Not really sure as the mods refused to communicate. I suppose it got too heated and the discussion was going nowhere. It was fun while it lasted though.
*37. But Vitali is 41 now and still hasn't retired. I feel like Vitali delays his retirement just to stain Lewis' career even more.
38.. He retired in Feb 2004. atsch No matter what Vitali does now, it only strengthens Lewis' resume. Fact! Vitali's best performance was a losing one and he doesn't belong anywhere near top 10 hw of all time. Fact!
Here's some FACTS about Lennox Lewis: - Lewis was battered from pillar to post, badly hurt several times, outboxed, outskilled, outgunned, outmuscled, outslugged, outlanded in every round, outpointed, outclassed, dominated, emasculated and retired by Vitali. - KTFO by Maskaev's leftovers. - KTFO by journeyman crackhead. - Got a gift decision against Mercer, who was annihilated by Wlad. - Went life and death with a bread hustler. - KTFO by Miroshnichenko in the amatuers. - Blatantly ducked Vitali Klitschko rematch, Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd, Corrie Sanders, etc - Both Klitschkos have surpassed Lewis.
Quotes from Emanuel Steward Wladimir is gonna be the one I dont think I could train a man to beat the way he is. Im serious. Ive never had a fighter I went from Holyfield and all the guys Ive worked with, never, Lennox Wladimir is a very, very committed, very difficult fighter to beat. Because he wont let you fight him. He makes you fight what he wants you to fight. But the biggest thing which I think people are not looking at is his speed for a big man. Tremendous speed. Foot Speed. He can move in, explode, move out, move back in, explode, and Ive never seen anyone that could move in and out and be in perfect balance "Wladimir has better one-punch knockout capability than Lennox" "Wlad has the best footwork, coordination and balance of any fighter I ever worked with. Hes the most accurate, single-punch knockout guy I have ever seen. A guy can be completely fine, not hurt, and Wladimir can put his lights out with one shot." "Wladimirs coordination is better and he is the most powerful natural talent than any other heavyweight I have worked with." "In terms of jab, Wladimir is the best and after him I would put Lennox. In terms of boxing arsenal, Wladimir is better than Lennox."
Wlad is more talented than Vitali and Lewis. Wlad dominates Lewis like Vitali did and knocks him out like McCall and Rahman did. Lewis would get brutally KTFO by a steelhammer right hand from Wlad. Vitali >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lewis Wlad >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lewis This content is protected
And in return bludgeoned Vitali's face so bad that it needed 60 stitches and had him hanging on for his life in the sixth and final round of that fight. In fact, Lewis won two round of that fight - indisputable fact - and was getting on top when the fight was stopped. And beat him easy in the rematch. One trained by Emanuel Steward specifically to take advantage of the holes of Lewis' style at the time. It is better to have lost to a journeymen who has been trained by one of the greatest trainers of all time to prey on the weakness in a boxer style than it is to lose to an out of shape journeymen who's been dragged out of semi-retirement and off of the pro-golf circuit. Lewis had a close fight that could have gone either way against a 35 year old Mercer fresh off a competitive fight with a prime Holyfield. Wlad easilly beat a 41 year old Mercer who had not been relevant on the Heavyweight scene since 1996 and who had fought nothing but domestic level journeymen since fighting Tim Withspoon in 1996. Who was an undefeated European Champion with an iron chin and a decent prospect until suffering illness and injury which forced him to retire. And Mavrovic lost 117-111 on one card, 117-112 on another and 119-109 on the other. It was no more "life and death" than Wlad's fight against Wach or Vitali's fight against Chisora was. So ****ing what? Vitali was stopped in one round against Maskaev in the amateurs, does that make him any less of a great heavyweight in the pro's? I'll concede the rematch with Vitali but add that he had nothing to prove since he took the best Vitali had to offer and destroyed his face in return. Wlad got destroyed in two rounds by Sanders. If that hadn't happened he'd have been able to fight Lewis but he couldn't because he had to rebuild his career first after being KTFO by a pro-golfer. Sanders was never in line for a fight with Lewis. He was nothing but a journeyman before beating the hell out of Wlad. There was never any talk of Sanders fighting Lewis before Lewis retired and instead Sanders fought Vitali. Don King paid Lewis a million or so dollars and gave him a brand new car not to fight Byrd so that King could set up a unification fight for the WBA and IBF titles whose champions he would control. If Byrd's promoter was trying to get out of making him a fight against Lewis then I fail to see how Lewis ducked him. That's a matter of opinion, not fact, and it an opinion which is greatly disputed. The only factual thing you can say about this is that neither Wlad nor Vitali have ever been Unified Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. Lewis was the last man to accomplish that feat.