Lewis vs. prime Tyson... who would have won?

[Vanilla Gorilla]

You're right, I got the first fight mixed up with the rematch. The point of this is that it has nothing to do with Mike himself, it was between HBO and Showtime, and the money was paid so that Tyson could fight Holyfield while negoitations went on, however Mike lost to Evander, which caused the fight not to happen. Now does it make sense?

well i dont know. The fighter always has a say in his choice of opponents. If Tyson really wanted Lennox...it would have happened.

but it doesnt matter. Mike always had trouble with bigger, taller opponents with long hard jabs. It would have been the same outcome if they had fought back in 96 or 97. Lennox is just the far more superior fighter. It wont be the one sided beating we all saw in Memphis but nonetheless Tyson would have ended up losing.

[adamk1304]

El terrib knows I pick tyson all day, and even though we diagree I respect his opinion. Mike was to fast and powerfull not to catch up with LL eventually. Lewis has no chin and mike had dynamite in both hands, not saying LL would not stand a chance, especially with is long and good looking jab. But with no chin he had a slim chance with mike

Boring??? i wouldn't call the way in which he handled briggs, grant,ruddock,golota,bruno and rahman boring.

[The Noose]

Mike always had trouble with bigger, taller opponents with long hard jabs.

Thats one of those myths IMO.
Nearly every opponent of his was bigger, taller with a better reach, and tried to keep him off with their jab.

I think weight might of been an issue. Men that were bigger and heavier than Tyson seemed to take longer for Tyson to stop.

[Kid Achilles]

My old boxing coach from Jamaica did not think very highly of Lewis. He was a former pro who's career never panned out due to injury, but he was a good amateur who trained with Lennox at one time. We discussed this matchup years ago. He told me that Lewis was a nervous guy at heart and that Tyson was just too intense and quick handed. Lewis would fold under that kind of assault, without any doubt in his mind. This is a guy who knows his boxing and is a great judge of character and fighter psychology, so his word has a lot of weight for me.

I think about the Holyfield fight, Lewis backing up against a much smaller man who was never a huge puncher, even at cruiserweight. I think of Lewis and his scare against Briggs early on and even in the Michael Grant fight where IMO he fought nervous before he hurt Grant for the first time and then turned into a lion who's smelled blood.

There is somethin about it that rings true. I think Lewis did not fight well when pressured, especially by guys with fast hands. Tyson was quicker than anyone Lewis traded leather with and when I close my eyes and see this fight, Tyson is connecting, HARD and EARLY, and taking Lewis out sometime in the first 6 rounds.

[UntouchableM2]

Iron Mike Tyson by way of KO....

[K-DOGG]

My old boxing coach from Jamaica did not think very highly of Lewis. He was a former pro who's career never panned out due to injury, but he was a good amateur who trained with Lennox at one time. We discussed this matchup years ago. He told me that Lewis was a nervous guy at heart and that Tyson was just too intense and quick handed. Lewis would fold under that kind of assault, without any doubt in his mind. This is a guy who knows his boxing and is a great judge of character and fighter psychology, so his word has a lot of weight for me.

I think about the Holyfield fight, Lewis backing up against a much smaller man who was never a huge puncher, even at cruiserweight. I think of Lewis and his scare against Briggs early on and even in the Michael Grant fight where IMO he fought nervous before he hurt Grant for the first time and then turned into a lion who's smelled blood.

There is somethin about it that rings true. I think Lewis did not fight well when pressured, especially by guys with fast hands. Tyson was quicker than anyone Lewis traded leather with and when I close my eyes and see this fight, Tyson is connecting, HARD and EARLY, and taking Lewis out sometime in the first 6 rounds.

Could be right. If they'd fought before Lewis hooked up with Emmanuel, I would agree completely. Lewis seemed to grow into the role of champion better after that; but the nature of a man is something that rarely changes.

Good post, Achilles.

[GasPed]

The hypocrisy on this thread is hilarious, so I can't use James Bonecrusher Smith as a good opponent that Tyson beat, but yet you can use him to legitimize Lewis' resume, right? Its just like the Lewis fans who throw out an over the hill Evander Holyfield and a 15 year past prime Mike Tyson as Lewis' to legitimize Lewis' resume, but if I mention a Larry Holmes who was 2 years past his prime with much more in the gas tank than the Mike Tyson that fought Lewis, then all hell breaks out.

