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| | Wednesday, 10 January, 2001, 05:24 GMT A fight to remember  BBC Five Live's John Rawling considers what the outcome would have been had two of boxing's greatest fighters - Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis - met in the ring. Muhammad Ali would go into this fight as the strong favourite because, in his prime, he was surely the fastest and most technically gifted heavyweight who ever laced on a pair of boxing gloves. Standing 6'3" and weighing around 15-and-a-half stones in prime, Ali had the footwork of the great featherweight Willie Pep and the sort of hand speed which has never been seen before or since in the heavyweight division.
Lewis has had magnificent physical attributes throughout his career. Standing 6'5" and weighing about two stones heavier than Ali, he is one of the biggest men to have ever laid claim to a heavyweight title. In the 1930s, Primo Carnera was taller and heavier than Lewis, but had little of Lewis' natural athleticism. Lewis improved his mobility and ring craft gradually under the guidance of his trainer Emanuel Steward, who insisted that Lewis would have been Ali's equal had he not too often adopted safety first tactics in the ring which did not allow him to give full reign to his talents. Right-hand man The Lewis danger punch is the right hand, which has brought him most of his more spectacular knockout victories. His jab can be an effective weapon, although he has a tendency to paw the punch when uncertain of his opponent's capabilities.
Ali was not particularly adept at brawling at close quarters, although at his best in the three years before losing his title because of draft dodging accusation, he had been so fast and elusive that this side of his armoury was simply rendered irrelevant. He was more vulnerable later in his career, notably against the awkward Ken Norten and the pressure fighting Joe Frazier, but he should be compared against Lewis when he was boxing's dancing master. Many of Ali's opponents were psyched out before the self-styled 'greatest' ever got in the ring, but Lewis has a steely intensity prior to fights which can also be intimidating. 'Cool' Lewis Ali may have made all the noise before the fight, but it is unlikely Lewis would have risen to the bait. The question would have been whether or not Lewis had the speed or ability to cut off the ring and get to Ali, and use his superior physical attributes and power.
The Ali who fought Goerge Foreman in 1974 was a fading fighter who had lost much of the speed of earlier years, yet still he was able to absorb Foreman's best shots before applying the coup de gras in the eighth round. Foreman's power was greater than that of Lewis, so the conclusion has to be either the young or old Ali would have beaten Lewis. I would have taken the 1966 Muhammad Ali to administer a boxing lesson and leave Lewis, brave and battered, a long way behind on points over the 15 round championship distance. Had the 1974 Ali taken on Lewis, it would have been closer but I would still take the determination and all round ring savvy of Ali to have edged the decision. | | See also:  Other top Other Sports stories: Links to top Other Sports stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||
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