How far exactly was Tyson from his prime when he fought Lewis in 2002?

[hugh grant]

Well yeah because he'd been told his whole career, just like Holyfield, "you never fought Tyson, never beat Iron Mike, blah, blah, blah". Has to get old after awhile. I'm sure he exorcised a lot of demons that night..

Yes, I'm sure he did exorcise demons that night. I'm sure it made Lennox feel he would beat prime Tyson as well. Maybe Lennox is deluded enough to think he did beat porime Tyson?

But maybe that defeat made Tyson think he could never beat lewis? So there's lots of things to take into consideration

[LacedUp]

Go watch Lewis from around the Golota fight and compare to Lewis v Tyson and tell me Lewis didn't lose a couple of steps over the years. If you do you're lying.

You are talking about a 1 minute fight where of course he looked absolutely unbeatable.

I wasn't saying that it was his best performance, but he looked a lot worse earlier in his career vs Akinwande, Mavrovic, Mercer, Rahman in the first fight etc.

I'd say he looked pretty close to his best vs Tyson and definitely vs Rahman in the second fight. Sharp, strong and quick.

he had looked sloppy and heavy in other fights previous to the Tyson fight.

[The plunger man]

I haven't seen Lewis look much better in his entire career than what he did against Tyson. He also had his career best performance the fight before against Rahman.

I don't buy into the whole "Lewis was also out of his prime" because it's just not true.

The reason why Lewis looked so good against Tyson is twin major things one is Tyson is one dimensional and one way...how many times have we seen it laced up......cracks were showing before when he boxed tucker and bonecrusher .....look I'm not saying Tyson was not way past it but Lewis wasn't as spring chicken...Lewis changed into a heavy ****er as he got older and relied on more size and brute strength tha he did on movement...against ruddock on that night he had quick feet and was a really quick sharp puncher...even though I like Tyson but the bottom line is when he was put in the ring with guys who took his shot and came back he lost...Holyfield for example took everything Tyson could throw at him...Tyson was a monster no doubt but his main weapon was fear and once he lost other fighters saw he could get beat .....you can't knock Lewis at all because he beat them all....secondly avoided Lewis in 1996 when he refused to fight Lewis and paid him 4 million to step aside.....Lewis beats Tyson because he was just a better boxer and bigger...I like Mike Tyson but we have to look at the facts

[LetOutTheCage]

Tyson was a shell of himself some time before the Lewis fight, mentally he was finished. He admitted as much himself so I think that played a big part in his loss to Lewis. I still think a prime Tyson destroys Lewis.

[sugar ray lenrd]

Tyson was exactly far from his prime when he fought Lennox....
Nuff Said!

[deanrw]

Tyson burned out mentally long before he lost his physical prime.

We do not know where his physical prime started to decline. I would guess he became unfocused when he hooked up with Don King. He was never the same after that.

[BWC]

Yes, I'm sure he did exorcise demons that night. I'm sure it made Lennox feel he would beat prime Tyson as well. Maybe Lennox is deluded enough to think he did beat porime Tyson?

But maybe that defeat made Tyson think he could never beat lewis? So there's lots of things to take into consideration

Lennox could only ever beat the Tyson he did beat, the one that was put in front of him. Remember they had trained together as like 16-17 year olds. Lewis was game for Tyson whenever it was time..

[Weltschmerz]

Tyson was completely shot, it was a mega fight for the casuals above all. Any real fan knew Lewis would do what he did at that point.

[Djanxx]

People acting as if Lewis was in his prime doe.

[Dmitry]

Tyson was 30% past it when he got out of prison.