BoxRec

VG_Addict wrote: ↑14 Jul 2018, 19:50 By early, I mean Lewis when he was 21 fights into his career like Joshua.

Who would win? Lewis had a better jab and faster hands, but he had a tendency to get a bit wild. You could argue that Joshua has fought better opposition than Lewis had at that point of his career.

punchoutsb wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 00:18

VG_Addict wrote: ↑14 Jul 2018, 19:50 By early, I mean Lewis when he was 21 fights into his career like Joshua.

Who would win? Lewis had a better jab and faster hands, but he had a tendency to get a bit wild. You could argue that Joshua has fought better opposition than Lewis had at that point of his career.

There's no argument at all; AJ's resume through 21 craps all over Lewis'.

Lewis seems better overall than AJ, I'd take him to beat AJ at any point. He moved better, much more fluid, better jab and stamina. His chin is a bit underrated, but AJ could definitely crack him.

DrDuke wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 04:27 For the current moment I'd favour even early Lewis over Joshua. Lennox wasn't that rational yet, but still he was smarter and more diverse.

Boxing Writer wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 04:55

DrDuke wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 04:27 For the current moment I'd favour even early Lewis over Joshua. Lennox wasn't that rational yet, but still he was smarter and more diverse.

I disagree on Lewis being smarter and more diverse. AJ actually fights way less erretically than pre-Steward Lewis did. He also has much, much better balance. Steward said Lewis balance was terrible before he started working with him. However, young Lennox had much faster feets, better footwork and was more fluid comparing to AJ.

paddy chavez wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 06:19 That would be Lewis that beat Ruddock he'd come out fast and catch AJ early

astradamus wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 07:11 For me, he's basically a Breazeale level fighter that knew how to get attention by saying arguable things in such a way that he looked polite for someone that doesn't know details.

astradamus wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 07:11 For example, Vitali was a lot better, but with a lot of luck Lewis won that match. Right after the match he claimed to win anyway, even without the cut in Vitali his face, which was obviously not true. Later he even said he would only do a rematch for a 100m dollar (back at those days!). Somehow, because he said it in a polite way and if you haven't seen the fight, a neutral person would have liked the guy and feel sorry for him that he can't prove it. Because of his talks, you actually feel a kind of feel sorry for the guy. While in reality he was the luckiest guy in the arena that night.

Boxing Writer wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 06:35

paddy chavez wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 06:19 That would be Lewis that beat Ruddock he'd come out fast and catch AJ early

Or probably Lewis that went the distance against Levi Billups, needed 8 rounds to stop Phil Jackson and was outboxed by Frank Bruno until he catched him in round 7? Not to mention that Joshua is better and MUCH smarter than Ruddock.

astradamus wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 08:01 In Lewis his era there were simply less top contenders.
Levi Billups for example had a rating of 110 at the time he fought Lewis, which would currently put him on the rank 12 of the world, he was a 16-5 boxer.
Lewis his loss against Oliver McCall wasn't that much of a shocker.
Breazeale is in fact taller then Lewis was, got more weight, is similar muscled, name it.

Vitali was just cut open in his face on several locations, ofcourse you can't win any match that way, but that doesn't mean Lewis was better and Lewis knew that very well, that's why he retired. If Lewis fought with a face that was cutted on several locations against Vitali, then he would have lost as well. I'm genuinly not that impressed about Lewis, also note that Lewis retired at the age of 37, which was the only reason that his carreer didn't end with a loss. People say, you're as good as your last fight, and Lewis knew that very well, he never fought till the very end, like Wladimir for example.
Ofcourse, Wlad could have stopped earlier and let Povetkin take over, but Wlad did not and fought Povetkin and many others after that. That's the difference between Lewis and many others. You fight till you lose, untill you're 42 or something like Vitali.

astradamus wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 09:06 Much less fights?
For me, he's just another example of a boxer that simply only fight against boxers when he knows he will win and those are the type of boxers that I don't really like and neither rate high. He avoided Mike Tyson for years, all the way till he was old and then, when Lewis was old himself, he simply demands a 100m dollar or avoids any competative fight.
With such kind of behaviour, I can't rate you high, sorry.

jezzamundo wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 02:55

punchoutsb wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 00:18

VG_Addict wrote: ↑14 Jul 2018, 19:50 By early, I mean Lewis when he was 21 fights into his career like Joshua.

Who would win? Lewis had a better jab and faster hands, but he had a tendency to get a bit wild. You could argue that Joshua has fought better opposition than Lewis had at that point of his career.

There's no argument at all; AJ's resume through 21 craps all over Lewis'.

Lewis seems better overall than AJ, I'd take him to beat AJ at any point. He moved better, much more fluid, better jab and stamina. His chin is a bit underrated, but AJ could definitely crack him.

Worth mentioning that Lewis's first 21 took 3 years 2 months, while Joshua has taken 4 years 5 months to clock up the same number. You need to add Ruddock, Tucker and Bruno to Lewis's resume if we're looking at the same amount of time.

paddy chavez wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 07:51

Boxing Writer wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 06:35

paddy chavez wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 06:19 That would be Lewis that beat Ruddock he'd come out fast and catch AJ early

Or probably Lewis that went the distance against Levi Billups, needed 8 rounds to stop Phil Jackson and was outboxed by Frank Bruno until he catched him in round 7? Not to mention that Joshua is better and MUCH smarter than Ruddock.

That's the first time Joshua has been called a smart boxer

candyslim wrote: ↑17 Jul 2018, 03:36

paddy chavez wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 07:51

Boxing Writer wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 06:35
Or probably Lewis that went the distance against Levi Billups, needed 8 rounds to stop Phil Jackson and was outboxed by Frank Bruno until he catched him in round 7? Not to mention that Joshua is better and MUCH smarter than Ruddock.

That's the first time Joshua has been called a smart boxer

Joshua is a smart boxer. You don't win Olympic Gold and go on to be a unified champion with several defenses behind you if you can't box. I grant you he's not in Usyk's league when it comes to skills, but he's a hell of a lot more than a big bloke who can punch.

I tend to dislike these kind of comparisons because it's hard to be objective, but I will just say I can't imagine a fighter of the level of Billups or Jackson hanging around very long while sharing a ring with Joshua. That doesn't mean he beats Lewis of course, I'm just saying.

candyslim wrote: ↑17 Jul 2018, 03:36

paddy chavez wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 07:51

Boxing Writer wrote: ↑15 Jul 2018, 06:35
Or probably Lewis that went the distance against Levi Billups, needed 8 rounds to stop Phil Jackson and was outboxed by Frank Bruno until he catched him in round 7? Not to mention that Joshua is better and MUCH smarter than Ruddock.

That's the first time Joshua has been called a smart boxer

Joshua is a smart boxer. You don't win Olympic Gold and go on to be a unified champion with several defenses behind you if you can't box. I grant you he's not in Usyk's league when it comes to skills, but he's a hell of a lot more than a big bloke who can punch.

I tend to dislike these kind of comparisons because it's hard to be objective, but I will just say I can't imagine a fighter of the level of Billups or Jackson hanging around very long while sharing a ring with Joshua. That doesn't mean he beats Lewis of course, I'm just saying.