Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis are considered two of boxing’s best ever heavyweights.
Ali was like no other before him, stunning fans with superb reflexes and slick movement more akin to a much lighter man. His penchant for predicting the round in which he would win fights was the epitome of a champion’s confidence, and he left his mark on culture as much as he did the sport.
Generations later, Lewis would show the power of a dominant jab and powerful straight right hand. He beat every man he ever faced – two of them on the second time of asking after shock losses – and was the last undisputed heavyweight champion before Oleksandr Usyk achieved the status this year.
As fantasy fights go, there aren’t many better than Ali-Lewis. A man who has joined them in the history books, Floyd Mayweather, recently predicted it during a quickfire interview with Daily Mail Sport.
The 50-0 defensive master backed Lewis to win the cross-generational affair had it ever been possible.
Far from being rivals, Lewis once spoke of Ali being ‘like family, like a father’ to him. He had the chance to have many discussions with the man simply known as ‘The Greatest,’ a particular treat since he had watched him at nine-years-old beat George Foreman in The Rumble In The Jungle.
“When he first came up with the rope-a-dope, I thought he was losing the fight. That was a performance where you really didn’t know who was going to win.
“Then all of a sudden, the most remarkable thing happened, he caught Foreman with a punch. Boom. It was over. History. He is going to be forever missed and always remembered.”
