T.K.O. in 6

How old are you? Cause it doesn't matter if you give and **** but your body will no longer do what it use to. Grow up ffs.

 

:nono

Klittards, not Americans. :deal

 

Vitali was the right time I guess. Without him Lennox would have continued. Lennox had no choice but to retire.

 

That's one way to look at it. Otherwise is that an aging champ beat a very formidable young foe and that Vitali proved there was no quit in him and both provided boxing fans with a very entertaining fight.

I don't really understand why there's so much negativity surrounding this fight given what I've just said, especially if anyone watched the Wlad - Povetkin fight

 

Spin it all you want, the fights been over for 10 years and Lewis won. Whether he should have rematched Vitali or not doesn't really matter now does it? I would have liked to have seen a rematch but there's never been an obligation for the champ to win and then offer the challenger a rematch, especially if he retired. You would begin to have a valid point if Lewis had stayed active and fought other fighters beside Vitali, but that never happened, so your point has no validity whatsoever.

Vitali knew after the 3rd round that he was on borrowed time and the onus was on him to win the fight. He never, end of story.

 

It seems most of you weren't born when this fight took place because you know **** about what was going on at the time.

The fact is Lewis was scheduled to fight Vitali in November of that year. Prior to this, both were on the same card in June of '03. Lewis was scheduled to fight Kirk Johnson billed as a battle of two Canadians. Vitali was suppose to fight Boswell.

The fight was being promoted by Lewis under the banner of Lions promotions. This is a very key point.

sometime about 3 weeks before the fight was to occur, Kirk told the Lewis camp he hurt himself in sparring and wouldn't be ready for the fight.

Lewis realizing he was going to loose millions of $$. decided to move the fight scheduled between himself and Vitali in November to the June date.

It has been said that a heavyweight champ deciding to fight a different fighter with about 2 weeks notice was almost unprecedented. He and to the same extent Vitali had been training for different fighters.

Now contrary to the Klitschko idiot fan club, Lewis won that fight fair and square because he threw a punch intending to cause damage and it did.

Only Klitschko fans can think it was controversial because cuts happen in fights and they are a legitimate way to end a fight. And only a nut would try and turn a victory, which is what Lewis achieved by winning the fight into some kind of loss.

It was pathetic then and 11 years later it's still pathetic.

Fact is (and yes fact is the right word) Vitali knew he was injured in the fight and he knew he was living on borrowed time and that if he was going to beat Lewis he had to do it before the fight was stopped due to the cut.

He simply failed to do this and therefore Lewis won.

Now had Lewis fought other fighters instead of giving Vitali a rematch, some of these fanatics would have a valid point about Lewis ducking Vitali, but instead Lewis chose to retire.

But make no mistake about it, he retired having beaten Vitali so he can't be accused of both beating him and ducking him.

He beat him and choose to retire, which at 37 was his right to do.

 

There are tons of newspaper articles detailing the cheating, and unlike the Klitschos, Jack Johnson didn't diet on a lifetime supply of government steroids.

 

more clinches than ali, or ruiz? impossible.

 

He was going to recieve Johnson at LA in the Staples Center but nobody wanted to see Lewis play with a fat Johnson, sales were poor.

When it was announced on short notice, Lewis would try to lick a Klit from Eastern Europe, sales improved.

Lewis said he was very excited to to get his hands on Johnson, and was in the best shape he had been in a long time, he was so eager for it. Johnson gets Lewis up like nothing else.

 

No boxer retires "too soon."

 

He does. I like LL and think he's an ATG HW.

He was fortunate that Vitali sustained the cuts - the worst by far of his career - since LL was losing. I think LL is bitter that Vitali, even in losing, forced LL to retire.

Lewis could have pocketed many more millions fighting the Kirk Johnson's of the div. A rematch w/VK would have been $huge$, but LL decided not to risk it. I think it was a smart move on LL's part, but it's obvious he's bothered about it.

 

:goodWord.

Ken Norton, and others, complained about Ali the clinch & jab master :deal
Of course Norton has a reason to be bitter, he was robbed in the 3rd bout vs Ali.

 

Total myth. Watch his fights with Briggs and Tua, particularly Briggs. He took flush shots against Briggs that would have KO'd an elephant.

Hell, watch his fight against Vitali. Round 2 or 3 Vitali lands an absolute monster 1-2 flush on Lewis' chin and Lewis barely blinks. His chief weakness was not preparing properly and fighting lazily against opponents he believed to be beneath him.

 

Here's the difference.....Ali fought a much higher level of comp and had been through wars. Ruiz has never been thought of as an elite heavyweight. And no, neither held as much as Wlad. Combine that with the fact this era is horrible and Wlads comp sucks more oftent than not and his clinching is appalling.

 

Distorting history?? Holy Christ you guys are certifiable.

Check out Boxrec if you don't know who won the fight.

And Lewis' best round was round 6 which he won on all the cards (not that cards mean **** when the fighter can't continue) so where you get this demoralized crap from is a mystery to me. Hell in the last 30 sec's Vitali was hanging on for dear life.

As for the last paragraph I can live with that comment. I don't think he ducked Byrd because he was a southpaw, I think he didn't want to fight him because he felt there was no money in it.