What Do You Think Is The Hardest Fanatsy Fight To Pick A Winner Out Of?

[Gettin Jiggy]

Well?

For Me
Liston/Marciano
Hagler/Hopkins
Sanchez/Arguello
Ray Leonard/Pryor

Discuss

[Southpaw Stinger]

Mike Tyson vs Audley Harrison.

[Gettin Jiggy]

Mike Tyson vs Audley Harrison.

any serious ones?

[Sugarj]

Louis vs Dempsey is a toughy. Every time that I think Louis is too big, accurate and polished I get a mental image of Dempsey breaking through with an almighty punch and not letting Louis recover. I'm still undecided on this one.

Lewis vs Bowe: Bowe had the better chin, Lewis slightly the better skills.

Foreman vs Liston: I edge Foreman here but not by much if they both met at their peak.

Holmes vs Tyson at their peaks: I edge Holmes but only by a whisker for the crown of 'best heavy of the 80s'.

A silly last one!!!!! Ali vs Bruce Lee in a street fight: I cant call this one, either Ali simply walks over to the much much smaller Lee and knocks him out with a right hand or Lee side kicks, shattering Ali's knee cap the moment the range is closed. Hee hee

[sonnyboyx2]

Well?

For Me
Liston/Marciano
Hagler/Hopkins
Sanchez/Arguello
Ray Leonard/Pryor

Discuss

it would be pretty easy to predict the winners from a betting point of view by the fighters odds which would be something like this :

Liston 1/6 - Marciano 6/4
Hagler 11/10 - Hopkins 4/7
Sanchez 2/1 - Arguello 1/2
Leonard 1/3 - Pryor 15/8

[sonnyboyx2]

Louis vs Dempsey is a toughy. Every time that I think Louis is too big, accurate and polished I get a mental image of Dempsey breaking through with an almighty punch and not letting Louis recover. I'm still undecided on this one.

Lewis vs Bowe: Bowe had the better chin, Lewis slightly the better skills.

Foreman vs Liston: I edge Foreman here but not by much if they both met at their peak.

Holmes vs Tyson at their peaks: I edge Holmes but only by a whisker for the crown of 'best heavy of the 80s'.

A silly last one!!!!! Ali vs Bruce Lee in a street fight: I cant call this one, either Ali simply walks over to the much much smaller Lee and knocks him out with a right hand or Lee side kicks, shattering Ali's knee cap the moment the range is closed. Hee hee

Bowe was vastly more superior to Lewis in every department

Liston was technically superior to Foreman in every department.

Holmes is quoted as saying, "He could never have beaten Mike Tyson"

Bruce Lee was nothing but a movie star, he tried his hand at boxing in 1963 in Texas and won a 3rd decision over a Texas amateur, yet by all account Lee was exhausted and out on his feet in the 3rd.... Muhammed Ali would pull Lee`s arms and legs off then flick him away

[Sugarj]

I'm a big Bowe fan, he may even be my favorite heavyweight of the 90s. I would just lean towards him in a match with Lewis, his chin was terrific whereas Lewis's was suspect and both guys punched hard! As for skills it was close, but lets face it, it was only three years before Bowe's peak in 1991/92 where in 1988 Lewis clearly beat Bowe in the Olympics. I think if we took a poll on 'Most skilled boxer Lewis or Bowe?' I think most guys on the forum would vote Lewis. But I personally dont think its by much.

I agree that Liston was technically superior to Foreman. I still think that it would be a tough fight to call.

I've read the Holmes biography and read plenty of interviews with him. That quote is new to me, he did say he would never have beaten Tyson in the condition he was in, in 1988. Indeed at the end of 'Champions Forever' the film that was recorded after losing to Tyson, Larry expresses that he thinks he is the greatest of all time. He did show flashes of greatness in those four rounds, if he was eight years younger who knows. All we do know is that 1)no one else knocked him out 2) He took the hardest punches of Shavers and 3) Tyson did fade late into fights. Too close to call for me.

