There is absolutely no doubt in my mind Lewis would have gottem KO'd in the 7th

I came back to quickly edit my post above. But let me just add something here for the possibly-uneducated Lewis fans on this subject.

Lewis ducked Corrie Sanders. It's not an accident, then, that Lewis tried to use Sanders as his proxy to take down the supposedly tougher (this was the thought at the time) Klitschko brother, Wlad.

And it worked.

Didn't work so well against Vitali. Sanders and Vitali fought less than one year after Lewis and Vitali fought.

I would imagine Lewis' own experience with Vitali, as well as Wlad's and Vitali's comparative experiences with Sanders, probably helped Lennox feel good about not wanting to rematch Vitali.

That is: Oops, I (Lennox) actually fought the tougher brother. I escaped. My "Klitschko Proxy" got beat down by Vitali, even after he buzzed Vitali in the first round. Yep, that Vitali rematch isn't happening. Glad I made that decision.

 

Actually death's starting to look pretty good about now..it least it would have shut the Klit's huggers up once and for all.

 

there ya go :good

 

If you want to use that analogy hotshot then let's discuss how a rematch would have unfolded.

Lewis would have knocked Vitali the **** out in one or two rounds, which is arrived at by your own logic.

Nice playing with ya kid..when you'd done flipping burgers come back and I'll really show you how to play.

 

was rooting for vitali then but unfortunately, it was stopped so the true outcome differed from yours...

 

That's cause you're mind set is firmly set in reality..some of these posters, here are obviously lost in their own sea of fantasy and probably spend every waking day avoiding the reality of their lives.

Sadly those that exist in this state of mind are painfully obvious for all to see.

 

Very good summary of events.

 

I agree and by extending that logic it shows that Vitali would have been destroyed in a rematch..so good analysis but somewhat incomplete.

 

seems you support anything negative toward Vitali, including non-existent rematches (oh the irony with that)

 

If only Lennox was so confident, then we would have seen a rematch and there would be no debate. He seemed quite content feasting on old Holy and shot Tyson but i guess Vit was a different prospect.

 

You would be right -- if Vitali were Hasim Rahman, and had demonstrated Rahman's vulnerabilities. But he isn't, and never has.

Or to be clearer, there is no Oleg Maskaev in Vitali's background (and I'm talking about the Maskaev-Rahman fight before Rahman fought Lewis). Not to mention David Tua.

But Lennox Lewis is still Lennox Lewis; he is the same guy.

Again, Vitali is a totally different breed. I've been watching the sport a long time and have never seen anyone quite like him. You don't hurt Vitali, you don't knock Vitali down and you don't knock Vitali out. No one does (unless you're talking kickboxing showdowns; but I don't think Lewis would be using Pele Reid's leg kick in a boxing match).

Lewis escaped. He knew that, as did Larry Merchant, as did the audience.

And by the way: I'm not into being a "hotshot." I used to be much, much more volatile here in the forums. I try not to get into personal battles much anymore. But if I understand a bout or situation better than you (general "you" here, not talking you specifically) do and you try to pretend that's not the case, I can and will demonstrate exactly who knows what for the forum, if I feel the urge.

It's not about me playing "tough guy." It's about the readers of the forum getting better information vs worse information. We're not all going to agree on things here, but that doesn't mean someone with more-limited knowledge should be able to shout-down someone with less-limited knowledge. Ditto this sentiment as regards logic.

I try to play things straight on here, even with things I don't like. For example, I can't stand Floyd Mayweather, Jr. But, until very recently, I always have said he would defeat Manny Pacquiao, a fighter I like, should the two meet. Why did I say that? Because that's where logic took me, despite how I might want the fight to turn out.

There are fans here, and writers here and other sites, who only write -- and try to reason -- from a fanboy's perspective. I used to be like that, too. Then I grew out of it, partly because it was destroying my credibility.

Unfortunately, some don't care about their credibility.

 

I actually like Vitali, but if someone wants to use the Rahman example of what would have happened had the fight continued, it only makes sense to continue this analogy to it's logical conclussion, which is what would have happened in a rematch.

Doesn't it?

Because to do anything else is simply cherry-picking, which is way beneath anyone here.

 

Funny how when a 38 year old champ retires only klitshcko fans can't let it go..the rest of the world views Lewis as a top 10 ATG who had a great career and beat a very game and tough opponent in his last fight.

I'm starting to wonder if most of you die hard Klitschko fans who can't seem to accept reality belong in therapy...honestly 8 years of bitterness with no end in sight, is really a sad state of affairs.

 

Actually this is true, I've been watching boxing since about 1970 and I too have never seen anyone quit when they were so far ahead on the cards the way Vitali did against Byrd.

Good point, thanks for the reminder, I was going to let it slide, but you're correct, Vitali is a quiter. :good

 

It's just factual. I'm not really a huge fan of either fighter to be honest.
It's hypocricy in the extreme, Lewis' best wins are against diminished fighters and he was still chasing those fights until Vitali proved to be more of an obstacle than first thought. Lennox had a great career, that hasn't got anything to do with the fact that he was reticent to give a rightfull rematch. His career ended on a sour note.