He didn't get knocked out, Lewis got a narrow escape from the ringside doctor. To say Vitali didn't have an answer for Lennox's power....umm, what? Lennox landed an uppercut on him that would have decapitated most HW's and Vitali kept coming after Lewis landing his own power shots.
Yes he did. The fight was stopped because Lewis's injury was a serious risk to his health. If Vitali had an answer for Lewis's power, he would not have had that disgusting cut. The fight was not a ''narrow'' escape. Vitali had a big cut and Lewis was targeting it; his victory could not be any clearer than Vitali's face. A lot of boxers don't want to quit but are forced to. Joe Frazier wanted to keep fighting Ali in their 3rd fight but their corner called it quits.
Yep it does really. Vitali lost to the best two fighters he faced. One was very unlucky he had a real bad injury. But an old past prime Lewis had him stumbling all over the show and ready to go and then had him cut to ribbons people cry about it all they want it was the correct decision. Its boxing people git hit and cut and if its deemed to be a bad injury the other guy wins. Its about being hit and not getting hit and that's what happened with Vitali his face didn't hold up. After Bryd and Lewis Vitali doesn't have many great wins. Good fighter but faced a lot of B level competition. LEWIS TKO6
yes and no, in one sense he retired Lewis and was ahead on the cards when stopped by injury but in the other sense he allowed Lewis to get away with it and claim a tko. The record books will always show tko6 and that's the bottom line.
He gained more from that loss than any single win during the rest of his career. Sure he lost but he showed he could compete with a genuine ATG. Personally I think both gained from that fight. Lewis also beat a guy in his last performance that would go on to be a dominant title holder with only Wlad achieving more in the era that followed. Most champions at the end lose to the best of the next generation, Lewis didn't.
Stupid troll thread with stupid troll comments that will be sure to be moved inside the other stupid "tko6" thread. Lewis near prime, Vitali pre prime, any posters are simply deluding themselves to argue that that fight showed unequivocally that Lewis was superior. That was one of the great HW fights of all time, and one of the HW fights most obviously worthy of a rematch. All that said, Vitali did still lose, and Lewis was the only top 10 ATG hw he ever faced, so of course his resume isn't what it would have been with a win. If he won that and everything else stays the same his resume gets transformed from fringe top 10 to clear top 5 or better.
Vitali was beating the **** outta Lewis in tha fight, before the corrupt racially and nationalistically biased doctor unjustly stopped the fight when Lewis was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. They robbed Vitali off his shot at glory, Lewis got his win by cheating with illegal blows and thanks to a biased doctor, referee and venue. Vitali at least got the moral victory by forcing Lewis to retire out of fear, once the WBC ordered the rematch, Lennox knew he had no chance against well prepared Vitali (the green one, unprepared one almost had him). Vitali didn't oficially beat Lewis but he still ended the Lion's career
They both gained but Lewis gained much more A very very fitting ending, trumping another ATG level boxer at his prime and at Lewis's worse. :nod Slow/undertrained/undermotivated/under the weather/fat Lewis TKO6 Vitali :nod