Vitali Klitschko, the most avoided heavyweight in the past 50 years?

yeah but there is many degrees of avoiding.

Don't forget Tyson paid Lewis a lot of cash to avoid him, that is not a normal avoid. Plus Lewis always planned on fighting him sooner or later anyways. I get what you mean, if Lewis had been 100 percent mano a mano and demanded to fight Tyson maybe the fight comes off when Tyson was close to his prime which didn't last too many years. I don't class that type of AVOID as the same degree as what Bowe did to avoid Lewis :bbb

 

What was the point of rematching Vitali? He had no motivation left to train and didn't want to end up a brain-damaged punching bag like many greats before him did. The money was there sure, except he had already made well over a hundred million and no more was necessary. He realized that his time at the top was about to be cut off, either by Vitali or someone else, and with his health still intact, made the perfectly logical choice to retire, with his legacy untainted.

Say what you want, but the onus was on Vitali to win that fight and carry on the legacy the same way many other champs have done throughout history (Louis-Marciano, Holmes-Ali, Tyson-Holmes), but when the moment occured, he failed to step up and got beaten. No excuses. Lewis was in the worst shape of his career and by beating Tyson pretty much closed the book. He was ready to be taken, and Vitali's inability to do what was required of him is his fault period.

 

Vitali has beaten a litany of nobodies.

Avoided? Why did he wait so long to fight a decent opponent? Why did he fight dross once he got a version of the title?

Are you seriously suggesting:
Ruiz
Toney
Barret
Golota
Oquendo
Brewster
Tyson
Tua
Ibeabuchi
McCline

etc.
Refused to challenge Vitali for his versions of titles?

Golota fought Lewis,Tyson and Bowe
Yet he was frightened of Vitali?

Ruiz fought Holyfield,Golota,Johnson,Toney,Valuev,Chagaev and at 38 Haye ,yet he was scared of Vitali?

Vitali fought men the calibre of:
Charr
Chisora
Solis
Sosnowski
Arreola
Williams

Of course they all went on to become legends.atsch
Vitali won the WBO title in1999, he defended it against Ed Mahone,and Obed Sullivan.Would no one else challenge him for his crown?


Vitali won the vacant WBC ttile in2004 and defended against Danny Williams,Sam Peter, and Juan Carlos Gomez.Were these the most deserving of title chances?


Vitali's reign was a joke , so is his resume,and so it this thread.

 

Bull****!!! Vitali himself ducked Rahman..In fact he retired rather than meet him..Those WHO wouldnt fight him while he was champ, was usually doing it because they were disgusted with the small purses and lousy cheap treatment they got from team Klit...

 

"I don't think lewis wanted the rematch and take the risk again.He knows that boy gonna fight him,again,and he gonna fight even harder this time.I think both learned something that night" L.Holmes

"I have another 3 big fights left in me after I defeat Vitali,i feel as young as ive ever did,im getting better as I age like fine wine" L.Lewis

Tyson/Ali/Holmes..etc...would never go out on a fight they knew was won on cuts down on the scorecards.In retrospect it is Lewis who had the training to finish this fight off....I can reference that as well...:nono.........


In short "He was on his way to becoming Hw champion against Lewis the fight should not have been stopped the blood was not in the eye" Angelo Dundee who seen his fare share of bad cuts.

 

Why do Lewis fanboys act like Lennox was in terrible shape for that fight? He wasn't..... The result is what it is, but that's nothing more than an excuse from the fanboys/Klitschko haters to detract away from Vitalis valiant effort. Lewis was in great shape. I've seen many out of shape heavyweights over the years, Lewis did not fit the bill that night. That's a cop out.

 

Pointing out the obvious doesn't mean one is a fanboy. He was nearly 38 years old, off for a full year and fighting at a career high weight. Attach that description to just about any other fighter in history and you'd be calling him washed up.

 

That would include a size of 6'5 and 255 would it?


"The year off helped me rest and let my body recover,ive been in boxing since I was 15 the lay off will not effect me in the least bit" L.Lewis :-(

 

There was big money for a rematch and at the age of 37 with less than 45 fights Lennox was not worn or burnt out, he looked fine vs Vitali, however I do think Vitali had a much better chance for victory in the rematch and Lennox was aware of that. If it was a matter of Lennox being in poor condition for the 1st fight, Lennox would have welcomed the rematch and the big money it would bring because it could be remedied by getting himself in top form. Lennox must have felt he was fortunate that he opened a cut over Vitali's eye and knew lighting does not usually strike 2 x

 

Holmes said the exact same thing before fighting Tyson. Boxers don't enter the ring after a slew of propaganda saying that they're not in top form..

 

Sanders, Adamek or Peters?

 

Holmes wouldve lost at any year,holmes is also not Lewis and was not the champion...who was way more active?Holmes at 43 took Holyfield the full distance didn't he?


P.s using Tyson in any argument doesn't work.:-(

 

Manipulating facts doesn't make you right. While 38, and fighting at a career high weight does not mean Lennox was out of shape.... He was clearly very in shape for a heavyweight, not out of shape at all.