Is it irrefutable that Lennox Lewis cheated and fouled to victory over Vitali Klitschko?

I'm much more a fan of Lewis than Vitali, but feel that Lewis was on his way to a loss.

 

Lewis looked terrible that fight

Fat, slow, lethargic ... But he managed to legitimately cut Klitschko and win the fight on cuts

He was gasing and would have been out of steam before Klitschko

An in shape Lewis vs Klitschko would have been an interesting bout

 

What big foul tho?

 

Lewis deserved the win.
But I think he looked awful. He was wise to retire.

 

The fight was barely half over and Vitali looked like someone had drove a lawn mower over his face. There wasn’t anything illegal about it. It was a legitimate cut caused by a punch.

It was a messy fight where an old, out of shape Lewis rallied from a terrible start to legitimately stop prime Vitali on a couple of the worst cuts you would see. Lewis looked bad but Klitschko in arguably the best performance of his career against the unquestionably the best fighter he ever fought didn’t look that great either. Both were sloppy and badly gassed by round 6. I don’t think it’s a fait accompli that Vitali wins that fight minus the cuts. Lewis landed some monster shots in the final two rounds and appeared to be coming on.

Who really cares now anyway? Both fighters stock rose after this fight in retrospect from what occurred. Lewis had a great farewell win over a future long term force. Vitali had an “unlucky” loss over a legitimate all time great. As close to a win/win scenario as it gets.

 

Did we just agree on something about Lennox Lewis?

Lewis was indeed wise to retire. Lewis did what he had to do in order to earn the win but, he'd had to dig deep and battle on pure fighting instinct. All form had gone out of the window.

It was a great scrap, but everything at that stage pointed to his retirement and leaving the sport, whilst on top.

 

Why why why Delilah... Do people insist on Lewis cheating. If Lennox had being cut in ex the same way and pulled out, would they have accused Klitschko the same??

 

Klit fans live on a different plane of reality

 

Upon watching that fight again, I think I boo-boo'd, sorry.

But I still feel Lewis would have lost that one.

 

Lennox collapsed onto his stool at the end of the last round, utterly exhausted and losing.

Vitali was still 100% after absorbing LL's best shots and still full of energy.

Lennox was on his way to a humiliatingly defeat probably by KO. He was indeed wise to retire and quit boxing rather than face Vitali again. Lennox escaped with the win, but he was done as the Champion.

 

Bob Garrett is deemed by some people on Quora a disgrace, a fake boxing coach, and according to these guys, he made up everything and usually lies a lot, like claiming he knocked out every Muhammad Ali's opponent in a sparring match and trained Arnold Schwarzenegger ex.....

 

This is another 'What-if...' scenario, isn't it?

 

An aging out of shape Lewis beat Vitali's face into hamburger and crying he cheated is the best people can say? A few years earlier an in shape Lennox stops him in brutal fashion.

 

Legit result. But one which left a slightly sour taste in the mouth.
It's pure conjecture as to how things would have turned out, barring that vicious cut. We'll all have our opinions on it.
Lewis was definitely wise to retire. He was a rich, rich man still at the top, though I think he realised his days of pure domination were over. There was a new era on the horizon and Lewis was just running out of time.
He made the wise and sensible choice, thankfully.

 

Vitali was NOT 100%. By round 6 both were exhausted and it was seen with both breathing heavy, leaning on eachother, having decreased handspeed, decreased movement, and just general sloppy offense, although it was clear Lewis had a higher connect percentage with his punches thrown. Lewis slowly was getting better and better. I scored the 6th round for Lewis although by only a few punches.

The "fact" that people claim Vitali was more energized than Lewis in round 6 is a myth. He was not. Both were tired as hell. Watch the fight yourself.