Of course Wlad should have attempted to secure rematches...all the great fighters rematched fighters who defeated them.
But Wlad only had to fight Thompson as he was a mandatory. TT is vastly underrated and would of beaten many of the fighters of the 90's.
I don't suppose you have anything you'd like to say about the 71 Ali vs prime Louis thread? You're just about the most astute poster here and if anyone can tell me I'm full of it or have overlooked something important, it's you.
The only reason Lewis rematched McCall and Rahman was because they had his belt, not because he was desperate to make his legacy look better.
Well, vacated by Bruno to fight Tyson in a cash out after getting a decision. McCall was the still the champion in my eyes and Lewis had to fight him.
McCall wasn't the champion in any way shape or form tho and no-one should have seen him as such. He got rolled and the title was 100% vacant after Bruno abdicated. No-one knows Lewis' reasons for rematching but whatever they were they were sound and helped his career legacy. Lewis was on the verge of a big money Tyson fight pre Rahman, a fight he'd wanted for years. The rematch clause was possibly as much to insure that bout happening as anything i think.
McCall got rolled my ass. Bruno got a home towner. If you want to see getting rolled check Lewis MacCall 1. And "No one knows the reason for Lewis rematching?" Are you serious? Lewis offered McCall $10m and got told to gtf and had to fight Butler, Fortune, Morrison and Mercer (lucky to win) to get the spot vs McCall for the vacant strap. LOL He rematched Rahman because he had a clause and lost his belt by KO.
The bottom line is Bruno won the fight and the title. McCall was without the title. McCall did not have his belt as you claimed. Here's one of the the urban dictionary's explanation for "rolled" rolled To be ripped off or robbed. This usually occurs at gunpoint, but can sometimes be achieved by craftier methods. Claiming he didn't rematch for legacy reasons is a stab in the dark. Great fighters usually want revenge when beaten and i have little doubt this played a part, no matter how big or small. I can't read minds tho and will concede no-one outside Lewis and maybe his immediate team would ever know.
Wlad on time before working with Steward, would lose ten outta ten fights with Sanders, and all of them - by KO. Sanders had a 3-5 round gas tank, but Wlad didn't had enough chin and at that time he couldn't use a clinch so effectively
He's a solid fighter who on his day would give a good fight to any of the previous top 10. There's no reason to believe that he couldn't best Tua, Ruiz, Golota, Grant etc.