A Unfit 38 y/old Lennox Smashed Vitalis Klitschkos face in brutally.....

lewis tko6 vitalia

 

****ing hell, this **** is still going on?

Lewis won the fight fair and square, no amount of crying is going to change that, get the **** over it.

 

Agreed!

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i dont understand why people debate it.

lewis beat vitali on a legitimate cut. if you are so bothered about a rematch go and chase down chris fukin byrd.

 

First of all, Klitschko was winning and was in better shape at the end of six than Lennox.

Nobody knows how things would have went without the cut, but IMO, without the cut, Vitali would probably have prevailed, probably by stoppage.

And there's little doubt that Lennox did not fancy his chances in any rematch.

His change of heart , despite there being $20 - $25 million available to him, indicates how HE felt about his rematch chances.

And given that he had not planned to retire, it can reasonably be said that Vitali played a good part in his decision to hang them up.


That said, there WAS a cut (TWO cuts) and Vitali was a mess, so the doctor's stoppage was perfectly reasonable. In fact, the doc would have been negligent if he'd allowed the fight to continue.

With that cut, which was only going to get worse, Lennox would have stopped him in the 7th or 8th anyway.

The cut came from a punch, which is part of the game, and so the legitimate result of the fight was Lennox TKO Vitali in 6.


And why would Lennox risk his legacy, which enough fools on here question, even with his current record ?

He ducked nobody, cleaned out the division, fought good competition, beat every man he ever faced, and retired with the title.

The fight was close. Head to head, both men were approximately equal. (Lennox had an edge, even SLIGHTLY past prime).


Lennox's resume is significantly better than Vitali's, and head to head, at prime, Lennox had a clear edge over Vitali. He was a more complete fighter.

I rank Lennox at 3 or 4 alltime among the HWs. Vitali doesn't crack the top ten.

Who knows what he might have done if his earlier kick-boxing career hadn't left him injury prone (Shoulder, knee, back) and he hadn't lost four prime years.

But given what he DID do, and the probable legth of his remaining career, it's unlikely he will ever make the top ten list.

 

Lewis was only 37, and was very few (5?) pounds over his normal weight.

So so much for those excuses.

 

What are you basing that on? Vitali got hit with two big uppercuts in the 6th and was holding onto Lewis for extended time towards the end of that round. Vitali looked done at the end of the 6th, and was holding Lewis when the bell rang. He was sitting in the corner corner when they called it off, but Lewis was up walking around and celebrating.

With all this said, Vitali really surprised me in that fight with his skills and courage, and pulled off a great performance, but just not good enough to beat Lewis.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J659XD38u3c[/ame]

 

Yeah, I don't get all the people who say Lewis was past it or washed up. One year prior to fighting Vitali, so many people were saying that Lewis was better than ever. Going into the Tyson fight Lewis was almost universally recognized as being on top of his game. How could he be washed up one fight later? He might have been out of shape and undertrained and unmotivated, but he was at or near his peak.

 

Having watched the fight.

Both looked done. But as I said earlier, lewis looked 'more done.' He collapsed onto his stool.

Yes, he was sitting while they worked the cut and the doctor examined. Lewis sat too, until the stoppage was announced.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlli6mvsOGU[/ame]

 

Actually LL had no interest in the Vitali fight. He was slated to fight Kirk Johnson in a fight billed as Canadian bragging rights. Absolutely no one was interested in this fight including almost all British fans. Especially the fact that LL suddenly became Canadian again. It was only because Johnson pulled out through injury that Vitali who had been pestering LL for the fight for the longest while got his wish as a last minute replacement.
LL at the time simply wasnt interested in defending his title against the best contenders. He wanted to cash in his chips and did so in the Tyson Holyfield fights. He retired and reneged on the rematch clause because he didnt want to through that again.

 

Lewis should be commended for not pulling out of the fight, and vitali gets credit for jumping in on 2 weeks notice. Its just as tough for Lennox as he has trained for a different type of fighter. Vitali steps in on a few weeks notice, chagaev did it last year, bert cooper did it when tyson bailed, and after 2 years, fellow brit David haye wont climb in the ring with a 39 year old with 2 years notice much less 2 weeks