In their primes: George Foreman vs Lennox Lewis... Who wins?

Question

I write an column for Fight News Unlimited called Fantasy Dream Fights where I matchup fighters, do an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses and calculate a result.

My latest installment pits George Foreman (1973) vs Lennox Lewis (2000). Who do you think would win if these two champions met in their primes?

My article is available at http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=2006

Do you agree with my prediction? How do you see this fight ending? Be sure to vote in our poll at the bottom of the article.

Answer 1

Very interesting matchup of two big men.  Foreman has the power advantage and the stronger chin.  Lewis is probably a little quicker and actualy has the size advantage over Big George  Lewis would be wise to try and keep George off of him by utilizing his jab.  George has a decent jab too and both men would trade jabs early on with George's obviously carrying more force behind his.  George would also wisely work the body to his advantage landing some really hard shots to the ribs of Lewis which turns the bout into George's favor and slows Lewis down immensely.  In about the 4th round George would start finding the mark with some devastating punches and send Lewis to the canvas near the end of the round.  Lewis would struggle to get to his feet, but does just as the bell sounds ending the round.  Lewis would come out for the 5th round in a survivor mold keeping George off of him with hard jabs.  In the middle of the round after an exchange of jabs, George lands a vicious overhand right to the chin of Lewis sending him to the canvas again.  This time he is counted out with Foreman the winner by 5th round kayo.

Answer 2

No doubt in his prime George Foreman. I have alot of respect for Lenox Lewis but Foreman was a beast and he fought at the golden age of the heavyweight division.

Answer 3

Good article!! I'll go with Foreman in this one. He wasnt that fast but had bone crushing punching power and a concrete chin! lewis had good punching power and was faster but from what I could always see, he never took a hard shot very well. They always seemed to knock him off balance.

Answer 4

I certainly agree with your prediction. Lennox was a very polished boxer, and he used his jab well. Foreman was a brutal puncher, and Lewis's chin would not be able to handle the pressure.

Answer 5

nice article.i agree wth your prediction.

Answer 6

Lennox Lewis might not rank in the top 5 of Heavyweight's of all time when comparing accomplishments, But put him in the ring with any of them and It is a different story.

Lennox Lewis would have been a horrible opponent for George Foreman to face at any point in his career.

What made Foreman successful was the fact that he was bigger then all of his opponents and he had big power in either hand.

Foreman though was slow, his punches where horribly telegraphed and he was always punching down at his opponents. Foreman weight around 220 lbs and stood between 6'3 and 6'4 and had a 82" reach.

Lennox Lewis is 6'5 250 lbs with only a 2 inch reach but It would not have mattered.

Lennox was a big man who fought like a big man. He jabbed and threw a big right hand and he was fast with it. Lennox Lewis's strait right was arguably one of the hardest punches in boxing. That right hand would have spelt disaster for Foreman.

Not only was Foreman open for it but he was not fast enough to avoid it.

I disagree with your 5th round Ko by Foreman. I see the first round being slow while Lewis try's to time Big George. By the 3rd round Lewis is dialed in and starts to land the right hand at will.

By the end of round 3 Foreman hits the deck from a jab strait right combo. When Foreman gets back to his corner Sadler yells at him to avoid the right hand tells him to keep his left hand high. Foreman goes out and does just that nullifying the strait right of Lewis.

The fight gets competitive for the next 3 rounds with Lewis doing allot of holding and backing up. Steward between rounds tells Lewis to throw the uppercut when Foreman comes in swinging with his wild hooks.

The fighters meet in round 7, Foreman is looking a little sluggish while Lewis breaths through an open mouth. The round is a bit slow till Foreman lunges in with a big hook and Lewis throws his devastating uppercut and lands cleanly sending George Falling face first to the canvass.

Foreman manages to get back to his feet in a feeble attempt to continue, The ref lets him go back out but Lewis jumps on him right away jabbing and sending George back down with a big Right hand followed by a left hook.

The most George can do now is lift his head and put it back down while the ref waves off the fight.

Lennox Lewis KO round 7.

People greatly under estimate Lennox chin. Sure he got knocked out once by Rachman, but Lewis was out of shape and busy filming Oceans 12 before the fight. And nobody took Rachman seriously except Rachman.

Lewis was tired by the time he walked to the ring and got hit with a punch that would have put away any heavyweight. But Lewis came back and annihilated Rachman in the second fight.

As for McCall, McCall is one of the biggest punchers in the sport, and in my mind Lewis should have been able to continue after he got back up.

People must forget about the shots he took from hard hitting Frank Bruno, or the Big shot he took from Briggs then grinned at Briggs and fired back sending Briggs to the canvass. He took big shots from Mercer,Morrison,Tyson and Holyfield and he took them well.

Lennox beat everyman he ever faced in the ring.

He was bigger then George and knew how to use his size better then George. He was quicker and had Steward in his corner. He had a good jab with a huge huge Right hand behind it.

Foreman would have been to slow and too basic to take out Lennox Lewis.

The only 2 men I see beating Lewis are Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes. Only because they were big enough and were so much faster and craftier then Lewis

Big George would have been in allot of trouble with Lennox Lewis. Foreman never fought anybody as big and strong as Lennox Lewis. That overhand right would have been the end of Big George.

In my opinion the less reckless and more patient Foreman of the late 80's when he weighed around 250 would have fared better against Lewis then the 1973 version of Foreman. His defense was 100% improved but his speed lacked. But that Foreman had a better chance of taking Lewis deep and eventually landing a big punch on a tired Lewis late in the fight.

The Young Foreman was wide open for counters, but the shorter men he was fighting could not expose it. Ali exposed it,Jimmy Young exposed it and Lennox Lewis would have exposed it with devastating effects.

Answer 7

Tornado great job I enjoyed your artical very much ad I agree with the out come of the fight Big George was a beast man. I like Lennox Lewis a lot but not against the greats he could not take the big punchers punch. I can,t wait for your next instalment of Sugar Ray Leonard V. Floyd Mayweather Jr. I don,t think you put the Jr. part in there buy I guess that is what you ment . I am going to give you mypick now Sugar Ray Leonard by KO in the 10th round

Answer 8

That was a cool article. I enjoyed it very much. I agree with your prediction for the most part. I do not think it would have taken Big George Foreman five rounds to stop him.

I am  a fan of both. I think the second coming of George would have been beaten up badly  had they fought. George thought so to and wanted no part of him.

Answer 9

i agree that foreman kayo's lewis in the middle rounds.