The ref had already given Klitschko one more round and had informed the corner. The sixth was that round. Myth. The reality was that the fight was never in danger of being stopped.
Lewis retired because he was shocked at how good Vitali was, and petrified of a rematch. Sorry it's that simple.
Correct, and he knew he wouldn't win on a cut again. The Kirk Johnson demolition also made his mind up for him.
Correction, Lewis retired because he was shocked at how good Vitali was and didn't want to put himself through another tough at that stage of his career. He'd already fought Vitali once and it was the most difficult fight he'd had in years, he didn't want to do it again. It's that simple. He wasn't scared of Vitali - he'd already beat him, and beat him while he was in the worst condition he'd ever been in, he had nothing to be afraid of - but he knew what it would take to beat him again and wasn't sure he had the mindset or ability to do it anymore, and certainly didn't think the effort required would be worthwhile for the reward.
That stage of his career? You mean exactly a year after his self proclaimed defining fight and peak? All this from the man who is like fine wine, getting better with age. Sorry, but that's ridiculous.
Yes, that stage of his career. Approaching 40 and well out of his prime years and on the slide. What he said on the matter doesn't change the fact that he was declining, hadn't had a fight in a slightly over a year before meeting Vitali and wasn't the fighter he had been when he'd dominated Holyfield. 2003 wasn't his peak and anyone with eyes could see that, that Lewis may have deluded himself for while into believing it doesn't make it so, nor did his delusion of getting better with age make it a fact. Struggling with Vitali as he did forced him to accept reality. That he wasn't at his peak, that he wasn't getting better, that he was on the decline, and at that stage of his career he wasn't prepared to put himself through the work needed to be in the condition required to be totally confident of victory, and was certainly not prepared to put himself through the tough challenge of beating Vitali a second time.
In other words: He retired to avoid a rematch with Vitali, who was a lot better than Lewis thought he was.
Yes, because Lewis thought Vitali was a bum but instead Vitali proved to be a very good Heavyweight who gave him his toughest fight in years. And having had that tough fight, Lewis reassesed himself, realized he'd been deluding himself, didn't feel he had it in him anymore physically or mentally to go through a fight that tough again and be sure of victory, and walked away before he embarrased himself. The difference between our point of view here being, you claim Lewis made his decision to retire because he was "petrified" of Vitali whereas I claim Lewis made that decision because he knew he was on the decline and couldn't handle fighting at the top level anymore.
Well I reckon it looked more like fear to be honest, Lewis had it at the very top level a year previous, what a coincidence that as soon as he fights Vitali he decides he doesn't have it anymore, in fact if that was the case, why didn't he say that? The excuse he gave was 'my mum told me to retire'.
There was a lot of interest in the rematch with Vitali.. If Lewis wasn't scared he wouldn't have turned down a big pay day like that. we all know the truth, Lewis ran from Vitali and hid in retirement like a coward.
Yep, anyone with a brain can see it. Why does he always pop up bleating on and on about how to beat the K bros, and why did he appear with all the Klitschko opponents, offering them advice and sitting ringside for every fight? He clearly has an axe to grind, that axe is that he knows Vitali had the beating of him and in a rematch he might not have been so fortunate as to cut Vitali. Lewis won by the skin of his teeth, then ran from the rematch.
It was a career defining fight for casual fans but no serious boxing fan saw Tyson as a serious threat. And he wasn't at his peak for the Tyson fight. I noticed a clear decline in his hand speed for that fight and the loss to Rahman showed his mental decline if not his physical. Lewis was not far past his best when he fought Vitali but the decline had begun.
he was enjoying his lifestyle too much, and simply didn't fancy it. too much like hard work at that stage of his career. he knew from experience how much it would take to beat a good and much younger man in vitali. it's funny how people deny the evidence of their own eyes with lennox, he was in poor shape against vitali. who cares what he said about wine? look at him.
Getting pummelled does tend to make you look in poor shape. If what you say is true, why the hell didn't he just say it instead of pretending his mum told him to retire?