BoxRec

If Tyson did not get himself into trouble, this fight could have happened around about 1992ish.

How do you think a fight between the Lewis who destroyed the admittedly overrated Ruddock, the wreckless Lewis who thought he could KO every opponent with a single Right hand, would have fared against the lazy Tyson who struggled with Ruddock, wasn't throwing combos or moving his head anymore?

It's quite a tough one to call.

I could see Tyson catching the wreckless Lewis & starching him early, but I could also see Lewis systematically breaking up Tyson & stopping him mid - late rounds.

I can't see Lewis starching Tyson with one punch, as Tyson had a great chin & it's unlikely that anybody could have KO'd him with a single shot early on.

Syntax Error wrote:If Tyson did not get himself into trouble, this fight could have happened around about 1992ish.

How do you think a fight between the Lewis who destroyed the admittedly overrated Ruddock, the wreckless Lewis who thought he could KO every opponent with a single Right hand, would have fared against the lazy Tyson who struggled with Ruddock, wasn't throwing combos or moving his head anymore?

It's quite a tough one to call.

I could see Tyson catching the wreckless Lewis & starching him early, but I could also see Lewis systematically breaking up Tyson & stopping him mid - late rounds.

I can't see Lewis starching Tyson with one punch, as Tyson had a great chin & it's unlikely that anybody could have KO'd him with a single shot early on.

I'll go with option B

Tyson would have taken this fight by knockout in the later rounds.


~A.W.F~

I can see what you are saying about Lewis being wreckless, but I believe he would have been a bit fearful of Tyson & would have been well up for this one.

Tyson was terrible in his two fights with Ruddock & he only gets rated for these fights because Ruddock was even worse!

Lewis would have jabbed his head off & KO'd him in about 11.

It would have been very similar to the Douglas fight.

I actually think Lewis can still win this one. Unless he got careless Lewis would've used his superior jab, and size against Tyson who struggles against tall opponents.

I really don't think this fight would've happened in 1992 to tell you the honest truth. A fight w/Evander Holyfield (the undisptued champion at the time), Riddick Bowe (especially everyone was questioning his stamina), and George Foreman would've probably happen first. The earliest would've been 1994.

generic screen name wrote:I actually think Lewis can still win this one. Unless he got careless Lewis would've used his superior jab, and size against Tyson who struggles against tall opponents.

I really don't think this fight would've happened in 1992 to tell you the honest truth. A fight w/Evander Holyfield (the undisptued champion at the time), Riddick Bowe (especially everyone was questioning his stamina), and George Foreman would've probably happen first. The earliest would've been 1994.

Good points.

Decagon wrote:Yeah, but when someone writes something well thought out and meaningful, it kills the thread. We need people to write, "tysin eesily kos lewis. lewis have bad chin. tyson best fiter ever p4p. there fite fixed. tysin shoud win," to get things going.

Syntax Error wrote:If Tyson did not get himself into trouble, this fight could have happened around about 1992ish.

How do you think a fight between the Lewis who destroyed the admittedly overrated Ruddock, the wreckless Lewis who thought he could KO every opponent with a single Right hand, would have fared against the lazy Tyson who struggled with Ruddock, wasn't throwing combos or moving his head anymore?

It's quite a tough one to call.

I could see Tyson catching the wreckless Lewis & starching him early, but I could also see Lewis systematically breaking up Tyson & stopping him mid - late rounds.

I can't see Lewis starching Tyson with one punch, as Tyson had a great chin & it's unlikely that anybody could have KO'd him with a single shot early on.

I think Lewis would have stopped Tyson late on. Tyson won many of his fights before throwing a punch, most of his opponents were scared stiff and fought on the defensive from the start. Tyson also became quite average when he couldn't KO someone and the fight went into the later rounds. Lewis would have been up for this fight and would have picked Tyson apart, cracking him with his right hand until Tyson fell in round 10 or 11.

Tyson would have a punchers chance for 5 rounds. I don't like his chances.

Lennox would not have been wreckless. He was too smart a fighter for that. Plus his style (when he knew he was facing someone tough) was to stay cautious / safety first approach -


With that said......I think a prime Tyson KO/TKO's Lennox inside of 8 rounds. Lennox size would have helped him....but I think Lennox's style is made to order for Tyson. Tyson loved to fight guys who would back up and jab. Guys who tried to avoid standing and trading.

Lennox size and strength would have been big assets for him. If he tied Tyson up that could have caused lots of problems....and Lennox's good uppercut would have been a key punch for him.

But I still see a prime Tyson landing his big shots and forcing a safety first Lennox into ropes and KO'ing him.

As we all know styles make fights....and styles simply make for bad match-ups for some guys.

The best 3 HW's of the late 80's / 90's had this dynamic.

Being that IMO....

Lennox was made to order for a prime Tyson...

Tyson was made to order for Holyfield.

