Lennox Lewis Vs Vitali Klitschko 2- Who Wins A Rematch?

Vitali never fought Mercer that was Wladimir.

Vitali had plenty of fights he could've taken Byrd rematch, Haye, that would've done wonders for his resume.

Vitali never went "over the bar" his best win is a 38 year old semi retired Corrie Sanders.

 

I would like to see Lewis beat:
Bowe,
Moorer,
Foreman,
Holmes,
Hide,
Whitearspoon,
Wlad,
Sanders,
Gonzales,
Ruiz,
Byrd and also Tyson and Holyfield a few years earlier

 

Bowe threw the belt in the trash.

Foreman at that stage in his career would've never fought Lewis let's be real.

Lewis would've fought Tyson in 1996 but was paid to step aside that's not his fault.

You can't fight everyone but Lewis still has a strong resume.

You can't say the same for Vitali who hasn't got a strong resume and he had better options to significantly improve his resume.

 

That's not very fair. We all know he also beat the current WBC champion, having been retired for four years and being the same age as Sanders.

I realize Vitek's resume isn't impressive, but the truth is that after his brother got rid of Byrd, no one was waiting for him to fight Vitek.

Well, Vitek did everything to fight Lewis. He even went to the ring with him and later took the belt. I think we can forgive him for Valuev. And Toney was defeated by Peter. If it were the other way around, he probably would have fought Toney in 2008, not Peter, but would that have enhanced his resume? I don't think so. For years, people said that Vitek was the only worthy opponent for Wlad. And Vitek was Wlad, and now I'm reading that he's missing Chambers, Haye, and the rest. It's amazing how the narrative has changed.

 

Byrd was a top 3 rated Heavyweight from 2001 to 2004 whilst Vitali was active.

Look at Vitali's opposition from when he lost to Byrd up until the Lewis fight.

You're telling me for 3 years Vitali fighting the likes of Vaughn Bean, Larry Donald, Orlin Norris, who were all ancient by that time BTW and unranked.

Is better then revenging the Byrd loss ? Who was a top rated Heavyweight ?

The Byrd fight would've been far and away the best win on Vitali's resume.

You're saying Vitali had no options to improve his resume because he can only fight who's infront him.

But that's not true he had multiple options throughout his career to fight better names and improve his resume.

And saying Vitali's brother beat Byrd so Vitali don't have to beat him is a bit of cop out quite frankly.

 

Byrd was outclassed by Wlad. He later moved to the IBF, and Vitali to the WBC. I remember that time, but I don't remember anyone pushing for a Vitali-Byrd fight. If the Wlad-Byrd fight had gone differently, they probably would have met, but if Vitali had aimed for Lewis instead of the man his brother had massacred, I have no complaints. I agree that beating Chris would look better today than beating Danny Williams, but it wasn't as obvious back then as it is today. Klitschko later retired.

 

Do you really think Vitali misses Ruiz? The man who was outclassed by the former middleweight champion? Look at the Ruiz-Johnson fight and compare it to what Vitali did with Kirk. I remember that time, people wanted Lewis-Vit 2, not Vit-Byrd 2/Toney/Holyfield/Chambers, etc. Even today, we have the question of a fantasy fight: a Klitschko-Lewis rematch, not Klitschko-Byrd 2, Ruiz/Chambers/Toney, etc.

 

It could always be better, but even if Vitali were literally the best heavyweight to ever walk the earth, he wouldn't stand a chance of matching Lewis's resume. Even if he were much better than Lewis. He completely outclassed the guy who was supposed to fight Lewis instead and would probably be mentioned today as another great Lennox scalp, but he's completely overlooked in Vitali's case. He outclassed Larry Donald, who gave Bowe a tough fight, and easily won Holyfield, but it goes completely unnoticed. He outfought the guy who outclassed his brother, and people want him to beat someone his brother beat badly twice. Wins over Valuev, Chambers, Byrd, or Ruiz would enhance his resume, but people would still say it's modest. Ruiz was outclassed by Roy Jones, whom no serious heavyweights would even consider to be anywhere near Vito's modest resume. If he had beaten Ruiz, people would have wanted him to beat the guy who outclassed him. Mission impossible. No heavyweight boxer between 2003 and 2009 was better or significantly better than Peter in 2008 or Arreola a year later. Everything was at a similar level.

 

Some of these guys didn't deserve the title shot. And most of the others were already fighting Wlad. No one wants to see Vitali fight someone Wlad already fought and beat.

 

No amount of revisionism will change that, but the truth is that by far the biggest, most profitable, and most anticipated fight was Klitschko-Lewis 2, and literally NOTHING in Vitali's entire career came close to that. It's incredible how differently we treat these fighters. Lewis gets props for not fighting Bowe, who would have been by far the biggest opponent of his career, and Vitali is condemned for not getting even with Byrd, who was beaten multiple times, even though we know he did everything he could to get ahead of Lewis, who was better than Byrd.