Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko II.

I haven’t made any assumptions.

Lennox said that Vitali would be easy work.

Yet he was completely exhausted and down on all of the cards when he was slumped on his stool at the end of the 6th round.

He then agreed to rematch Vitali who was hungry for it.

He then decide to retire, despite being interested in facing lesser fighters.

Those are the facts.

If he thought that he could have beaten Vitali again, then he’d have taken the rematch.

He obviously wasn’t as confident as what you are.

 

If Lennox could have motivated himself and got in good enough shape to be confident of winning a rematch then he would have done it.

I believe he lost interest after the Tyson fight and thought he could coast through a few more easy defences for a couple of years for a few extra paydays, and, when it came down to it, he looked at his life and his bank account and didn't think it was worth the work anymore.

 

Vitali would have won the rematch

 

Yes, the assumption is in saying "if LL thought he could win blah blah blah". I think Lewis had the heart of a champion and proved that many times in his career. He never ducked anyone, was willing and eager to fight Bowe, got up from knockdowns, went right back to fight rematches with the guys that KO'd him, etc.........why are you assuming he had no heart?

 

There is no assumption.

He said he’d rematch him and then he retired.

I’m not saying that he had no heart.

I’m saying that he knew it was time to let go.

He didn’t want to go to war again with a young, prime Vitali.

He was at the end of the road.

He made the right decision.

 

Lewis was getting old. Vitali could definitely have won a rematch but realistically if it happened Lewis would've just opened up the cuts from fight one and would've stopped him again.

 

I'll say it just the once more, not into boring anyone lol: For you to say that Lewis thought he couldn't win, is an assumption.

 

He watched Vitali demolish Kirk Johnson and didn't fancy it. Fair no?

 

No, not fair. Guys at Lennox's level believe they are great and can defeat anyone. This whole idea that he wanted no part of Vitali again, is just make believe land. Lewis never gave a reason to doubt his fighting spirit, has he?

 

How is it make believe land that he wanted no part of him again?

He didn’t.

He went back on his word and retired.

He’d have fought Roy Jones for mega money.

He’d have beat up on the relic of Mike Tyson again for ridiculous money.

He’d have fought those guys.

Yet he wouldn’t and didn’t fight Vitali again.

That is a fact.

 

Yes, Vitali was up on the cards but if you watch the 6th round he's not throwing effective offense anymore. He's hitting Lewis but he's not hurting him like he did in the earlier rounds, while Lewis visibly rocks Vitali and has him clinching. By that point in the fight, Vitali has thrown all he's got at Lewis and exhausted himself.

My overall summary of the fight has always been that Vitali came out strong and fast to get an early knockout but Lewis weathered the storm and started to get into it by the 3rd round. The cuts to Vitali's face convinced him to continue to fight at a fast pace to finish it before the Doctor stepped in but consequently he exhausted himself and had no power left in his punches by the 6th. Lewis was exhausted as well, but he was throwing less and pacing himself better so he still had the power to throw knock-out punches, while Vitali was more desperate because of the cuts and couldn't pace himself well enough to maintain his punching power.

Both fighters were fading, but I think Vitali had gassed more than Lewis by the point the Doctor called it off simply because he had be setting such a high pace for himself from the start of the fight.

If Vitali hadn't suffered those cuts I think we would have seen him fight a slower and more cautious fight after the 3rd to pace himself and look for a late-round KO

 

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had the fight have gone another few rounds.

Vitali was exhausted, but Lennox was too. He couldn’t wait to slump on the stool at the end of the 6th.

We were definitely robbed of a rematch though.

 

I'd say robbed of a trilogy as if VK won the second it would need a decider to settle.

 

I'm confident that Lennox wins the rematch, he gave a really good account of himself in TKO6 despite his weight.

 

Lewis would win again. He has the right tactics of putting pressure on Vitali and catching him at the end of his punches. Vitali landed his best punch in the 2nd round and Lewis was able to take it and come back. Vitali was starting to look like he was ready to go in round 6.