Lewis wasn't looking too impressive in that fight but he wasn't chased out of boxing by anything than his lack of desire to really get up for the fights anymore. He obviously has little or nothing to prove, and he was getting ready to quit already ... and wasn't doing that well at getting ready to continue fighting. Even in the middle of his career he didn't always have the necessary gumption (Rahman I, for example).

Anything anyone says about how the old, fat, ring-rusted Lewis not being able to come back crumbles before the fact of what Foreman did.

If Lewis wanted ... if he got in top shape physically and mentally ... those are the only real "ifs" in this conversation. He doesn't, and he won't ... but if he did, and if he did ... he would have excellent opportunities to dominate the HW scene for the next couple-few years.