Why did "Lewis-Tua" of '00 fizzle in heat / action over its 12 rd limit? Your words.

Lewis fought a defensive fight because he knew he couldn't be hit with that left hook. So the fight was a boring 12 round decision. And Tua didn't want to get hit with the right hand and take a chance, so either way both guys were afraid to get hit and it was a boring fight. A little like Tyson/Bonecrusher in theory, although Lewis dominated Tua more since he used his height and size to advantage in the case where Mike was smaller than Smith.

 

Tyson wasn't afraid of getting hit by anyone, he was just pissed off Boneclincher was allowed to illegally hug him a million times per round. This stupidly excessive spoiling stopped the fight from being exciting, & Cus had taught Mike the most important thing was to be exciting in every fight. Smith explains here why he spoiled (like a total *****) against Tyson...

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=28204&more=1

So basically Tyson was too fast & elusive as he rapidly closed the distance, so Smith felt forced into constantly clinching.

 

I disagree. I love Mike and he is one of my favorite fighters, but he was clinching in that fight also. He didn't want to get countered by that big Bonecrusher right hand. And even with Mike clinching also, at the very end of the fight Bonecrusher hit him with a nice counter right which sort of stunned Mike when Mike got a little careless at the end of the fight with his frustration. Like Marvin Hagler said always, it takes two to tango for a great fight, but a terrible fight has the same principle. But that fight was good for Mike, it actually taught Mike how to deal with inside fighting even better than he did.

 

Lewis was in superb condition and hit Tua hard early, which drained his confidence and made the task of getting inside appear more daunting.
Tua was a let-down but really, how much of a chance did he have of beating Lewis in that form?
It was the last time Lewis would be at his absolute best. That's taking Rahman 2 into account aswell. Although that result was better in terms of excitement and importance.

 

I think people who were paying attention to the hype and the fight expected Lewis to trade big shots with Tua. Instead he fought him carefully like he did against Mike Tyson. Nothing wrong with that. Lewis get's criticized sometimes unfairly by those expecting him to produce exciting KO's like he did to Michael Grant and Razor Ruddock. Also, it certainly doesn't help his cause when he was almost KOed by Shannon Briggs, lost nearly every round to Bruno before the desperation right hand in the corner landed to pull that fight out. The questionable decision victory against Ray Mercer and his cavalier attitude against Rahman the first time gives fuel to his critics. I'll admit that I was one of his critics, but looking at Lewis closer, he became a more refined gentleman boxer that would make you stop punching him rather than him going for the big KO. He probably could have KOd Tyson earlier but did what he was supposed to do with his reach and movement. There was no need to engage in a slugfest with Mike so he stayed on the outside and punished him. This is how he treated Tua by not letting him get close and doing his best to make him quit.

 

Well thats exactly why a lot of people didnt like Lewis. He fought safety first against Holyfield, Tyson and Tua, where he had big physical advantages. As you said Lewis did the right thing to win, but he failed to make the statements the public wanted to see against his better competition.

 

And that would be fine if he didn't have several thousand people paying for action and getting one of the worst fights ever.

 

Totally agree. He could have pressed the action a little harder but being the "pugilistic specialist" he calls himself, I have no problems how Lewis handled himself. I'm sure people wanted to see what kind of danger he could have put himself into by fighting recklessly against Tyson and Tua, but I'd bet Lewis had the McCall and Rahman KOs in the back of his mind.
He was boxing to the point that a lucky shot would never have landed against him.

 

Maybe this would have changed if Lennox had stopped Tua as he did Rahman, Bruno, Tyson and others, but it went to the final bell. Lewis-Tua would have been more acceptable to the public as a stinker if Lennox had taken him out, but as dangerous as David proved himself to be throughout the duration of a match, the caution Lewis applied was sensibly sound reasoning. It certainly didn't help though that Lennox failed twice the previous year to halt Holyfield when Bowe had been able to do it in concluding his trilogy with Evander.

 

At the end of the day Lewis fought to win, and that's exactly what he done. The man got results. With Tyson on the horizon why take extra risk. Infact didn't Lewis say after the Tua fight "Why give him opportunities that aren't there".
If Tua would of been a little bit more game after tasting Lewis' power early, then yes it would of been more exciting. But the chances are he would of been beat in a more severe fashion. Has most men who chose to attack Lewis were.
Lewis did land the odd bomb on Tua and a blistering hard combo around the 8th or 9th, trying his chances on taking Tua out. But David's chin held firm and Lewis reverted back to his risk free strategy. Fair enough.
The bottom line is that Lewis was at his peak and Tua just wasn't good enough.

 

A lot of people were expecting a good fight from Tua. I will never forget looking around the room I was in half way through the fight and just about everyone was fast asleep. It was a horribly boring fight.

 

Many felt the same way about Ali-Bonavana and Ali-Lyle, but the endings redeemed them somewhat. If Lennox had turned it up and somehow gotten David outta there in the final round, it wouldn't be remembered so poorly. (And with the shape Tua was in, Lewis going for the kill may not have been the huge risk commonly supposed.)

 

I think Spinks-Greggory was worse than Spinks-Qawi and that Lewis-Holyfield #2 was at least not significantly worse than Lewis-Holyfield #1.
Most would include klitschko-ibragimov in that list , but I find/found that fight to be important , interesting and educational , so I won't include it in such a list.
Holmes and Ali would have plenty of representation in such a list compiled by myself if I bothered to watch all of their fights , along with many other 80s titlists.
And what happened to Thomas-Spoon ? you just found it to be watchable ?