Re-examining The Record of Lennox Claudius Lewis - Is The Lion Being Overrated?

People say that Lewis was relatively young for a HW at 37, and was still in his prime. They ignore the fact that fighters age differently. Holyfield and Hopkins were able to fight into their 50's, while fighters like Tyson and Benitez peaked early and were past their primes by their mid 20's.

 

Take a deep breath, bro. I could care less how Lewis lost. I am not a Lewis fan. Just pointing out your inconsistency. Don't take it too personal. lol

 

Well that's your opinion but that all it is an opinion.

Some could say Lewis was stopped too early against McCall, he was up and a couple of seconds after it being waved off was clear headed. But most Lewis fans in general just accept he looked hurt and whatever happened in the next 2 seconds was irrelevant as the fight had already been stopped.

There was no need for Lewis fans to say Lewis was drugged, that he had some kind of physical fault like high blood sugar which was suspicious. No excuses like he was thumbed or laced or injured in some other way.

The worst excuse you'll hear for that loss is that it was a lucky punch and that McCall had his eyes closed. There no need to devalue McCall achievement by saying Lewis would have won had it been allowed to continue or that Lewis "won the event" whatever that means. Lewis simply lost to a man with a better strategy that night. He had flaws and his opponent exploited them.

You don't see threads now about how Lewis was robbed by an incompetent ref. But 10 years from now I'm sure we will still be seeing threads about how Vitali was laced, Wlad was drugged blah, blah, blah.

 

Klit****s love to play semantics. What does it matter that Vitali was ahead on the scorecards? He still lost by TKO.

Hearns was well ahead on the scorecards in his first fight against Leonard, but he still got stopped. Therefore, IT'S STILL A LOSS.

 

Lewis is the only person in the World who didn't want a rematch. That's all you need to know.

Vitali may not be ATG but his greatest accomplishment is retiring Lennox Lewis for GOOD, full stop.

 

Lewis outboxed Vitali. Vitali lost because of his low guard. It usually works against most of the opponents in the division. But Lewis, height, reach and jab took it away from him. Wladimir with his jab would have been an even tougher matchup for Vitali.

 

The simply rules of boxing seem far to complex for these Klitschko fanatics.

 

Maybe, just maybe, Vitali made Lewis realize that he didn't have it in him anymore to put the type of work in necessary to fight a fighter like Kiltschko. I give Lewis credit for knowing when to hang his gloves up. Lewis never "unretired" so I assume it was just his time to go and he realized that. I heard his woman and his mother were begging him to quit. If the desire was no longer there and he was financially set, why not walk away? Lewis' first obligations are to his family and his self, not to some fans who only want to see him stretched out by Klitschko.

 

Are you dense?? you don't see the difference between close fights in the primes of two fighters careers and Lewis deciding to retire at aged 38?? What's next pull him out of the grave for a rematch FFS let it go already.

 

Fixed :deal

Not according to Steward who said Lewis chose what his future wife wanted above what he wanted.

But what really caused the talks of a rematch to cease was neither Vitali’s nor Lennox’s doing, instead it was all because of a woman. According to a recent interview with Lennox’s former master trainer Emanuel Steward, Lennox’s wife Violet Chang did not want him to ever box again, giving him an ultimatum to choose: it’s either boxing or her. (East Side Boxing' One the Ropes Boxing Radio Program, Geoffrey Ciani).

 

Actually it was his mother than didn't want him to get back into the ring.

Obviously you've never boxed, never been near a boxer and have no idea what's involved in boxing. If you did, you'd know that there's nothing wrong with retiring when you think your skills are starting to decline and there's nothing wrong with retiring before getting permanently injured.

If Vitali didn't retire Lewis than sooner or later someone else would have. Or he would have just hung on being a shell of himself like Holyfield, or worse, Briggs who Lewis beat damn near 20 years ago.

Age catches up with all of us, it's the one thing no athlete can avoid.

 

If you want to talk about spinning reality into fantasy then keep going on about "lucky cuts". One cut could be deemed a lucky shot, not denying that, but when you have 3 cuts to your face and a cut to your lip, that isn't bad luck that's either taking far too many shots or your face has just been run over by a truck.

Yes Vitali wanted the rematch, Steward wanted the rematch, boxing fans including myself wanted the rematch. But Lewis has his right to do what he wants, the fans don't own a fighter, boxers aren't roman gladiators living and dying for the peoples pleasure, they are people like everyone else.

I wanted Vitali to end his career on a high by beating Haye instead of ending it by beating a clown in Charr and then following up with a drawn out retirement. But I don't begrudge him his decision to retire and take up a political career, he has that right as does every boxer to choose when he has nothing else left to give.

I can understand why people feel they may have been robbed of a great rematch but the amount of bile and vitriol thrown at Lewis for simply retiring is unwarranted.