It is obvious the Vitali haters have a good point in mocking the "Vitali would have won the fight if it had continued" comments. But I will tell you what. You morons are just as stupid as the Vitali fanboys with your "Lewis was kicking Vitalis ass" or "Vitali would have been knocked out in the 7th" comments. We have no idea how the fight would have progressed. You morons extrapolating a 100% dead sure knockout after Lewis landed two great uppercuts in the 6th have NO FREAKING CLUE ABOUT BOXING. Let me ask you clowns a question: Does every round in boxing CONTINUE exactly as the PREVIOUS one ended? Why do fights have 12 rounds then? Why not just box one round and whoever looks best at the end of the round wins the fight? BTW: I think it was a great HW fight. I'm grateful we had the pleasure to see it. Some of you mental midgets sound like you thought the fight was nothing special, like an everyday occurrence.
The one that landed about a minute into the 6th Vitali shook off within about 5 seconds and he started to attack again, and the one at the end of the 6th he just glared at Lennox as the round ended. Meanwhile Lennox was very tired, and if the fight didn't need to be stopped, the outcome after the 6th would have been up for grabs for either man.
What if somebody breaks his arm. Is it ok to quit? Or what about if somebody loses his eyesight? Ok to quit? Or is that disgraceful? What if somebody dislocates his knee and can't walk. Should he continue to fight? Or is that disgraceful. Now go back in a corner and carefully think if you prefer boxing or maybe MMA is the better choice for you.
David Haye would beat Joe Louis. Joe Louis is a modern day Cruisweight. James Braddock knocked him down, " 2 Chris Arreola's" Tony Galento knocked him down. A bunch of other guys too. The Nazi whopped his ass and knocked him out. In the Rematch Louis broke Schmellings back with an illegeal punch.
Who had a broken arm, dislocated knee or was about to lose their eyesight? It was the first time I watched that clip in a while and I have to say it I'd forgot how surprising the decision to quit was. He was showing no obvious signs of being unable to continue in the 9th and even including the time in between rounds only had to wait around 12 mins to the end of the fight. Even if he had lost all 3 remaining rounds he would still have won.
I'm a big fan of Heavyweight boxing so obviously I appreciate the K Bros as well as Lewis, Tyson, Ali, Louis, etc. They are all great fighters in their own right.
Is Vitali better than Ken Norton? Vitali is awkward like Norton, pumps the jab, throws punches from weird angles. Accept Vitali is bigger stronger, hits harder, and has a better chin than Norton. Still probably most would still pick Norton to beat Vitali, here is guy who beat Ali arguable several times. He won the first fight, then lost an extremely controversial decision to Ali.
I would almost agree that he was concerned, afraid or took the easy way out if he was in there with King Kong! I would then say that, he felt he had no chance and figured why risk his life with that monster. But, he was in there with Chris Byrd. He was winning the fight. He has been a competitor all his life whether in boxing, kick boxing or whatever else he competed in so I highly doubt that he quit the fight for any other reason other than the fact that he didn't want to turn it into a career ending injury! He did have extensive surgery after the fight to repair this injury so who are we to question him?
He may have won the fight but he was scared he would handcap his arm for life. Vitali studied physical education and is highly versed in human anatomy. He was unable to lift his arm and knew he was gambling with his future as a boxer if he continued to fight. Vitali's injury (a completely torn supra-spinatus, barring him from lifting his entire arm) required a 2.5 hour surgery under full anesthesia and six months of no sparring or even the lightest weight-lifting. My question about broken arm/dislocated knee etc. were provocative in order to find out what the limit is: When is it NOT disgraceful to quit? Can you only quit if an injury is visible? Like when your eyeball is popping out? The result of quitting was that Vitali lived to fight another day. People here may call it disgraceful, I call it the right risk/reward decision. He was gambling with his future as an athlete and he chose to take a loss but preserve his health and come back later. I'm not one of those guys who keeps repeating how Vitali was ahead on the scorecards or how he "Beat up Byrd for 8 rounds". I give Byrd full credit, he boxed the fight of his lifetime serving Vitali his first loss and the result is fully deserved.