T.K.O. in 6

Look at Lewis as he slumped into his stool at the end of round 6. He had nothing left.
Interesting you bring up the last 30 sec of round 6. Right at that mark Jim Lampley said "Lewis is having trouble with the pace".
Stop making excuses. Vitali kicked Lewis' ass. Was it a legitimate win for Lewis? Yes I have never disputed that it wasn't but it was a legitimate win for the record books that was about as much deserved as the victory Byrd received against Vitali which is to say not much at all.
There really ought to have been a rematch but if Lewis had gracefully bowed out and retired quickly after the fight allowing for a new champion to be crowned I wouldn't have had a problem with it but that's not at all what happened.
I don't mean to keep ragging on Lewis, I got nothing against the guy but you have to keep things honest.


So in your opinion he didn't fight Bryd because it wasn't a big enough fight but then Johnson was a better option? Why didn't Lewis ever fight southpaws?

 

Do you think he would have retired if he'd been confidant he could win that rematch ?

 

How old are you? Do you really need Lampley's comments to determine how you think? Let's see how brave you are and post the last 30 seconds of the fight for all to see, and then it will become obvious to us all what really happened.

Wait, we know that'll never happen so let me do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alzu9t1CmRM

Look at 25:30 when there's about 20 seconds left in the round and tell me who was tired and who was hurt. Lewis then ended the round by throwing an upper cut in the last couple of seconds. And he won the last round on all 3 judges scorecards. Best learn how to judge boxing if you want to discuss it kid.

 

Agree.

But many, me included, see his retirement as leaving a stone unturned when he didn't rematch Vitali.

He did indeed beat Vitali, but it was competitive enough to EASILY warrant a rematch in order for Lennox to prove himself more decisively.

 

His style didn't rely on fast paced and reflexes like Tyson, I reckon he could of definitely gone longer he just didn't train for Klitschko and still won and that was a prime Klitschko as well the same fighter people say is one of the all time greats. Lewis could of contined for a few more fights and picked up another $100m but he done well for himself and kept his money hence he hasn't needed to make a comeback in the ring.

 

What a tremendous fight that was. ALl these years later its still discussed and rewatched.

 

The commentators are at ringside and see what's going so their opinions are valid. It only serves to strengthen my own opinion that Lewis was completely done at the end of round 6 and had nothing left.

"last 30 sec's Vitali was hanging on for dear life." Um no that's not what happened. Lewis landed a few good punches but they didn't really hurt or stun Vitali. That last uppercut had very little on it. Vitali just did what he had been doing earlier and that was throwing himself into Lewis using his strength to make a tired fighter even more tired and it worked, look how tired and demoralized Lewis looked when he plops himself on his stool. I am not disputing that Lewis won that round but you are embellishing what actually happened.

The fact that you are attempting to insult me by asking my age and calling me a "kid" shows that you are getting quite flustered here.

 

Lennox ended his career on a better note than Vitali ended his.

 

I don't think there was much left for him to do, to be honest. When you are Heavyweight, the size of Lewis, is not like you can test yourself in a different division.

 

He retired a rich man with his health intact as a champion. Tell me a worse way to go out?

 

Tko 6

 

The problem with that is this game never ends. If he beat him then people would say he ducked his brother. It just never stops.

 

I give up. You're going to see what you want to see. They were a few good punches and Vitali landed exactly what during this time?

Answer, not a damn thing.

I'm not embellishing anything, if I were I wouldn't have posted the video. During that last 15 seconds Lewis was trying to create space between himself and Vitali, how can't you possibly see that, and when he did he fired an upper cut.

And tell me when was the last time a world heavyweight champion quite on his stool because of exhaustion? I'd like you to answer this question.

And you're right about the name calling, my apologies.

 

Lewis still cannot help telling anyone who will listen to this very day how he won that fight in such poor shape.

Going out like that will/is haunting Lewis to the day he dies.

 

I'm not trying to suggest that Lewis would have quit on his stool, I don't think he would have of but if the fight had continued and the ring doctor had let Vitali continue with the cut( that was no worse at the end of round 6 than it was at the end of round 5) then I believe Vitali stops him in the 7th.
It's really neither here nor there though and Lewis was given the victory, congratulations to him. My problem was not chiefly with the outcome of the fight but with Lewis' conduct in the post fight interview acting like a pompous jackass pretending that he was winning and completely belittling his opponent; making a list of excuses and demands as to why he wouldn't fight Klitschko again right away and holding the belt hostage for a year before retiring right before the WBC stripped him of his title for not meeting the deadline to sign to a Klitschko rematch.
Lewis should have done what Vitali did when he suffered the career halting knee injury and that was to retire quickly to allow for a new champ to be crowned.

I can tell we are not going to see eye to eye on this topic so we might as well agree to disagree.