Greatest Heavyweight of All-Time, Round 1: Lennox Lewis vs. Muhammed Ali

[slk123]

you still dont get what i am saying dude it would be a hard fight for ali and i dont doubt he would win but not easy though

point taken, my apologies.

[brucelee]

I don't consider Lewis one of the greatest heavy weights of all time. Beating an undisciplined,old and sluggish tyson does not make him great.The fight may have been rigged considering how desperate Tyson was of a fight during those times.

[ICB]

I don't consider Lewis one of the greatest heavy weights of all time. Beating an undisciplined,old and sluggish tyson does not make him great.The fight may have been rigged considering how desperate Tyson was of a fight during those times.

Tell me your joking ??

[ChuckNorris]

How come the Top 2 Heavyweights of alltime are meeting in Round 1.

I thought that as well

me 3

[bzkfn]

I went for Lennox.

[Sugar_Shaw]

All matches were chosen at random

[Mintymen]

Went with Lennox, i love Ali but Prime Lewis is just too good

[X]

Interesting debate on this one .... Lewis was a very very good fighter, big, strong and also mentally disciplined. I do think that his technique was somewhat flawed (but so was Ali's), the difference being that Lewis got caught out a few times because of it.

I went for Ali, though, and not because it is just the done thing to do. He was simply a one off in the ring, size, strength, stamina, chin, a great thinking mind and that awesome blistering speed. 70's Ali had quick hands and only used his feet sparingly, 60's Ali really did move like a bantamweight. For me, he would have started off elusively, outboxing Lewis (and making him eat that jab) until Lennox began to wind up to look for the overhand right - Ali would have been too cute to fall for that one, and I think that Prime Ali stops Lewis later on after a flurry of punches catches that exposed chin once too often?

[kidbourbon]

I think Ali gets alot of sympathy votes but matched against Lewis I cant see him winning . Cooper would have knocked out a prime Cassius Clay if they didnt cheat so imagine what Lewis would have done to to him .

This argument is nonsense.
1. Ali still would have beaten Cooper without the extra time to fix the glove. What have we learned about Ali's chin? He would have been fine in the next round, regardless of a slit in the glove.

2. Ali was clearly a better fighter in his next fight against Liston than he ever was before. He was clearly scared of Liston, and that fear drove him to become a better fighter. And he embarrassed listen in that fight. Made him look silly. And so you can't say Ali's prime began until the Liston fight.

3. In the first Liston fight and then every subsequent title defense until he lost his license, how many times did Ali take a clean shot to the face? You can probably count them one hand. You just couldn't hit the guy. And Lennox Lewis wouldn't have been able to hit the guy.

[p4pking]

Dragging out a six year old thread to inform us that Ali never got hit

[Dark Lord Al]

Lennox gets my vote , Clay was just to small , everybody is going on about how Bruno out jabbed lewis , yes and he got knocked out , Mercer gave him a tough fight , yes and he got beaten , Lennox reversed both his losses.
How about glass jawed Ken Norton giving Clay all the trouble he could handle ?
Or 13 stone Cooper dropping Clay ?
For me at 17 stone 5 Lewis is a different beast than anything in the Clay era.
You can only be as good as your era , especially at HW.

[FinitoElDinamita]

Ali would get beatdown brutally.

[kidbourbon]

Ali would get beatdown brutally.

Or not at all.

[kidbourbon]

Lennox gets my vote , Clay was just to small , everybody is going on about how Bruno out jabbed lewis , yes and he got knocked out , Mercer gave him a tough fight , yes and he got beaten , Lennox reversed both his losses.
How about glass jawed Ken Norton giving Clay all the trouble he could handle ?
Or 13 stone Cooper dropping Clay ?
For me at 17 stone 5 Lewis is a different beast than anything in the Clay era.
You can only be as good as your era , especially at HW.

How about Hasim Rahman dropping Lennox Lewis like third period French?

How about Evander Holyfield fighting Lewis to a draw? Think for a second about what Clay would have done to Evander Holyfield? He would have toyed with him for the entirety of the fight. He would have made him look silly.

Did Lennox Lewis actually beat anybody that was worth a darn other than Vitali? And, no, a washed up Tyson doesn't count.

Lewis' size advantage over Clay wouldn't mean a thing. Because size doesn't mean a thing when the guy you're fighting is faster than you. Clay would have worked over Lewis. It wouldn't have looked much different than his fight against Ernie Terrell.

[kidbourbon]

Lennox gets my vote , Clay was just to small , everybody is going on about how Bruno out jabbed lewis , yes and he got knocked out , Mercer gave him a tough fight , yes and he got beaten , Lennox reversed both his losses.
How about glass jawed Ken Norton giving Clay all the trouble he could handle ?
Or 13 stone Cooper dropping Clay ?
For me at 17 stone 5 Lewis is a different beast than anything in the Clay era.
You can only be as good as your era , especially at HW.

And I'm talking about pre-ban Clay/Ali. The 1964-67 version. Ken Norton wouldn't have given him any trouble. Try to stay on topic.