T.K.O. in 6

Lewis took the fight on short notice against the strong, young upstart number one contender. He had previously said he was looking to retire after a fight with Roy or Vits. This isnt about retiring though, its about how great a victory it was. Rematch has nothing to do with this. We're judging this fight only. If its not a good to great win that puts Vits in a bad light in spite of a strong showing.

 

No, Vitali took the fight on short notice....Lewis was already preparing to defend against Johnson.

 

Once you reach a certain level of greatness, a controversial victory/loss/draw can work against you... although TKO6 is TKO6 so not sure of the controversy over cuts stopping a fight. It happens all the time and is a legit means of victory. It wasn't a scratch and it wasn't the 12th round.

Even if you did find it controversial, it doesn't change the surface value of the victory.

The circumstances happened to the great Lewis so it seems negative at first when assessing what he had done prior. Thoughts of "the dominant HW champ should have never been losing 58-56 in the first place!" are vastly overstated.

But if a 0-0 fighter or an 11-7 novice journeyman faced Vitali that night and the exact same fight occurred, punch for punch, it would be a miraculous come-from-behind cuts victory in an all time great HW war over a past champion praised by the masses.

So, in the end, being one of two fighters to ever beat Vitali is always a great thing, regardless of the hatred. Usually when it comes to sporting, the more you are hated, the more you are doing something right. And Lennox can rest easy with that notion as people still continue to bring up the fight a decade later as their emotions flutter.

 

Lennox was already in training, yes.

But each of them did have the same amount of time to prepare for each other.

(why don't people give Lennox and Vitali props for taking each other on with short notice?)

 

Lewis just exposed Vitali for what he really was, an slightly above average boxer.

Imagine had Lewis been in shape and motivated what would have happened to Vitali then.

Then the Klit fans imagine Viali or Vlad could hang with a prime Ali. If Lewis busted Vitali's face up like that, Ali would have sliced his face up like a chunk of ham on a slicer.

 

And Vits was preparing for Cedric Boswell at the same time. Lewis had no more time to prepare for Vits than vice versa. This is an indisputable fact no matter how many try to twist it.

 

Good post.

 

Best win in Lennox' career IMO.

He beat a top contender in his absolute prime (before major injuries etc). That contender went on to become the #1 in the division for a couple years and remained unbeaten. Lennox was the last man to beat him.

Rahman, Ruddock, Tua, Holyfield, Tyson all don't match up to the win over prime Vitali.

 

Well with the way all the klit fan boys go on about how great vitali is it has to be a great win as , as well as looking like a really great win for lennox it is also a career defining loss for vitali the only top level fighter he faced stopped him and left him looking like a sliced up mugging victim

 

Lewis was pretty much retired after Tyson and no longer focused on being in top shape, especially for an underacheiver like Johnson. His win against Vits is impressive because of this and the heart Vits showed in that fight. I agree had both been at their best Lewis would have won much easier.

 

Lewis win over Tyson is 10x better than his win over Vitali who had never faced a Tyson, Holyfield or Ruddock.
Lewis's win over Vitali is less than many of his previos wins and only special in that it was his last fight before retiring.
That retirement win served as a reference for his new line of work, face shaping.

 

In his defense he proved himself capable of hanging with a great even if said great wasnt at his best. Respect showed be given to both fighters for this fight. There are a lot of things i pick on Vits career about...this is not one of them.

 

Lennox win over Tyson was about as good as Danny Williams' or Kevin McBride's win over the same Tyson. Iron Mike was shot for 10+ years and Lennox win was a formality, nothing else.

What fights did Tyson win after getting beat up by Lennox? What belts did he hold? What ranking did he achieve in the HW top 10? Now compare that to Vitali.

Yes, you just a complete fool out of yourself.

 

>Retirement<

 

I dont think Im exaggerating to say that every single fighter, since the beginning of time, has said "This is my best camp ever"

NOT AN OUNCE OF FAT???