The fight did more for Lewis because Vitali was the best he beat, even though LEwis was behind and dead tired. The re-match would have been great, but Lewis did not want any part of it!
He was 5 pounds above his ideal weight. It may also have been strategic. It probably did him more good than harm in that matchup, in order to increase his power and resistance. He was 37, a great age for superhw's and a year younger than the year I rate as Vitali's peak. If you can't accept reality that's your problem.
Vitali was green, unprepared, coming off injuries, had no fighting plan at all and he still pushed Lummox to his limits. Too bad Lady Luck and a biased doctor /referee were with lewis that night
The only thing that is biased are Klitschko fanboys. Any sane, rational human being can look at Vitali's eye at that fight and deduce that Vitali got his face smashed in. He was in no position to continue the fight. You don't need a medical degree to deduce that Vitali was done for. He was no match for a fat and underprepared Lewis.
Please, Holyfield is the most overrated fighter Lewis beat. Holyfield was at best the 3rd best fighter of his era, at worst the 4th best. He lost to a ton of contenders, and his only claim to fame was beating a past it Tyson (by illegal headbuts, which he should have been dq'd for in a bunch of fights). Holyfield can't hold a candle to either Vitali or Lewis.
Vitali has never beaten a great fighter. Look at his list of wins, who's the best? Danny Williams? Samuel Peter? Herbie Hide? He's made a career of beating overweight heavyweights who gass out within 6 rounds. Holyfield has wins over Mike Tyson, Rid**** Bowe, George Foreman, etc. And Tyson by 1996 was not ''past it'' - he was coming off two early round KO's over two champions. His win over Bruno in 95 was quicker than his 1989 win over Bruno. There's a reason why Tyson even in 1996 was a 6-1 favorite over Holyfield. He was still a destructive force. Holyfield isn't on Lewis's level, but Vitali isn't on Lewis's level either.
Lennox is the only fighter I can recall who slipped away with a win like that and was not absolutely ****ted on for not giving a rematch. I believe it's because most people don't like Klitschko. If it was a young American HW the fight would be looked at in a different light. Regardless, it was the last great HW fight IMO. But let's be honest, the fact is Lennox was losing the bout, cut Vitali with a grazing shot, and was a beaten and exhausted man by the stop of the fight.
Lennox didn't just ''cut'' him with a grazing shot; it's clear that Lewis was landing the harder, sharper punches. He then began consistently targeting taht cut.
Lennox was not landing the harder or sharper punches. He mustered up all his strength to land his best shot of the fight, an uppercut, that Vitali walked through. By the end of round 6, Lennox had nothing left and could barely keep himself up. You'd have to be quite biased to say he was going to come on strong the next couple of rounds if he had been landing more consistently and harder punches he would have won more than 2 rounds.
He was. As the rounds progressed, he began to land more shots; if Lennox was not landing the harder punches, then Vitali wouldn't be the one with the giant cut, Lennox would. Once that cut opened, it was all over for Vitali. A few jabs was enough to burst it open.