And Holyfield would have always struggled Vs Lennox and his style.

Decagon wrote:Lewis could easily neutralize Tyson's long left hook by jabbing and backing away to his left for the first four or five rounds. Then it would be a piece of cake.

No way - Tyson thrived on guys who backed away from him. He was too quick (most importantly with his feet....he cut off the ring tremendously well on guys who ran....but also with his hand speed). He loved when guys tried to merely "survive" the first 5 rounds and take him to "deep water".

His speed, power, intensity and mental mind frame loved that type of fight.

In 1992 Tyson wasnt the same fighter when he demolished Berbick to win the title. But I STILL take the 1992 Tyson to destroy a prime Lewis, Tyson showed he can take a punch from whe he fought Ruddock in both fights so no in way in hell does Lewis KO Tyson if they fought in 92.
Ray Mercer who is a slugger type puncher like Tyson outjabbed Lewis the entire fight and in my opinion won all but 2 or 3 of the rounds, the same Mercer who an old Larry Holmes beat very easily.

Hell when Lewis fought Tyson in 2000 all Lewis did was clinch, hold and fought like a bigger version of John Ruiz and that is what tired Tyson out....and the times Lewis did hit Tyson, he took it. It took a PRIME Lewis 8 rounds of continuious holding to finally time a shot Tyson. An absolute disgrace of a fight.

RazorKO wrote:In 1992 Tyson wasnt the same fighter when he demolished Berbick to win the title. But I STILL take the 1992 Tyson to destroy a prime Lewis, Tyson showed he can take a punch from whe he fought Ruddock in both fights so no in way in hell does Lewis KO Tyson if they fought in 92.
Ray Mercer who is a slugger type puncher like Tyson outjabbed Lewis the entire fight and in my opinion won all but 2 or 3 of the rounds, the same Mercer who an old Larry Holmes beat very easily.

Hell when Lewis fought Tyson in 2000 all Lewis did was clinch, hold and fought like a bigger version of John Ruiz and that is what tired Tyson out....and the times Lewis did hit Tyson, he took it. It took a PRIME Lewis 8 rounds of continuious holding to finally time a shot Tyson. An absolute disgrace of a fight.

Razor, haven’t seen you post in a while. Welcome back.

Seems to me I remember Tyson getting the piss beat out of him by Lewis. There definitely was holding, some of it initiated by Tyson, but in between the clinches Lewis landed a TON of punches. However, it did show clearly that Mike had a good chin. Maybe I’m thinking of a different fight. Anyone else care to comment?

The Great John L wrote:

RazorKO wrote:In 1992 Tyson wasnt the same fighter when he demolished Berbick to win the title. But I STILL take the 1992 Tyson to destroy a prime Lewis, Tyson showed he can take a punch from whe he fought Ruddock in both fights so no in way in hell does Lewis KO Tyson if they fought in 92.
Ray Mercer who is a slugger type puncher like Tyson outjabbed Lewis the entire fight and in my opinion won all but 2 or 3 of the rounds, the same Mercer who an old Larry Holmes beat very easily.

Hell when Lewis fought Tyson in 2000 all Lewis did was clinch, hold and fought like a bigger version of John Ruiz and that is what tired Tyson out....and the times Lewis did hit Tyson, he took it. It took a PRIME Lewis 8 rounds of continuious holding to finally time a shot Tyson. An absolute disgrace of a fight.

Razor, haven’t seen you post in a while. Welcome back.

Seems to me I remember Tyson getting the piss beat out of him by Lewis. There definitely was holding, some of it initiated by Tyson, but in between the clinches Lewis landed a TON of punches. However, it did show clearly that Mike had a good chin. Maybe I’m thinking of a different fight. Anyone else care to comment?

Thanks for your welcome John,

Lewis clinched so many times during the Tyson bout it would of put Ruiz to shame. Lewis however did land some hard shots as you said, but most of it was holding, leaning which was tiring Tyson out though Tyson was never going to win the fight anyway. But it still took a prime Lewis 8 rounds to finally dismantle Tyson whilst Danny Williams managed to floor him much quicker.

Say what you want about the clinching, but Tyson was never good at getting out of clinches. You think for being a good inside fighter he would be good at getting out of clinches. He would elbow alot during clinches though, which I think was a effective intimidation method.

RazorKO wrote:

The Great John L wrote:

RazorKO wrote:In 1992 Tyson wasnt the same fighter when he demolished Berbick to win the title. But I STILL take the 1992 Tyson to destroy a prime Lewis, Tyson showed he can take a punch from whe he fought Ruddock in both fights so no in way in hell does Lewis KO Tyson if they fought in 92.
Ray Mercer who is a slugger type puncher like Tyson outjabbed Lewis the entire fight and in my opinion won all but 2 or 3 of the rounds, the same Mercer who an old Larry Holmes beat very easily.

