Vitali's resume may be a little weak but some of his feats are actually amazing

Vitali had only two weeks notice for the fight...............what if Vitali had had time to train for that fight? However, Vitali was on his way to a knock out victory and, ANGELO DUNDEE SAID THAT VITALI WAS CHEATED OUT OF THE WBC TITLE THAT NIGHT. Dundee was not only Ali and Leonard's trainer, but he was one of the best cut men on the planet. Compare Vitali's cut with Marciano's cut, not to mention so many other fighters..............

 

and alvarado was holding on for life in round 2 in the rios rematch and look how that turned out. Bradley was literally a dead man after round 1 vs provodnikov and look how that turned out. Fighters have been known to recover in between rounds.

 

Hell, Provodnikov left Bradley on the canvas at the end of that fight. Bradley could not talk, was dizzy for a long time, in Bradley's own words..............

 

Ít doesn´t mean anything, cause Vitaly got stopped. He was in front on the scorecards, i give you that, but the momentum of the fight had changed. Early on Vitaly was outboxing Lewis, did even hurt him at one point, but after the 3rd Lewis took control of the fight and was landing the much better shots.

 

tko6

 

As a Vitaly fanatic you may have really seen it that way. It´s not the reality though. And the fact is still TKO6.

 

And Vitali had been worn down and had very little left to give either. He was gulping for air as he sat on his stool after round 6. He was in better condition than Lewis but not be a large margin.

Maybe he did, but his injury was not as bad as Vitali and he could still fight on through without putting himself in danger of some serious perminent injury. Vitali, on the other hand, could not.

Given that HBO might well have been sucking Vitali **** the whole night how little impartiality they had during the fight I think George Foremans comment from round 6 is telling, that Lewis had no respect for Vitali power. Vitali was not hurting Lewis. It was so obvious that he wasn't hurting Lewis that Foreman, who had claimed several times before round 6 that it would only one more shot to finish Lewis off, felt the need to comment on it.

And that ridiculous comment as the 6th round came to an end, that "it was all Lewis could do to stand up", totally betrays how bad HBO commentary was that night, but in that quote the commentary says its not because Vitali's hurting him but because his conditionings so bad.

Here's the only quote I could find from Dundee on the subject:

“He was on the way to becoming champion against Lennox Lewis, the fight shouldn’t have been stopped. But, you know, that’s boxing sometimes. The cut wasn’t in a dangerous place. It wasn’t bleeding into the eye. The younger brother, in my mind, is the better fighter. He’s got so many tools, he throws straight punches. Especially that left hand. He must be a converted southpaw.”

Dundee doesnt say that Vitali was "cheated out o the WBC title", he clearly says that he thinks Vitali was unlucky to lose but that boxing. Unless you have alternate quote that says otherwise.

Yes, HBO wanted a rematch, most fans wanted a rematch, Vitali deserved a rematch, but Lewis didn't want it at that stage of his career. He knew how hard the fight would be and didn't think he had it in him anymore to get to the stage physically or mentally where he could enter the ring sure of victory. When a fighter gets to that stage its better to walk away.

And, again, all of it comes back to the fact that on that night and in that fight Vitali just wasn't good enough to get the job done and he only has himself to blame.

 

Fact TKO because of Lewis' promoter, doctor and referee. The ref did not even bother to look at the cut, but he sure looked at Lewis promoter/doctor. If not for the cut Lewis would have been knocked out. And if Lewis was so confident, then why not rematch after he gave his word? Why such a badly broken nose? Stop the fight for that, but Vitali only needed one more round, that's all he asked for, just like Marciano. Angelo Dundee would not lie about the cut. Lewis was cuffing, lacing, rubbing his hair on the cut, yet no warning by the referee. Lewis' punches did nothing to Vitali, but Vitali staggered Lewis. Even Max knew the truth..........and Vitali had only two weeks notice for that fight. Again, if Lewis thought that Vitali was his easiest fight, then he would not have turned such a huge amount of money for the rematch.........

 

Actually, he doesn't hold the best ko percentage. If i recall correctly, it still belong to Rocky Marciano.

 

everyone saying Lewis was out of shape.. yea he was, but a boxers shape doesn't become evident until mid rounds, when he starts to tire.. Lewis was getting rocked in the second and third rounds..VITALI was tactically and intellectually OUTBOXING HIM. His timing, reflexes were perfect. You have all your strength and stamina there.. whether you are in shape or not

 

Bull****. Vitali was stumbling after Lewis and refusing to allow him to back up to have any room to throw anything. I've not seen a fighter that desperate to prevent Lewis throwing a punch since Akinwande. The only man attempting to throw anything in the final moments of the 6th round was Lewis, Vitali was desperate to see the round out.

The doctor did look at the cut, and the referee warned Vitali that unless he protected his cut better or stopped Lewis then he would be forced to call it off. Vitali was given an extra one or two rounds to get the job done and get the W, the fight should have been stopped earlier, but even with those extra rounds Vitali simply wasn't good enough to finish Lewis off and, in fact, wasn't hurting him anymore.

...yes...that's a fight we all want to see. Old-man Vitali still clinging onto his WBC belt when he's shot and not had a fight in over a year and more interested in politics verses a fat Lewis who's been retired for around a decade. That'd bring the punters in...

I doubt very much that Vitali had the ability to offer a career high payday, not even HBO could do that. Lewis's career high payday was his fight with Tyson, which was, in fact, the biggest money fight in history at the time and the highest grossing Heavyweight PPV event ever. Vitali did not have the profile or the drawing power to match it.

Because Lewis didn't think it would be an easy fight, knew it would be a diffcult fight, so instead justified his decision to retire but pointing to the fact that he had been in the worst condition he'd ever been against a clearly better prepared, better conditioned and hungrier fighter and he'd still won, destroying Vitali's face in the process. There are worse ways to end your career.

Because Lewis's "broken nose" - if, indeed it was broken - was not something that could potentially endanger his permenant health, where as Vitali was in danger of losing an eye and had to have sixty stitches to repare the damage. Vitali's injuries in that fight were far worse than Lewis's.