How many times do we have to say it on here? Styles make fights. You have a 6'8 250lb. guy fighting a 6'0 former middleweight. It's pretty obvious that Byrd was trying to survive instead of exchange (which of course is the right strategy). He was trying to score points with in-and-out quick punches. Vitali showed his power by almost knocking out Lennox. He showed it against 41 out of the 45 opponents he beat by knocking them out. Ibeabuchi is a nobody. He messed up his life. He was some contender - that's it.
Would you say both McCall and Rahman were harder punchers than Vits considering the actually knocked out Lewis?
Na. It's 1 fight. You can't just go off 1 fight. People want to change the narrative about LL, but his additional weight was part of the strategy against Vitali. Vitali landed a good shot against a very big LL and had him stumbling.
I dont understand what you mean. They each had fought Lewis, only Vits couldn't secure a knockout over an out of shape Lewis. How can the other two not hit harder? Do you have any proof LL carrying extra weight was a strategy or are you just saying that?
No one is saying Lewis couldn't have faced Byrd. But there were plenty of good reasons for him not to. This is absolutely the right reason to bin a mandatory – especially, when one is at a stage in their career that doesn't need the fight or the strap in question. Lewis's career didn't need Byrd one iota, and he didn't need the strap, either, given he was going to retire as the consensus champ. As stated previously, the only thing keeping him in the sport was the potential for another easy payday against Tyson. He wasn't flip-flopping, he was gauging the likelihood of that potential. When it came to pass that there was little to no possibility of that fight coming off, Lewis retired. Well, I didn't actually put it that way. I said getting paid to deal with his other mandatory challenger was a sound business strategy, especially when the other mandatory was more marketable and the promoter of Byrd wasn't a willing dance partner, anyway. There's a difference, in that I have given multiple reasons for why he didn't fight Byrd. Given the above and that I have read Vitali being referred to as the mandatory challenger to the winner of Lewis/Tyson, not to mention that I know for a fact he was the WBC #1 contender by the end of June 2002 and that he was certainly referred to as Lewis's mandatory by the time they fought, the point here is moot. Even if any of this^ were true — which some of it might be, though there's still a fair bit of exaggeration in there, and I doubt you can quantify any of it — it's besides the point. Vitali was the WBC #1 Vitali had been scheduled on the undercard of the Lewis/Johnson–Tyson/Maskaev double-header. Moreover, when Tyson pulled out, followed by Johnson, it was HBO that said to Lewis, it's Vitali or nothing. According to boxrec.com: " This content is protected " Seems that, with very little time to promote the fight that would eventually take place, Vitali turned out to be quite popular. Bringing Wlad into this was pointless. He was not, as it turned out, only a couple of fights away from being in the mix, at genuine world level after Mercer. He was actually eight or nine fights, including two losses to unrated opposition, away from his first major strap. Vitali owned the WBC strap a couple of fights after Lewis. Stating Byrd was as marketable as Vitali is not a credible perspective.
George Foreman (right before the end of the 2nd round): "Now all of this clinching and holding is going to have an effect on Klitschko. That man is heavy, Lennox Lewis." Emmanuel Steward (end of 2nd round): "He's winning the fight. You've got to take it to him now, okay. You've got the experience in these big fights. You're getting hit when you are trying to time him. Take it to him, the left hook is working good. Just take it to him and when you get through every punch start pushing him, you understand?" Emmanuel Steward (end of 4th round): " Alright, you are coming along good now. He still got that round, but you are coming along good. That man is getting tired. One thing you are pushing him all the time now. Keep pushing your weight on him all while you are inside clinching. The left hook if you ever catch him with the left hook he's going to be going down".
Additionally, who said that Vitali committed 100% to his punches against LL? He was winning the fight - he didn't have to commit to throwing his A+ punch. Rahman and McCall weren't going to outbox Lewis. I'm pretty sure their strategy was to look for the big shot.
I mean, Byrd was trying to survive instead of exchange against Ike too. It’s not like I’m saying Ike is an all time great, I’m comparing his power to Vitali’s.
Vitali only kod14 men and one of them ,Norris quit. Stop making out he was some kind of power puncher he wasn't,he hit an old Briggs with everything including the kitchen sink and couldn't even floor him,the same with Chisora. Vitali didn't," almost knock out" Lewis, he couldn't even drop him!
No, it's not. I outlined Manny saying to use his weight as a tactic. Watch the fight again. It's his exact words. You Brit fans are so delusional with Lewis it's ridiculous. The guy was losing. He wins on a technicality. Refuses a 9 figure payday because his ugly wife says to not fight again or she was going to leave him. Okay, sure buddy. Then, you want to say a 6'8 250lb. lean / jacked HW champ doesn't punch hard. I said the guy has an 8 for his power which is pretty reasonable and people want to argue about that? That makes sense.
When Lewis found out he was fighting Vitali 12 days before the actual fight he changed his diet to take out, ice cream and soda to come in at that all important weight of 256+ pounds. The last time he came in at 250+ he was KO'd by Rahman (KO'd Rahman when 7 pounds lighter in the rematch) so hey, it was certainly a proven strategy!
Ya, but Byrd was making himself a small target. He really couldn't do that with Ike because they are both roughly the same height. Remember, Vitali was supposed to fight Razor Ruddock - not Chris Byrd. So, with 10 days notice Vitali has to fight probably one of the most elusive HWs of all-time instead of a traditional 6'3 fighter.
That doesnt mean he came in heavy as a strategy. It just means he was doing what he had to do with the shape he was in. And Lewis didn't win on a technicality. He won by landing the more damaging punches which caused the fight to be stopped. Im sorry, but Vits was not a big knockout artist. Most of his stoppages came through wearing his opponents down. That doesn't make him a big puncher and his size and frame have nothing to do with it. Wilder looked like a string bean early in his career and he was putting guys to sleep. I'd say Vits was a decent puncher. Heavy handed. But his punches lacked that snap that send guys into dream land.