Nothing to prove apart from being behind on the scorecards and getting pummelled for most of the fight? Why would he have to come in prepared for a rematch if he had nothing to prove? Also, why did he turn the rematch down?
I have always been more of a Lewis fan as a Vitali one, and he's obviously higher at the all time list, but be real here... he got lucky in the fight and would have probably lost the rematch. That's why there was no rematch in the first place. Age is a thing, Lewis was on the slide and Vitali on the rise.
Vitali would be ready also, and with the added confidence of the initial schooling. Hence the reason Lewis immediately retired because "his mum and missus said so".
OK so if I take your flawed rational lets try this... What do you say then about Wilder who was most of the time in his career behind in fights before he landed his right hand? I'm not saying he has anything to prove you are. I said that if he HAD to rematch he would have prepared better as he was scheduled to fight someone else. Who got pummelled most of the fight? Take a look at both faces after the fight. Vitali looked like he'd been in a car crash. It's irellevant Lennox stopped him by smashing Vitali''s face in........TK06 baby. Get over it G Man it was a long time ago.
Schooling? Lewis had nothing to prove against Vitali in a second fight, not at his best he summoned up the will and courage and went after Vitali and stopped him. Pushing 39 he had nothing to prove to anyone. He was excellent in rematches and beat every man he fought.
So why didn't he rematch Vitali? It's remained the question mark over his entire career since he retired. Vitali was beating the rubbish out of him, the only thing in Lewis' favour was a cut which he visibly aggravated at every opportunity with lacing tactics. His petulant demeanour after the fight also showed his insecurity, despite the win. Then he promised a rematch but retired cos his mum said so.
This content is protected Nevermind maybe in an alternative universe Vitali wins....in this one he didn't so tough titty...
Lewis didn’t retire immediately. He stuck around for months trying to sign fights with Roy Jones and the shell of Mike Tyson. It’s when the WBC reinstated Vitali as mandatory challenger shortly after he destroyed Kirk Johnson that Lewis retired.