'm fairly confident of that. Late 90s/early 00s Lewis, it's a closer call.
Gun to my head that's my pick but with no certainty. Betting wise the only thing I'd venture a fiver on is it not going 8 full rounds
Lewis is one of very very few fighters that would be taller, heavier, rangier and just as hard-hitting as Foreman, with better outside game and equal jab. Neither of them has a better chin than the other, they can both be got at with power and neither has a great D.
Foreman clearly has a better chin than Lewis. Foreman was only stopped while exhausted. Lewis was Ktfo twice with one punch. Foreman got hurt a lot but only being stopped once in that many fights is impressive for a hw.
Yup, Foreman has a better chin than Lewis. May not matter though...as Lewis had a better defense and was smarter (and Bigger and arguably just as powerful).
Foreman is being sold short here. Way short. Everybody picking Lewis is looking at the Ali fight, and thinking that because Lewis was a much bigger puncher than Ali that he could dispatch of George. I'm guessing none has considered the flush shots Ali had to endure in those first 7 rounds. Difference being, Ali had one of the best chins of all time, and Lummox errr ummm.... didn't. And Foreman wasn't JUST a caveman who came bombing away like Mayorga. He had a long, HARD as Hell jab, and Lummox always had trouble with guys who jabbed with him. There's a VERY VERY real possibility of 74 Foreman blasting Lewis out early. And that goes for ANY version of Lewis.
Bad bad style match up for Lewis. Foreman gets ''inside'' his long arms and either fucks him up or wins a wide UD in a clinch fest.
I'm not discounting Lewis' chances, but I'd make 74 Foreman the favorite here. Only difference is, I'd make him a clear favorite over the early-to-mid 90s Lewis. And a smaller favorite over the 99-01 Lewis.
The Ali fight and the Lyle fight (with it's inexplicably wild, defense-less brawling that was not typical of either man but made for one hell of an encounter) have distorted the young Foreman's legacy to some extent, similar to how the Foreman fight distorted Joe Frazier's
So Ali can endure Foreman's bombs...but get dropped and wobbled by Banks / Cooper / Frazier? I think the Zaire fight was a total anomaly....something 'outer limits, maaannnn'
Banks and Cooper should be treated as outliers and removed from any statistical analysis. Ali was green as grass in one and messing around to protect a prediction in the other ( and green too). It's no shame to be dropped by a FraIer left hook that you don't see coming. I seem to recall it happening after 14 gruelling rounds and Ali still got up immediately and wasn't even close to being stopped.
But apart from the Zaire fight (I'd have to go and look again and see exactly how flush Foreman connected with)....how many times was Ali caught flush by someone and shook it off?
He was caught flush in all of his post exile fights. In that time he fought guys like Norton and Shavers who could both punch.
Norton wasn't a banger of the highest level but to say he had shit power is ludicrous, . Besides Norton there was Shavers as already mentioned, obviously Frazier and of course there's Ron Lyle. In fact the reason why Ali is in the state he's in today is likely heavily related to the fact that he's take too many heavy bombs without going down or submitting.
FOreman didnt land a lot of flush head punches against Ali. Most were blocked and/or deflected. He did land a few good bodypunches though, but lennox seemed to take bodypunches well.
Ali took some astonishing shots from Ernie Shavers Are we seriously arguing against Ali's chin and durabiity here?:l3: This site really has shit the bed
Ali never fought that power punching specialist guy so no matter how you try to spin it that counts against him.
He didn't land ALOT, but he did land a few. They simply had no effect. Those same shots land on Lewis, and it's goodnight for the rasta.
