Lewis genuinely never fought anybody ANYTHING like Ali. Klitchko at least had 3 interesting minutes with Herbie Hide, Bowe a little more to help with the visualisation process a bit, but there's really no way of anticipating how Lewis would deal with Ali's speed. Conversely there are little meaningful comparisons with how Ali would deal with Lewis' size. I would say the early passage of the Foreman fight is the best tool we have: George was a much bigger man than his recorded weight that night and really controlled the pattern of the fight with his size and strength. However Lewis wasn't as aggressive as George and didn't cut off the ring as ruthlessly. Ah fuck it, I don't have a clue on this one. :: Not a single clue. Could go any which way.
I think these are the two best heavyweights in the world head-to-head. I have changed my pick of this and now I would take Lennox. Against some other opponents Clay would have easier time however
To me a Prime Ali was teh best Heavyweight that ever lived...however, stylistically..I've always believed that Lennox Lewis would possibly have been the man to beat him. Lennox is TALL, rangy and knows how to fight tall and be cagey. In addition to this his POWER is up there with Foreman, Frazier, Liston or whomever. Nevertheless, Lennox can be sloppy and awkward and he didn't always have a consistent workrate and when he did...he was hit very often. I think Ali simply outworks him to teh decision although it's a very difficult fight for him all the way to the end.
I agree with Sly. Ali's speed is just going to kill him, for mine. I do think this would be a competitive fight, for two reasons. The first would be Lewis' combination of size & power. The second would be the Lewis jab. If he's throwing in high numbers, it makes life rather tough to establish range. In the end, though, I just think Lewis is going to have a God-awful time with Ali's movement. He would look like he was in a molasses bath in comparison. Ali, 8-4 sounds good. BTW, Ali's closest comparative opponent for Lewis? Terrell.
He was able to trouble Ali at times and he was not particularly fast nor very powerful, just a pretty good boxer. It is not like Holyfield (whom Lewis clearly beat) fought anything like Ali
Thats true. I wasn't really going on that basis (you can't work on that basis with ANY Lewis opponent). I was just observing how tentative Lewis was being with his jab, tbh. It was slow, uncertain and Ali would have had a field day if Lewis had fought that way against him. He was also really quite easy to hit even against a Holy who looked SLOW & seemed to get really tired really early dealing with Holy's feints. Of course one of the great virtues of Lewis was his adaptability.
tough pick... I do like the speed of Ali here and I think it would be enough to earn him a close decision... if Lennox had more of a left hook, I might like him better here as that was always Ali's weak spot defensively
I dont think its that tough a pick. The 67 Ali would make Lewis look very clumsy, and lost in there. And Ali DID have enough power to hurt Lewis. Its not a one sided fight, but I think Ali wins clearer then some might think. Ali by UD, 10-5. Assuming its the prime, 97-00 version of Lewis. The clumsy Lewis of the early 90's gets picked apart, and stopped by Ali.
I pick Ali as well but it's one those fights that's not just hard to predict, but to envision. I think his speed, footwork and most importantly the possibilty of taking the jab away from Lennox would be key The jab is key. If Lewis could establish his as more dominant it would be big up hill battle for Ali.
