I understand your point and with a,select few you may be right I just don't think Holmes is one of them . Holmes may move around a while and last but eventually that chins getting tested.
Holmes had a good chin and great recuperative powers. Only peak Tyson kayoed him, the other times (Shavers,Snipes, Weaver I think) he got up to win. Joe had a great jab but Holmes had one, maybe not as powerful but fast and useful. Holmes was quite a fighter, I think he at least belongs in the top 3 of heavyweight champions. Joe would not beat Holmes by shuffling in, he might be able to catch him and hurt him as he came in to punch, then the question is, could he finish him. Holmes was a complete fighter, I never liked the man himself but I respect him.
Mike would always have a chance with Lennox's chin though, a chance at least. A bad chin is a big drawback for a heavyweight, Lewis probably has the worst chin of the elite heavyweights. Most of the others had reliable to great chins because that's what you have to have in that division.
You're right, a puncher's chance usually isn't enough but it is there. When they did fight, Mike was broken mentally, I won't pretend he was the same guy who reigned terror on the division in the 80's. Remember the fights right after Lewis? He was losing to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride, he was done.
i would say lennox's chin was about average. there's plenty of big shots he got hit with that he took fine. it was when he made mistakes with his feet that he took ko shots. being as big as he was, he saw it fine to square his feet up and/or lean back far too often. holmes did this often too. that's something that can be exploited, i just don't see it coming from a much smaller heavyweight.
Can't agree on Holmes. Honestly wouldnt have him in my top 5 - that's Ali, Louis, Lewis, Tyson, and Foreman. For me. I might put Holmes in the 2nd line with Holyfield, Frazier, an the like.
Maybe average but not at the level of the others. Joe Frazier, Holmes, even Louis (who was knocked down about 11 times all together) and the rest could take a lot more before they hit the canvas and they'd get up to win much of the time. It was one punch that McCall landed on him, it's been awhile since I've seen the Rahman fight but I think it wasn't much different.
I hated Holmes, never liked him but he was a great fighter. He dominated a maligned group of boxers and he came after Ali, he also ran his mouth so much that everyone hated him. Still, he was 6-3, 78 inch reach, good speed, decent pop in both hands, a jab comparable to anyone's as far as what he could do with it. I don't know if Tyson or Foreman or Lewis could handle him. they all hit harder for sure but that's about all they had on him. Foreman in the seventies was a beast, kind of like Liston, Lewis wasn't fast enough to beat Holmes and Tyson, I think Tyson gets tamed by that jab and the movement.
rahman hits him with a shot that has him unsteady and he backs into a corner then eats a haymaker overhand right that shuts the lights out, if i recall correctly.
He really, really did. Not long ago, on facebook, there was a recent pic of Bruno, Tyson and Lewis all standing together and Lewis looked like he towered over both. Supposedly only 6-5 but he looked even bigger in that pic.Here was the tale of the tape from their fight. Even if it isn't entirely accurate Mike had to give up a ridiculous amount of physical advantages in height, reach, and to a lesser but still significant extent weight.
Most importantly Lewis actually knows how to use these advantages. He understands how to fight tall and be the bigger man in close. That's the difference. If Mike tried to explode inside then he'd be at risk of getting hurt even worse when he inevitably walks into a well-timed shot. I could see Lewis simply taking a half step back if necessary and countering him when he tried to close the gap with his speed.
Here was the tale of the tape from their fight. Even if it isn't entirely accurate Mike had to give up a ridiculous amount of physical advantages in height, reach, and to a lesser but still significant extent weight.
Most importantly Lewis actually knows how to use these advantages. He understands how to fight tall and be the bigger man in close. That's the difference. If Mike tried to explode inside then he'd be at risk of getting hurt even worse when he inevitably walks into a well-timed shot. I could see Lewis simply taking a half step back if necessary and countering him when he tried to close the gap with his speed.
I just rewatched it for the first time in years. Mike only won the first round and got worse every round from there. He still had some ok defense and movement but he would not fight inside at all, he did more punching inside young and his accuracy just wasn't there at all. The younger mike would throw more inside and land more on the way in, who knows if that would be enough to kayo Lewis. Mike also had lost a couple fights by brutal kayo before this and you can see him realizing it was coming again, the young mike didn't have that trauma. Still not sure who I'd pick, Lewis was smart about protecting his chin most of the time and he was a big puncher, especially with that right. He wasn't that fast with his hands or feet but he was still able to dodge the much faster Tyson's lunges in this fight.
Lewis didn't really allow Mike to open up much when he got inside. He would either quickly tie him up, time him with a counter when he stepped in, or step back and counter. Notice that when he did get inside and Lewis clinched him he simply pushed Mike out of the pocket. He did this a lot in the fight. As a result Mike had to start over again whether the ref broke them or not. Intelligent tactics by Lewis.
There were times when Lennox wasn't tying him up and Mike still didn't punch inside. When Mike was young, he'd throw those body shots, uppercuts and hooks in close like that. What is surprising though is that Lennox could stay far enough away from Mike even with his slower foot speed. Mike did plenty of charging and lennox either smothered him or stepped back, giving Mike nothing to hit. I think Mike may have landed one decent punch the whole fight. Most of his big punches missed by a mile. He was still capable of the kayo in those years, he had a true one punch kayo against botha and had busted Golota's face, Lewis was just to smart to get hit.
