just rewatched lewis vs klitschko

I bet we agree more than we do not. Lewis knew he wasn't as good and hungry as he was 10 years prior. It may still have been enough to beat Vitali a second time but then again maybe not. What good would a second win have been for Lewis' legacy?

Here's where the rubber meets the road though.

1. Lewis could have come to the realization that his best days are behind him 10 weeks after the Vitali fight instead of letting Vitali jump through hoops for 10 months and then still retire and leave millions of boxing fans disappointed. Why drag things out like that? That was just unworthy of a champ.

2. Then, after announcing his retirement, Lewis made himself look like a fool trying everything he could to make Vitali look bad in the ring. Remember Lewis "helping Sanders to prepare for Vitali"? Remember this bull****? It was obvious the old man was hoping Vitali quickly disappeared via a loss to some random bum so the rematch voices would die down. Unfortunately Lewis post-fight conduct made matters worse instead of solidifying his legacy.

This is not about chosing not to rematch Vitali, there's nothign wrong with that. The problem is the way Lewis did it.

Lewis had style all throughout his career but he clearly lost all style in the last 12 months of his career. Going around in circles not knowing what to do for 12 months, letting Vitali run from doctor to doctor, then wait until the very last day to announce retirement, then pray Sanders knocks out Vitali. Lewis pissed on his otherwise awesome heavyweight legacy with his shameful conduct.

 

Vitali was going to get knocked out either way. He was getting timed with some vicious shots . Vitali was not hitting Lewis with this type of power. Only Lewis... Vit , KLit got ko'ed and was heading toward being ko'ed proper ; if the fight had gone on.

 

What does it matter

Lennox Lewis TKO Vitali. END OF STORY

And Lewis didn't even train for this fight hardly, was old and out of shape. Vitali was in his prime and still couldn't beat Lewis

Lewis disfigured Vitali bad, just look at those uppercuts from Lewis.

Imagine what a prime Lewis or an in shape Lewis would have done to Vitali :shock:

Vitalis a great fighter, but Lewis is just so much better.

 

Its the heavyweight division. Anyone can get knocked down/out by a punch.
Lewis beat both Mcall and Rahman in the return matches

And Lewis was up for the 10 for both fights he lost and could have continued.

No one beats a prime focused Lewis, No one.

Vitali had his chance, Lewis was old, un prepared and out of shape and still ****ed up Vitali.

 

I dont buy the 'Lewis was out of shape and Vitali was in the shape of his life' crap.

It was a close fight near the end of a heavyweight's career. Lennox legitimately won and was coming on. However Vitali would give ANY heavyweight REAL trouble at ANY stage of their career, including Lewis.

Lennox was smart to retire because he knew Vitali may well have beaten him in the rematch.

 

Lewis retired because he realised his best days where behind him and at that stage of his career he had accomplished everything he had to and enjoyed other areas of his life.

He probably didn't have the motivation to go through a hard training camp to rematch Vitali because he certainly couldn't turn up in that shape again.

Lewis fought the likes of Tyson, Holyfield, Tua, Grant, Briggs, Golota, Ruddock, McCall, Bruno. He certainly won't be scared of a rematch with Vitali.

We all wish Vitali was on the scene around 5-10 years earlier. Then we could have seen Lewis dispatch Vitali properly

 

1. He wanted to continue imo, but it took time for it to sink in. It's obviously not easy for a fighter to let go (See Ali, Jones, Holy and countless others). I can imagine what it must be like, to finally look in the mirror and say, ok enough is enough. As for leaving millions disappointed, well, tough ****. Lewis owed the fans or boxing nothing and if they can't see past how hard it was for him to retire and call it a day that's their problem. I know, I was Lewis and still am a big Lewis fan.

2. Lewis helping Sanders? :huh Erm, that was for Wlad, not for Vitali. So that 'bull****' and the whole of point 2 is irrelevant.

Regardless, all this 'praying Vitali would get knocked out' is horse**** anyway. As I've already explained Lewis just had to come to terms with the fact that he had to retire.

REAL boxing fans know the score, people who just want to hate will be talking about this **** in pubs when they're old men.

Your post is full of heavy bias so I think we'll disagree more than agree.

 

Another clown.

You don't buy it eh?
Fact: Lewis's worst condition/performance was Rahman 1 yes?
You know, the one were Lewis came in at 253 1/2lbs, his heaviest ever weight with only 2 weeks training.
For Vitali Lewis came in at 256 1/2, 3 pounds heavier than Rahman 1, add to this the fact he was over 2 years older, hadn't fought in over a year and trained for a lesser opponent.
Now, explain to me again how in your opinion Lewis was in shape?
This should be good op

 

Favorite part of the fight: Vitali lands that NASTY triple jab and Lewis didn't ****ing die.

 

How long would Haye last with that Lennox that fought Vitali?deal:deal


Exactly

 

It works both ways. Who was Vitali originally expected to fight? Lennox was going to face Kirk Johnson. Vitali, some no name that I bet few on here could name without a google search. Yes Vitali is always in good shape but would he have prepared any different had he known he was going to face a top 10 ATG and not whats his name C class fighter? Certainly:deal

 

None of those guys were better than Vitali, including Holyfield of 1999 and especially Tyson of 2002. A very overrated resume.

 

Lewis beat everybody aout there in his era. Including Bowe in the amatuers. Bowe wouldn't take the fight with Lewis in the pro's and threw his title away instead

What more could Lewis have done to improve his resume. There were no one else to fight. Tyson wanted nothing to do with Lewis in his prime, and it tool Lewis years to eventually land a fight with Holyfield

 

Lewis doesn't have any excuses really as he was training for a championship bout.
Vitali was a short notice replacement who didn't train for a 12 rounder and it showed.

 

I'm not giving excuses for Lewis, I'm giving reasons.
You do know Vitali was in training too right? Cedric Boswell ring any bells?