Who hit the harder - Lennox Lewis or Mike Tyson

[Flump]

I'm guessing in the case of Holmes, if it had been Tyson he stopped, & Shavers who stopped him, he'd be saying the reverse.

Always a motive, with that man.

Not just him, plenty of boxers say their most difficult opponent/hardest puncher faced etc was somebody they'd beaten, all part of the psycholical makeup of a lot of guys.

For raw power I guess I'd say Lewis but for pure artistic effect Tyson was beautiful, could knock a guy senseless with either hand and his combinations at his best were electric.

[Controversial]

I'm guessing in the case of Holmes, if it had been Tyson he stopped, & Shavers who stopped him, he'd be saying the reverse.

Always a motive, with that man.

We are talking about Shavers though, as he is regarded by many as the hardest punching fighter ever then for Holmes to say that isn't beyond the realms of possibility. Also many opponents of Shavers say he punched the hardest. The right hand Shavers flattened Holmes with would have sparked most guys.

Surely he would be better off saying Tyson hit him harder, then that would at least excuse being ko'ed by him

[Rocky Balboa]

Tyson for me, can see what James is saying though. I would edge it to Tyson. The Botha shot... also had the distinct impression prior to their fight that both Bruno (common opponent) and Julius Francis (a man who has shared the ring with both) felt Tyson had the edge in power.

I was going & to say Lewis, but after seeing your post, that reminded me of how hard that shot must have been against Botha!

How Botha manged to even attempt to get back up after such a shot is a credit to him. That right hand was right on the chin, very accurate! Its perfect example of how a punch should be thrown - all your weight behind it. Its only a short shot & Botha doesn't even see it coming!

[boogieeck]

The jab, Lewis, the one punch KO, Lewis, the break you down and then work you over, Lewis. The tornado of punches, Tyson.

Tyson peaked at 20, Lewis at 30. Tysons best performances were against shot fighters. Berbick, Spinks, Holmes. Lewis against guys who seemed to be something then after they fought him, never came to anything. Grant, Golota, Tua. In both cases, they finished careers. Credit then to Vitali K, who got beat up by lewis and came back and has a higher KO % than either LL or MT.

[hhaehre]

The jab, Lewis, the one punch KO, Lewis, the break you down and then work you over, Lewis. The tornado of punches, Tyson.

Tyson peaked at 20, Lewis at 30. Tysons best performances were against shot fighters. Berbick, Spinks, Holmes. Lewis against guys who seemed to be something then after they fought him, never came to anything. Grant, Golota, Tua. In both cases, they finished careers. Credit then to Vitali K, who got beat up by lewis and came back and has a higher KO % than either LL or MT.

Berbick was 32 years old and the reigning world champion when he fought Tyson. He continued his career for almost 14 years after Tyson, had 24 more fights of which he won 18. How was he shot against Tyson?
Spinks was 31 years old and undefeated when he fought Tyson, how was he shot when he fought Tyson?
Holmes kept on fighting for 14 years after Tyson with a record of 21-3 beating a prime Mercer and coming very close to regaining the title against McCall, how was he shot against Tyson?

And btw Berbick, Sponks and Holmes were all world champions at one time while Grant, Golota and Tua never won a title. One could also argue who got beat up by who in the Lewis-Vitali fight.

[chiricahua]

The jab, Lewis, the one punch KO, Lewis, the break you down and then work you over, Lewis. The tornado of punches, Tyson.

Tyson peaked at 20, Lewis at 30. Tysons best performances were against shot fighters. Berbick, Spinks, Holmes. Lewis against guys who seemed to be something then after they fought him, never came to anything. Grant, Golota, Tua. In both cases, they finished careers. Credit then to Vitali K, who got beat up by lewis and came back and has a higher KO % than either LL or MT.

Berbick was 32 years old and the reigning world champion when he fought Tyson. He continued his career for almost 14 years after Tyson, had 24 more fights of which he won 18. How was he shot against Tyson?
Spinks was 31 years old and undefeated when he fought Tyson, how was he shot when he fought Tyson?
Holmes kept on fighting for 14 years after Tyson with a record of 21-3 beating a prime Mercer and coming very close to regaining the title against McCall, how was he shot against Tyson?

And btw Berbick, Sponks and Holmes were all world champions at one time while Grant, Golota and Tua never won a title.

Good post.