Guys, who cares if he looked tired?????? In a fight with two super heavies. Who cares of he was tired?????? Hell of a fight tho. 12 rounds of that **** would have been awesome. A rematch would have been even better. Both time to prep. No excuses.
Lewis was getting too old and Vitali was only going to get better. That a perfectly reasonable excuse for Lewis not to have a rematch. As for the thread question. Wlad’s 5th round demolition of the dangerous and unbeaten Pulev is the best heavyweight win since 2003.
Lewis beating Vitali was a big and important win for LL, but was slightly unsatisfactory because it ended on cuts. Cuts stoppages are often unsatisfactory and the fight itself got a little untidy. Would have loved to see a return. Tyson Fury going to Germany and beating Wlad widely is a greater win probably, but was not really an exciting bout. Andy Ruiz coming off the canvas as a big underdog to blast AJ with 4 knockdowns in seven rounds is a better win than Lennox-Vitali, I think. Wlad-Pulev was a good exciting fight, one of Wladimir's best. Brewster-Wlad I in 2004 was a shocker Maskaev-Rahman II was a good win for Oleg. Joshua-Wlad in 2017 was exciting.
This. There's absolutely no comparing Fury or Joshua beating Old Man Wladimir to Old Lewis beating a (prime or near prime) Vitali. Absolutely none at all. You'd have to have a warped view of reality to see it like that. I mean, ancient Holyfield was begging the Klitschkos for a fight. If either had taken him up on the offer and wiped the floor with him, would anybody be seeing it as some great win? Hell no. It would be a prime fighter beating a guy well past the sell-by date. I think Vitali > Lewis at that point, and Lewis did very well indeed to come with the grit of a true champion from behind and score the TKO. It was a fantastic win and its what puts Lewis into the top 3 HW in my view.
Everyone has different opinions on a forum, friend, so everyone is entitled to their view. There's no need for the rest of the "warped reality" talk. It's like overdone forum nonsense, with respect. Fury beating Wlad in Germany was a great win whether it's acknowledged now or not. Everyone is always wise after the event and while Wlad did show signs of slipping, at the time hardly anyone gave Fury a chance. To agree with you though, I'd have Lennox in my top five HW probably.
I was impressed by LL's heart in the Klitschko fight...but as much as I admire LL overall, I don't think he would have won that fight without the cut stoppage. That said, I put Lewis behind only Ali, Louis, Holmes, Foreman, and Holyfield as ATG heavyweight.
He didn't say Joshua , he said Fury. You are misquoting people again. Wlad who was 39 was expected to deal with Fury without any issue. Fury the huge underdog turned up to give Wlad a boxing lesson on his home turf. Because Fury was the underdog who pulled off a feat nobody expected him to is why his win is greater than Lennox win on cuts over a guy he was expected to beat. Wlad was also better prepared and was a lot more focused on beating Fury than Lewis was against Vitali. Fury -WK Ruiz- AJ Lewis - Vitali .. is how i see it.
One of the last great fights between elite level guys, IMHO. Lewis looked absolutely spent when the fight was near the end. Vitali looked like he'd been mugged. By four people. With baseball bats. Both men showed tremendous heart that night.
Sure, sure. I rate Valuev as #5 because of his crushing win over Holyfield. Not quite as good as Berbick's win over Ali though. Actually a lot of people called it that Wlad was looking old and that Fury had a good chance: Wlad is old: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/wlad-getting-old.549278/ Wlad is afraid of Briggs and Fury: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/kind-of-feel-wlad-afraid-of-briggs.550874/ Wlad gonna get detonated on and put to sleep by Fury: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/what-happens-when-fury-detonates-on-wlads-mandible.551077/ Reminder that Steward picked Fury as the next big thing: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/steward-on-fury-he-will-be-the-next-great-heavyweight.551055/ Klitschko saying Fury is going to be a tough fight: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...will-be-one-of-his-toughest-opponents.551479/ Fury looking great: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/fury-looking-in-shape.551670/
Might be. It's one of those wins that looks great in hindsight, a la Sanchez-Nelson. We didn't yet know the career Klitschko was going to have. At the time Lewis taking on a late substitute and wasn't in the best of condition, the Byrd-Klitschko fight was still in our minds, and it wasn't a hotly anticipated super fight by any measure. The fact that Klitschko went on to have the career that he did and that Lewis pulled it out despite being less than 100% makes it a great win, with the benefit of hindsight.