I did state that the Ali vs Lee thing was a 'silly last one', this thread was based on 'fantasy fights' though. But here goes, just for fun...........Lee's peak was truely believed to be in 72/73 not the early 60s when he was just a spindly youth in his early 20s. I also clearly stated that we are talking about a 'street fight', not a boxing match. There is enough video evidence to indicate that Lee had terrific foot speed and power for a man of his size, and his Jeet Kune Do philosophy regarded striking at the earliest point at the closest target. Ali would have never trained for defending kicks to the knees which is why I cited this daft example. In a boxing match this would be a clear mismatch, obviously in favour of Ali.

[Kid McCoy]

Bowe was vastly more superior to Lewis in every department

I'm always amazed at how Bowe gets rated over Lewis. Sure he was talented, but his prime lasted a nanosecond, his only significant wins were against the cruiser-sized Holyfield, and he had the snot beaten out of him twice by the only other prime contender he faced. He also openly ducked Lewis and failed to meet a gaggle of top heavyweights who were around in the 90s.

[Sugarj]

I agree, I think 'vastly more superior to Lewis' is a step too far.

Both had great jabs, excellent amateur pedigrees, superb combination work, every punch in the arsenal. Bowe was better on the inside, arguably Lewis on the outside. Lewis clearly had the better defense and ability to slip punches (although he was no Larry Holmes in this department!) whereas Bowe had the better chin. Very close rated heavyweights at their best.

[sonnyboyx2]

I agree, I think 'vastly more superior to Lewis' is a step too far.

Both had great jabs, excellent amateur pedigrees, superb combination work, every punch in the arsenal. Bowe was better on the inside, arguably Lewis on the outside. Lewis clearly had the better defense and ability to slip punches (although he was no Larry Holmes in this department!) whereas Bowe had the better chin. Very close rated heavyweights at their best.

Lennox Lewis jab was nothing but a paw` it was a distracker not a weapon like Riddick Bowe`s, Lewis was easily "out-jabbed" by Frank Bruno and Vitali Klitschko, Holyfield held his own with Lewis in the jabbing, sorry but Bowe would have decapitad Lewis with his jab, Lewis just does not match-up to Bowe in any department of the sport of boxing, it is immaterial wether Bowes peak was 3yrs or 20yrs, if these 2 had met between 93 to 96 Bowe would have been the easy victor, Lewis never in his career did he produce a performance like those that Bowe produced, Lewis in his best ever performance won a split decision over Mercer, Mercer was then beaten by Jesse Ferguson that same Ferguson was butchered by Bowe as was former champ Mike Dokes who was on a 10 fight win streak, Bowe unfortunately "eat himself out of the title" bloating up to over 350lbs between fights, Bowe vs Golota 1 & 2 was as good as any heavyweight fights in boxing history and "Brutal" .. after those 2 fights "BOTH" Bowe and Golota was never the same fighters again... Lennox Lewis wanted `no-part` of any fighters who was at the top of their game in the 1990s Lewis only ever fought `bums, cans and has-beens` Lennox Lewis claim to fame is that he beat Tyson 11yrs after Buster Douglas had beaten Mighty Mike, 6yrs after Holyfield had finished off what was left of Tyson.. Lewis always boasted that Bowe was afraid to fight him, when infact nothing could have been further from the truth, The WBC ordered Bowe vs Lewis in 93, Bowe was the undisputed champion, Lewis was demanding a 50/50 purse split and options on Bowes next 5 fights should Bowe win, Bowe said,"no way" so the WBC threatened to strip Bowe of their belt if he did not agree, so Bowe said to the WBC "UP YOU" and threw their belt in the trash can, Bowe went on to defend his title for $30 million in a rematch with Holyfield, not the $3 million he was going to be paid for fighting Lewis... The Lewis camp seized on this and claimed for anyone who would listen that Bowe was afraid of their man... Bowe lost the closest decision in heavyweight history to Holyfield and Lewis got poleaxed by McCall in 1994, the Bowe camp made a legitimate offer of £10 million to the Lennox Lewis camp and Lewis turned it down claiming he was concentrating on regaining his WBC title... the truth being Lennox Lewis never ever wanted to fight Riddick Bowe.