This weekend two of Boxing’s biggest legends come out of retirement to do battle once more, the baddest man on the planet Mike Tyson and Captain Hook Roy Jones Jr. With that in mind I looked at some of their fights to see how their opponents had success against them – I have previously done a video on Montel Griffin and his success against RJJ in their first fight which is available on my instagram @fayz_boxing and on my Youtube channel Fayz Fitness. Here I am going to look at how Lennox Lewis fought against Mike Tyson. Now I know Tyson was not at his best in this matchup but I made this video with the Roy Jones Jr fight in mind and RJJ is certainly not fighting a young Mike Tyson.

First off we immediately see Lewis employing a jab and step back, he knows Tyson is looking to slip and counter the jab so by stepping out after jabbing Lewis is making it that much more difficult to get past the jab, especially when Lewis is taller and has a reach advantage.

Next Lewis will begin to time Tyson coming in by throwing the uppercut. The reason this works so well is because Tyson used to come in low either off the jab or the slip to close the gap and then throw those quick and hard shots. This left Tyson open to the uppercut and Lewis capitalised on this all night, when Tyson would try to sneak in low off his jab he was met with an uppercut from Lewis.

Thirdly we see Lennox Lewis changing the trajectory of the right hand. The 1-2 is instrumental in keeping Tyson at range, the straight punches from Lewis made it difficult for Tyson to bob and weave – if Tyson did manage to slip inside the right hand, Lewis countered that by changing the angle of his right hand. By using the overhand right or throwing the right hand slightly wider or lower, it meant that Tyson was constantly slipping into the right hand of Lewis. The eventual knockout punch was exactly this, Tyson attempts to slip inside a right cross but Lewis brings it just slightly wider and lands clean on a fatigued Tyson to finish the fight. We also see earlier Lewis did this with the left hook, knowing Mike Tyson wanted to slip outside the jab, Lewis feinted the jab and instead threw a lead left hook, catching Tyson out.

View the video below to see how Lennox Lewis handled the peek-A-Boo style of Iron Mike Tyson.