We can speculate all we want as to what would have happened after the 6th or if they had a rematch but the fact is Lewis won the fight, nothing can change that and no amount of speculation will matter as much as that one fact.
Fair comment, people act as if there wasnt 6 rounds to go, anything could have happened, the biggest fact to come out of this fight when all said and done is Lewis TKO6 Vitali, people need to get over that and move on, its ironic that the same people who are worshipping Vitali for "running" Lewis out of the sport are the same people who are ultimately ensuring that Vitali's crowning, defining moment is a defeat, sad and unfair on a decent fighter like Vitali who has gone on to achieve some great things in the sport.:smoke
No. You're clinging to the fact the rematch would have been compelling and that the heavyweight division sunk to **** after that. Yeah, the first fight had a disappointing ending and you can argue a case for unfinished business. But at the end of the day, Lewis turned Vitali's eye into mincemeat and that was that. Lewis won the fight and left the game on his own terms. His legacy is secure beyond approach. Vitali, on the other hand, will always be best known for his loss to Lennox. Nothing you can say will ever change that simple obvious fact. :smoke
No, Lewis retired himself. Lewis beat him fair and square, fighting Vitali's fight. He was semi retired anyway after Tyson and probably just couldn't be arsed with another gruelling training camp when he had nothing left to prove, and had no need for any more money.
Besides, its not as if Vitali went on to dominate the division at all. Lewis had already cleaned it up, there were no new contenders emerging. Vitali picked up a strap, knocked over a few stiffs and retired himself. The fact is it was simply 1 fight in their respective careers, and to say Vitali 'ran Lewis out of boxing', considering his meagre achievements after this fight, is farcical.
"badly out of shape", I dunno.. I didn't see Lewis sporting love handles and a beer gut for that fight, a few pounds over his career heaviest... I don't think it makes much of a different when you're a 6'5" 250lbs (average weight) man.
Who was pushing who around at the bell? It was Vitali pushing Lewis, and Lewis was dead tired. I think you have it back wards, and Lewis avoided the rematch for a reason.
I would have thought being 38,and having accomplished EVERYTHING as a boxer was the reason he retired? No? Lewis won the fight. Everything else is just idle speculation.
Lewis was more tired than Vitali, Vitali was forcing the fight. Vitali was going to win by TKO or UD....
No. Age retired Lewis. He was talking about retiring a long time before he fought Vitali. Maybe Vitali could have beaten Lewis in a rematch but would have been nothing to brag beating a ageing champ on his way out. Vitali really needed to spark out Lewis to make a name for himself. He didn't do that and shouldn't really try to bring up this marginally winning a fight to claim he is all that great. It is moment like this that make a break a person's legacy. If Vitali was all that, he should have sparked out Lewis like how Tyson sparked out Holmes. He lost.
38 is such an old age for heavyweight !atsch Amazing really that he even fought into his 38th.atsch How did he manage it he must be a goat!!!atsch