Anyways, I stand by my statement that Ruddock was a shot fighter. I find it comical that you think wins over Phil Jackson and Greg Page proves that he wasn't. Greg Page was nothing special, in fact when he fought Ruddock he was coming off of two knockout losses at the hands of a bum named Mark Wills, there was a reason that Ruddocks people chose to fight him after a brutal fight with Tyson. Phil Jackson was a nobody, sure he was undefeated(so was Brian Nielsen when he was like 45-0, with one of those wins actually being over Phil Jackson) but he hadn't beaten anyone of note at that point to suggest that he was anything special, so don't sit here listing this guy like he was a world beater.

I already said I didn't think Ruddock was a world beater - he was just made out to be one because mighty Mike Tyson struggled with him.

What's comical is that you think Ruddock was a world beater before he fought Tyson and completely shot after he fought him. That's what's funny - in order to justify your opinion of Tyson, you develop this ridiculously tortured logic to try to square with the facts - i.e. Tyson struggled with Ruddock while Lewis dismantled him easily.

I suppose you think Holyfield was a world beater before he beat Tyson, but completely shot after that. Or Tony Tucker, or Tyrell Biggs, or Frank Bruno, or Botha or any other opponent that Tyson fought before Lewis.

Face it, Mike in his prime was a great fighter, but he was never all that impressive against big guys with skills. And with a prime Lewis he would be going against one of the biggest and most skillful guys ever.

[PATO 1]

lol the double standards of tyson nuthuggers is pathetic

[La_Vibora]

well i dont know. The fighter always has a say in his choice of opponents. If Tyson really wanted Lennox...it would have happened.

but it doesnt matter. Mike always had trouble with bigger, taller opponents with long hard jabs. It would have been the same outcome if they had fought back in 96 or 97. Lennox is just the far more superior fighter. It wont be the one sided beating we all saw in Memphis but nonetheless Tyson would have ended up losing.

Tyson can only have so much say in that situation, plus I am sure he was more interested in the Holyfield fight since it was a much bigger payday than the one against Lewis. Furthermore, if anyone should have fought harder to make it happen, it should have been Lewis. It was Lewis' company(HBO)that was being unreasonable, it was Lewis that was looking for the title shot, it was Lewis who was going to make the biggest purse in his life(at the time), he should have forced his company to release him, or sued HBO or something to make it happen.

Also, people keep saying that "Mike had more problems with taller fighters with skills", first of all, of course he will have more "trouble" against taller fighters with skills, what fighter doesn't? I don't see why people single out Tyson, especially when just about all of his opponents were taller fighterss, plus many of those taller fighters he fought were not interested in winning the fight, only trying to survive, and not get knocked out. The thing that made Mike special was his ability to close this distance and still be dominant against these taller fighters. I know Manny Steward said a few weeks ago, that every time he sees Tyson that he becomes so amazed, because Tyson was such a small guy, that it is just amazing that he was able to dominate the big guys like he did.

[La_Vibora]

My old boxing coach from Jamaica did not think very highly of Lewis. He was a former pro who's career never panned out due to injury, but he was a good amateur who trained with Lennox at one time. We discussed this matchup years ago. He told me that Lewis was a nervous guy at heart and that Tyson was just too intense and quick handed. Lewis would fold under that kind of assault, without any doubt in his mind. This is a guy who knows his boxing and is a great judge of character and fighter psychology, so his word has a lot of weight for me.

I think about the Holyfield fight, Lewis backing up against a much smaller man who was never a huge puncher, even at cruiserweight. I think of Lewis and his scare against Briggs early on and even in the Michael Grant fight where IMO he fought nervous before he hurt Grant for the first time and then turned into a lion who's smelled blood.

There is somethin about it that rings true. I think Lewis did not fight well when pressured, especially by guys with fast hands. Tyson was quicker than anyone Lewis traded leather with and when I close my eyes and see this fight, Tyson is connecting, HARD and EARLY, and taking Lewis out sometime in the first 6 rounds.

Agreed, I think Tyson's pressure would have been too much for Lewis as well. There was just something I saw in Lennox's eyes during his match with Mike in that 1st round, he looked so nervous in there. People keep saying that LL would have KOed a prime Tyson, but he would have been way too cautious in a Tyson bout to get the knock out, the only way I see him winning is by decision, I couldn't see him taking the risk to go for the knockout.