Vitali has never been great in the clinches.Lewis was given so many free shots there. BTW I don't think the uppercut he landed on Vitali was particularly heavier than the one at 7:25 in the clip below(thanks to the GreatA) [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtviXOAJuG0[/ame] Maybe,though Vitali never had the explosive one punch power of some of Lewis' other opponents.
Come on. It was entertaining, but sloppy as ****. Two guys looking goony and both exhausted half way through. Klit's defense was crap and I don't think Lewis missed with a single jab that he threw. Lewis was out of shape and forgot to move his head half the time.
McCall is like a rubber band isn't he? Physically I don't think he's much more durable than say Tyson,but he reacts very well to these big shots.
Both of them had been preparing 4 other opponents before the arrangement of that fight,so the short notice theory goes out the window:Lennox 4 Kirk Johnson and Klitchko,I don't remember whom.
30 seconds into part 3. Lennox lands an uppercut and some dude in a white suit leaps out of his chair like there are electrodes in his seat. That was amusing.
I don't know what your definition of 'training for short notice' is,but as you noted both of them had been preparing for different fighters. I'm guessing ,if they weren't doing an extended period of sparring with large heavyweights,this would have effected how the actual bout played out. No criticism to either Lewis or Klitschko.
It didn't really work to either guy's favour in the end, but it did have something to do with why the fight was so sloppy. Neither guy was properly prepared so it turned into an ugly but entertaining brawl between two of the biggest punchers in boxing. The outcome of a fight like that is always going to be up in the air, either guy could've won it with one big shot at any point the way they were fighting. Lewis looked very poor in the early rounds, and no doubt age and poor preparation contributed to this. Lewis always started slowly, but some of the shots he took in rounds 2 and 3 were huge. People who think Lewis had a glass chin need to watch that. Vitali Klitschko became very unsettled after about round 4, despite hitting him with everything Lewis was still there and starting to get back into the fight. By the end of the 6th round, as has been correctly said already, Klitschko looked absolutely shellshocked. I daresay the lack of preparation hurt him too, and he wasn't able to sustain the attack of the opening rounds throughout the fight. Of course, having half your eyebrow hanging off your face, with blood pissing everywhere, doesn't help either. Great fight all the same. Vitali Klitschko, looking at his record, was certainly one of the best fighters Lewis ever fought, and even a prime Lennox Lewis fully focused and trained would've struggled against him.