You serious???? Lewis had been out of the ring for a year, then turned up at a career highest weight showing visable signs of slowing down. Granted he wasn't as far gone as Holyfield is now for instance but he was a million miles away from the fighter that beat Holyfield
Vitali MADE him look slow and old. Lewis was not contemplating the retirement before Vitali's fight. It is a well-documented fact.
By far?? I think not. Holmes fought some... well lets just say NOT TOO WELL KNOWN heavyweights during his 20 defenses. So did Louis. Hence the reason the old 'bum of the month' term was born. Not taking anything away from those two fighters, they were badasses, just saying Vitali catches two much hacking on his level of competition.
Vitali was getting pretty rocked in round 6. He was about on par with Lewis Lewis could have defeated him if he trained for it, Vitali never offended Lewis like Tyson said he would eat his children. Lewis had no big motivation. Vitali is good, yes, but not the best.
On the op: if you give Vitali a 7 year reign then you need to give Dempsey credit for a 7 year reign. Add Jack Johnson too. Rocky marciano had a reign longer than Mike Tyson. You're missing a few wins for Ali. Instead of 14 it should be 22.
I like how you call yourself a boxing fan but call others Klitards. And technically it does. Thompson got beat by Wlad, does he deserve a fight vs Vitaliy? No. Same for Haye. He lost in one championship fight. Now, he has to come back and prove himself again. Which he partially did by beating Chisora. Its not just Haye. Everybody has to at least come into a championship fight on a winning streak, not after a loss. Thats how I see it.
So you really think that Lewis would have retired after Johnson fight if Johnson did not injure himself?
Lewis was contemplating retiring after the Tyson fight. It is also a well-documented fact. Lewis struggled in his last training camp like never before, his sparring went very badly & he knew he just didnt have it anymore. Despite all that he was still superior to prime Vitali & was able to win, via tko in the 6th round. Another well documented fact.
Don't worry about that. He was only the WBA, IBF, Ring and lineal champ at the time. I notice Vitaly missing from Lewis' list too. I also liked the reference to Brewster beating Golota as though that is impressive, but Golota who Lewis actually beat (not by proxy) isnt on Lewis' list. I like Slacker. He's either a superb troll or delusional. Both are entertaining.
seems the klits get "title defenses" ranked up as top 5 contenders with wbo title cant we count joe louis defenses when he was a top contender too ?? gotta be fair
Yes. They must take the hard road to title shots like: Sosnowski Shannon Briggs Faded Rahman Mormeck Cooperating to take out top contenders is farcical. I notice it doesn't apply in reverse. Sanders shouldn't have had to fight Vitaly because by beating Wlad he beat Vitaly too right? Or does it only work one way? Actually, I like it. If the next guy beats Vitaly, does Wlad hand over his belts too? That could explain fighting stiffs if so.
WTF are you on about, chump? Haye is the one who bitched out on fighting Vitali. I enjoyed the Chisora fight but it was just Haye ducking Vitali again!