T.K.O. in 6

This

 

As much as Tyson was past it he was still the top of the mountain in Lewis' mind

 

Couldnt you say Vitali wasn't exactly ready either?

 

Vitali staggered Lewis, scared the crap out of him. Lewis could not hurt Vitali at all. Lewis was done for. Max Kellerman was sitting right behind Lewis' corner, said that he had never seen Lewis flop down on his stool like that. Lewis was in trouble, so Lewis' promoter signaled Lewis' doctor to signal Lewis' referee to stop the fight on a cut to save Lewis from getting knocked out. ANGELO DUNDEE said that Vitali was cheated out of the WBC title that night. Lewis also had a badly broken nose. HBO wanted the rematch, everyone wanted that rematch except Lewis. Lewis knew he could not beat Vitali in a rematch, esp. a Vitali who had time to train. Vitali took the fight on only 2 weeks notice. Vitali was leading on the score cards and was furious at being cheated out of title that night. Vitali had more stamina than Lewis and I knew it, the ref could have given Vitali one more round, but Lewis' promoter had control of the ref, doctor, etc., despite being offered the biggest payday of Lewis' career, Lewis chickened out and retired rather than getting knocked out in his last fight.............Rocky Marciano had a bad cut, the referee told him that he would give him one more round, so Rocky came out and knocked out his opponent! What if Rocky had not been allowed to have fought one more round. Lewis was rubbing his head on the cut, cuffing, lacing, etc., no Lewis knew he could not beat Vitali...............By the way, ANGELO DUNDEE was one of the best cutmen in boxing history as well as the trainer of Ali, Leonard, etc.

 

An obviously leading question from a Klitard.

 

lewis was a coward. mccall and rahman gave him rematches, but he couldnt give one himself.

mercer and mccall busted him up. a 40 year old larry holmes outboxed both of these guys. lewis = overrated.

 

:deal

 

Lewis decision to retire simply came down to a lack of dedication, age and Vitali showing him he still had to be at his best if he wanted to be champion. Lewis wanted an easy ride at that late stage of his career but that was never going to happen so better to retire than fight on and hold onto the title through manipulating the system and the fans.

Lewis' dedication was gone he was looking for an easy rematch with Tyson and when it became apparent to him that he'd have to remain dedicated he decided to quit rather than try and play the system and hold on to titles.

Lewis could have easily avoided a rematch with Vitali had he wanted it. We've seen plenty of fighters come up with many reasons to avoid a certain fighter, like Bowe dumping the WBC belt, giving a low ball offer then say the opponent didn't want the rematch etc, it happens all the time in this sport.

 

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The Vitali fight probably made him realise he was slipping and was time to get out

 

Not as fat as Kirk was that night.

 

No you can't. Vitali told HBO before the fight that he had been preparing for Lewis for over a year.

 

McCall and Rahman had no say in whether they "gave him rematches" or not.

The rematch with McCall occured 2/3 years after their first fight, after McCall lost his title to Bruno and Lewis rebuilt his career with victories over Butler, Fortune, Morrison and Mercer. McCall was in the middle of a mental breakdown and had been arrested and sent to rehab twice the previous year and concerns were raised by Lewis's Camp and the network execs about his ability to make the fight in any fit state, but McCall promoter - Don King - assured them that McCall was be at his best. As we know, that was a lie. McCall was in no fit state to choose whether he fought Lewis in a rematch or not. The decision was instead made originally by the WBC - in choosing to sanction a Heavyweight eliminator between him and Lewis - and then by Don King - who chose to ignore McCall obvious personal problems to force him into that fight.

As for Rahman, he signed to fight Lewis in 2001 with full knowledge that if he beat Lewis for the titles he would have to fight a rematch. It was a clause in the contract they signed for the fight. Even so, Rahman - then promoted by Don King - attempted to avoid giving Lewis the rematch he was contractually obliged to give and instead wanted a easier opponent for his first title defence - he was offered $19million to fight Tyson or $17million to fight Lewis but he wanted to make his first defense against Davis Izon. Lewis had to take him to court to get to honor the contract.

 

I think he was hanging around for the easy paydays at that point in his career. Remember, he tried to get Tyson back in the ring with him.
When Vitali came along, I don't think Lewis anticipated a very hard fight. Vitali wasn't particularly highly regarded at that stage of his career.
The theat - Wlad - had already been done in by Sanders.

Vitali proved a much tougher opponent than Lewis anticipated, even though he lost fair and square.
So I think that shook Lewis a little and he decided to call it a day. One can say declining motivation and in general that would be true, but the Vitali fight left a lot of questions hanging in the air. Lewis left the ring to boos and Vitali stole his thunder that night even in defeat.
How one can say Lewis could not be motivated for the rematch is beyond me. I honestly think he felt it wasn't worth the risk at that stage of his career.

I've got a lot of respect for Lewis, but he really ought to have rematched Klitschko.

 

Nothing left to prove and old enough/mentally retired to focus on tough rematches. Vitali was a perfect sign for him to retire.