Hell when Lewis fought Tyson in 2000 all Lewis did was clinch, hold and fought like a bigger version of John Ruiz and that is what tired Tyson out....and the times Lewis did hit Tyson, he took it. It took a PRIME Lewis 8 rounds of continuious holding to finally time a shot Tyson. An absolute disgrace of a fight.

Razor, haven’t seen you post in a while. Welcome back.

Seems to me I remember Tyson getting the piss beat out of him by Lewis. There definitely was holding, some of it initiated by Tyson, but in between the clinches Lewis landed a TON of punches. However, it did show clearly that Mike had a good chin. Maybe I’m thinking of a different fight. Anyone else care to comment?

Thanks for your welcome John,

Lewis clinched so many times during the Tyson bout it would of put Ruiz to shame. Lewis however did land some hard shots as you said, but most of it was holding, leaning which was tiring Tyson out though Tyson was never going to win the fight anyway. But it still took a prime Lewis 8 rounds to finally dismantle Tyson whilst Danny Williams managed to floor him much quicker.

You make some fair point about the 2002 Lewis - Tyson fight, but I do believe that Lewis carried him by being over cautious.

If Lewis had of jumped on Tyson that night, he could have starched him in about 3 or 4 rounds.

Tyson was gone after round 3 & ready to be taken.

Syntax Error wrote:

RazorKO wrote:

The Great John L wrote:
Razor, haven’t seen you post in a while. Welcome back.

Seems to me I remember Tyson getting the piss beat out of him by Lewis. There definitely was holding, some of it initiated by Tyson, but in between the clinches Lewis landed a TON of punches. However, it did show clearly that Mike had a good chin. Maybe I’m thinking of a different fight. Anyone else care to comment?

Thanks for your welcome John,

Lewis clinched so many times during the Tyson bout it would of put Ruiz to shame. Lewis however did land some hard shots as you said, but most of it was holding, leaning which was tiring Tyson out though Tyson was never going to win the fight anyway. But it still took a prime Lewis 8 rounds to finally dismantle Tyson whilst Danny Williams managed to floor him much quicker.

You make some fair point about the 2002 Lewis - Tyson fight, but I do believe that Lewis carried him by being over cautious.

If Lewis had of jumped on Tyson that night, he could have starched him in about 3 or 4 rounds.

Tyson was gone after round 3 & ready to be taken.

Lewis as many believe was clinching as you said because of his over-cautious approach. However in my opinion Lewis was clinching so many times because he was scared to death of Tyson, Lewis in the first few rounds even looked like he was there to survive like Bonecrusher with his constant hugging and mauling.

Lewis might just be the most boring fighter in HW history as well as the most overated. He should of lost to both Mercer and Holyfield in their return fight, he was shook up by Shannon Briggs, floored by Akiwande, outboxed by Bruno and completly starched by a single punch from 2 average fighters in McCall and Rahman. Lewis was being outboxed, and outslugged by Vitali until a cut arguably from a headbutt stopped the fight.

People talk about how Brittle Bruno's chin when compared to Lewis, but Bruno was a true British fighter and lost to only the best. Bruno was never startched out cold by a single blow and the man fought Bonecrusher, Witherspoon, Coetzee and Tyson!

RazorKO wrote:Lewis might just be the most boring fighter in HW history as well as the most overated. … floored by Akiwande

You mentioned this before, but I don’t recall anything in that fight that could be considered a KD of Lewis. All I remember is Akinwande constantly holding on to survive until he was finally rescued by the ref who DQ’d him. Anybody remember it differently?

The Great John L wrote:

RazorKO wrote:Lewis might just be the most boring fighter in HW history as well as the most overated. … floored by Akiwande

You mentioned this before, but I don’t recall anything in that fight that could be considered a KD of Lewis. All I remember is Akinwande constantly holding on to survive until he was finally rescued by the ref who DQ’d him. Anybody remember it differently?

Unfortunately, RazorKO is right about the "knockdown" of Lewis against Akinwande. I can't remember what punch it was exactly, but I think it was a right hand that clipped Lewis on the chin and his glove touched the canvas. Mills Lane didn't see it and thus did not rule a knockdown. Anyway, Lewis was not hurt so it doesn't really matter.

The Great John L wrote:

RazorKO wrote:Lewis might just be the most boring fighter in HW history as well as the most overated. … floored by Akiwande

You mentioned this before, but I don’t recall anything in that fight that could be considered a KD of Lewis. All I remember is Akinwande constantly holding on to survive until he was finally rescued by the ref who DQ’d him. Anybody remember it differently?

As Evndrbsn correctly pointed out, Akiwnande did get a punch into Lewis and Lewis's glove touched the canvas. But Lewis was much more shook by Shannon Briggs and I thought Briggs could of taken him out seeing Lewis was already knocked out flat by one punch wonder Rahman.
But I do give Lewis credit for surviving that 1st round against Briggs as well as fighting a tough fight with Mercer.