On paper he could have hung on a bit longer, but in practice his heart was no longer in it. After he defeated Tyson he had done everything that he wanted to do in the sport, and he only fought on because other people urged him to. After the Klitschko fight he realized this, and took the sensible decision. In hindsight Vitally was better than we realized at the time, but the writing was still on the wall. The timing was perfect, except that he hung on too long before making the announcement.
When one loses interest and the heart isn’t in it, it’s time to get out of boxing. It’s too demanding to half-ass or punch a time card. The stakes are too high. Lennox couldn’t have had better timing.
I hate to see fighters sticking around too long, even fighters that I dislike. A legitimate atg like Lennox left at the right time. Hopefully, he is enjoying his retirement.
Well put, Fergy! Lewis had nothing left to prove. He left at the right time. Hopefully he is enjoying life.
Yep, perfect timing. As several posters have already mentioned, aside from age deteriorations, Lewis’ heart was no longer in it. If he had continued, he would’ve been at risk of losing to another otherwise unworthy opponent. We saw what happened against McCall and Rahman when Lewis’ mind wasn’t on the job (randomly) but Lennox was able to correct himself in the rematches. The loss of desire was substantive by the time of the Klit fight, so an upset loss was much less likely cured by a reversal in a rematch. His last fight was a terrific, winning stand by an aging Champ, the perfect way to punctuate his career and then bow out.
Agreed that it was perfect timing, but I don’t think he was slipping. I think it was classic case of Lennox underpreparing for an opponent he thought would be easy…that opponent was Kirk Johnson. Vitali was a two week substitute after Johnson dropped out. I think after gutting that one out, he didn’t see opponents around to motivate him enough.
I will add one tiny caveat to that. It would have been better if he had announced his decision sooner.
Perfect timing to retire. He was declining a bit although I do think he was still the best heavyweight in the world. If he fought 2-3 more times I could see him slipping up, maybe to a not quite elite guy like Lamon Brewster.
This is true but if Lennox could have survived "half assing" it though, the next few years were as good a time as any.