in my opinion, and Ive watched alot of boxing in my life:?

Question

I truly believe that Lennox Lewis is the best heavyweight Ive seen, I believe he could beat Ali had they fought in both of their primes. What do you think?

Answer 1

I think you been fooled by Lennox's weak competition. He fought a washed up Tyson and who else. A bunch of bums and washed up fighters. Ali has the best jab you ever saw, and would hit Lewis with it over and over. Ali also has better ring movement and both have about the same power. It would however be a very close fight against Ali after the layoff. But before that forget about it. Ali had incredible hand speed.

Answer 2

I'm a massive Lewis fan myself being English but i just cant imagine Lewis beating Ali, as you have said you have seen a lot of boxing i would presume you have watched many of the classics that Ali was involved in against great fighters, i think quite a few of those would maybe of beat Lennox as well (Foreman, Frazier, Norton, Holmes, Patterson, Liston, Shavers), I'm not saying that Lennox would be a whipping boy, far from it, i think he would cause problems for all of these fighters and maybe win against some and lose against some but we would have to remember that Ali beat all of the above mentioned apart from Holmes and that fight was right at the end of his career. I think it would be an interesting match up and Lennox may well give Ali problems just as Norton did, but you would have to say that Ali would find a way to beat him, Lennox having a good jab is not enough to beat the greatest Heavyweight champ of all time (and Ali possessed a better jab than Lewis), i would also say that behind Lennoxs great jab although he did have some skills i still think his chin was suspect (proved by Rahman and McCall) and i think we all know that Ali's chin cant be questioned especially after the Foreman fight who i would class as the hardest hitting Heavyweight ever. I would love to be able to say that Lennox would win this fight but i think even Lennox would tell you himself that he wouldn't.

Answer 3

No.

Based on what I've seen, Lennox Lewis was a very dominant heavyweight, but mostly because of the level of opposition. If you objectively watch the fights of both fighters, you will see that they were operating on much different levels. Pay attention to how fast fatigue sets in on Lennox and his opponents compared to Ali's fights. I would say Ali looks sharper in the fifteenth round of his fights than Lewis does around the beginning of his fights.

All aspects of Ali's game were on a much much higher level.

Answer 4

Lennox Lewis rose to prominance in the heavyweight division during a time when the division was devoid of any real talent. The arguement is that you cannot fault Lewis for the lack of skilled fighters during his era and that all you can ask of any competitor is to defeat those who stand before him. However his bout with Vitali Klitschko ended due to a severe laceration suffered by Klitschko who at the time was winning on all the judges scorecards and had Lewis realing. The doctor that stopped the bout was employed by Lewis and the referee allowed Lewis to aggrivate the cut by grinding his braids in Vitaly Klitchko's wounds during Lewis' frequent clinches.

Lewis decided to retire when he was required to give Klitchko a rematch which would have been the most lucrative heavy weight bout in the history of the sport, but lewis declined.

HARDLY THE ACT OF SOMEBODY TO CONSIDER THE BEST OF ALL TIME

Answer 5

Lewis doesn't touch Ali. Frazier was good but in response to the person above me without a lay off Frazier and Ali would have fought sooner. Ali would have been quicker. He still might have gotten knocked down but he would have won the decision had it reached that point.

Answer 6

i usually agree w/smitty and frank and the same holds true here. i also gotta give it up for waldo! exactly who of note did lennox lewis ever beat?! haven't seen all of his fights but i saw some early ones on espn and the later ones i am familar with. it appears to me, he telegraphs his punches. he's a big man, but ali would have timed him, taunted him, danced rings around him, and knocked him out well before 8 rds, both before and after his exile. ali was too smart and too clever and too fast and too accurate and too dominant and too impreganble for anyone of lewis' limited skills to defeat. to paraphrase the great one, "if he even dreams he could beat ali, he'd better wake up and apologize." as for the asker of this question, you need to see some more heavyweights fight and hopefully this will put lewis' reign in it's proper perspective. he was tall and not particularly naturally gifted. rather, he thrived under the tutelage of the great emanuel steward(who wouldn't?), but the greatest fighters of his era were already washed up, by the time he got around to them...all he leaves in his wake are some relatively easy victories over some famous names, not some great victories. he escaped against klitchko and retired rather than get soundly beaten in a rematch by another limited fighter. his jaw was made of coke bottle glass, not brittle, but not that strong. there's no way he gets past round six w/ali...and that would be more to ali's generosity than to lewis' talents...can ya imagine what a field day ali would have mocking him before the fight?

to sir smitty, i answered your question in the followup question, 2 or 3 above this one! check it out, gr8 quez~

Answer 7

Lennox was good but Ali beats him. In answer to Smitty I hate leaving alot of those names off the list but Foreman, Frazier, and Liston could have beaten Lennox. I have another one who could have beaten him from this era----Holmes.

Answer 8

Ali fought in the Golden era of boxing therefore he and alot of the fighters who fought at that time are considered better than fighters in previous years. He made boxing popular but that was not only due to his skill but to his charisma and showmanship. I don't necessarily think that he would be as dominant as alot of people that write in this column think if he fought the likes of Lewis, Tyson, Holyfield etc. Im not saying i don't think he had the ability to beat these fighters he could do but at the same time on a different night he could lose to them also. For example Ali lost to Frazier surely if he could lose to frazier he could lose to Mike Tyson?, and in answer to your question i wouldent be totally shocked if Lewis beat Ali if they had fought although i would favour Ali slightly to win but not by much.

Answer 9

ali would have won-look at the opposition-also many heavyweights back in time would have beaten lewis--joe frazier -george foreman-rocky marciano-ken nortan-floyd patterson-

Answer 10

Lewis was good but he was not the best ever.