By Gerardo Granados: Back on June 8 of 2002 at the Pyramid, Tennessee, USA; the anticipated fight between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis took place. The bout might have taken too much time to be arranged, and perhaps, at least, one of the fighters was no longer in his prime. It was a huge boxing event in which Showtime and HBO came to terms so the fight could be done. Does the reader remember the introduction of the fighters?
Yesterday I read a tweet from the former Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis replying to a fight fan who asked him: “do you think you would of beaten Mike Tyson when he was in his prime?” Lewis answer was: “do you think he would have beat me in my prime?” So, I had to reply to him: “YES – prime Iron Mike Tyson would have murdered you Mr. Lennox Lewis you only beat the shadow of him”
Before I continue I want to make clear that I don´t mean any disrespect to Lennox Lewis or any of his loyal fans. I acknowledge Lewis as one of the last great heavyweights on the last twenty years but Mike Tyson is a boxing icon that hardly will be forgotten.
Back in 1986, Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion (WBC) at the age of 20 years 4 months old beating Trevor Berbick by TKO2. That same year Lennox Lewis was still an amateur boxer and debuted as prizefighter until June 1989.
Back in May 1993, Lennox Lewis won the WBC strap against Tony Tucker. While Iron Mike Tyson served 3 years in prison.
Back in 1998 Lewis made two successful defenses of his WBC title. Tyson was suspended 1 year for biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield´s ear.
Being Tyson only 5´11” (maybe shorter) and 71” reach, he must have been skilled enough to compete against bigger – taller foes. Mike gave huge height and reach advantage, and still was able to get inside to demolish the opposition.
While prime, Tyson´s head – upper body movement was extraordinaire for any heavyweight or even a light heavyweight, his head movement was just as rare as Muhammad Ali´s footwork. Mike had great hand speed and freakish accurate punching power in both hands and he was not flat footed, he was smart and waited for or created openings. Iron Mike had a vicious inside game.
Lennox always fought the same way; Lewis fought tall, disciplined, taking advantage from his height and reach, an effective jab, high ring IQ, good power but no inside game.
It is no secret that Tyson ruined his promising boxing future due his indiscipline and wild lifestyle. He was incarcerated for 3 years when he was at his peak. After he came out of jail he no longer was the boxer that Cus D´Amato forged, Mike no longer had the same team who helped him become champion, no Kevin Rooney or Teddy Atlas around him, but instead there wasn´t anyone who could control him.
Casual fans always pull the James Buster Douglas loss to demerit Tyson. It is like they don’t know the story behind that fight. Tyson was no longer under D´Amato tutelage and was in the middle of a hard divorce. If you think he trained properly for that bout then you better think again. Look at the weigh in for the Douglas fight and compare it to the Frank Bruno I bout. Besides, referee Octavio Meyran´s long count helped Douglas.
Would Tyson have been able to defeat a prime Lewis? When do you consider Lewis to have peaked?
Oliver McCall knocked him out in their first fight in 1994 and in 2001 Hasim Rahman knocked him out again. So if Lennox was no longer in his prime against Rahman then he was in his prime against McCall. If it was in the middle of those fights then we only find the Evander Holyfield fights worth of mention, but Evander fighting style it’s more orthodox and cannot be compared to the one Tyson had while prime. If Lennox was in his prime in 1994 when he lost to McCall it is when Mike was in jail wasting his best boxing years.
I believe Lennox only defeated the shadow of Tyson who by then at 36 years of age and 17 as a prize fighter, was flat-footed, had no head upper body movement and walked straight lines, his speed and reflexes had diminished considerably and only kept his punching power.
On the other corner Lennox at 37 years of age and 14 as a prizefighter was way more experienced but physically was still on the top level. I can´t recall any scandals of drug and alcohol abuse from Lewis, who to me, is an example of professionalism at the elite level of competition. I believe it was the best version of Lennox the one that battered Tyson. The only scandal related to him that I can remember is when he was robbed in his first fight against Holyfield.
But what about the readers, prime versus prime who would have won?
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