Lennox Lewis v. Tim Witherspoon

I'm surprised by all the Witherspoon support here. To me, Lewis is the much safer horse to bet on. He was far more consistent and never lost to guys like Bigfoot Martin. Terrible Tim was dangerous, but I can't see him generating enough offense to do any better than losing an 8-4 or 9-3 decision.

 

Me too. Everyone just loves Tim. And like I always say---look for A+ performances against top competition. The opponent for this fight has quite a few of them.

LL wins this going away. Lopsided easy win. Witherspoon does not have the footwork to deal with the guy and his wide looping right hand is going to get him beat to the punch. If he manages to survive it and not throw anymore of those loopers, he puts it in his safety mode. And just his left hand is simply just good enough against this guy.

 

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Excellent post.

 

Witherspoon was doing much better on points against better version of Bruno. I had Spoon winning 7-3 at the time of the stoppage, and I had Bruno winning 4-2 against Lewis. Yes, it wasn't a peak version of Lewis, but Witherspoon wasn't at his best against Bruno as well - he was out of shape. When Lewis wasn't in his best shape, he got knocked out cold by Rahman. Witherspoon was in much worse shape against Bruno than Lewis was against Rahman.

 

On an off night, Lewis could end up making a bit of a meal out of Spoon but still win. If we're talking prime-for-prime, I see no way Witherspoon can win. A comfortable UD or a Wide UD, respectively.

 

I always liked Witherspoon, I think that he could have been an ATG or at least close to being one. Don King really screwed him badly. I felt if he never got involved with King and was paid what he was supposed to, he would have never been so lackadaisical during his career. He still was a 2 time heavyweight champ, and sort of a boxer that we never really got to see the best of, because he had tons of potential.

 

Tim hits harder than McCall and Rahman, is way better boxer than either of them, taller, smarter, more versatile, and you give him zero chances? Even shot Holyfield landed some very good punches on Lewis' chin. If Witherspoon lands his right hand, Lewis would be knocked out cold, like he was against Rahman. Of course, Lewis woudn't underestimate Tim, he would be fully focused, and most likely would outpoint Tim, but saying Witerspoon can't win this fight is wrong.

 

A prime Lewis beats almost every other heavyweight in history. A prime Lewis wasn't that easy to hit clean and his chin wasn't as bad as everyone makes out. And Holyfield wasn't shot.

There's no telling whether Witherspoon hits harder than Rahman or McCall but it's an academic argument since a Lewis, at his best, is not walking into punches or waiting for the mother of all right hands to land flush on his jaw.

And, there's no telling what impact the Lewis power would have had on Spoon.

Every reasonably powerful heavyweight has a puncher's chance, so statements such as: "If Witherspoon lands his right hand, Lewis would be knocked out cold" are really quite pointless.

 

Holyfield probably wasn't shot, but he was well past his prime. Definiotely far more removed from his prime than Lewis was against Vitali. Holyfield looked very average against Vaughn Beane, he lost his speed and workrate and his stamina looked terrible. He couldn't finish Beane after knocking him down really hard because he had nothing left in his gas tank. And after 2 fights vs Lewis he looked terrible against John Ruiz.

 

Both were past their physical prime, in my opinion. There wasn't a huge gap in their ages, either.
I think a career-heaviest, untrained and disinterested Lewis was far more removed from his prime in '03, than a resurgent, 'anointed' Holyfield was in '99.

The Bean fight is not an effective barometer, in my opinion. Bean was an awkward survivalist; a pain for most of the top-flight heavies; only ever stopped once in his career, a few years later, on his feet (TKO11 at the hands of VK). Holyfield won a wide UD.

 

Lewis had his best career performances in 97-01 against Golota, Holyfield, Grant, Tua, Rahman 2 so it's safe to say 1999 was Lewis' prime under Steward.

While Holyfield's last good performances were in 97 against Tyson and Moorer, and right after the Lewis fight Holy went 1-1-1 vs Ruiz.

Lewis was 34, Holy 37, but Holy had far longer and harder career (fought on world championship level since 86 contrary to Lewis' since 93. That's total 13 years compared to Lewis' 6 years on the highest level before their 1st fight in 1999).

When Holy was already world CW champion, Lewis had yet 3 years before his pro debut.

Not to mention that fighters of Holyfield's style and size age quicker than giants like Lewis or Klitschkos.

 

A 36/37 year old Holyfield (Lewis I/II) was still in good physical shape and had prepared for Lewis on both occasions.

Lewis having a physical edge over Holyfield in '99 has no bearing on the fact that, by the time he fought VK in '03, Lewis hadn't fought for over a year since Tyson; was the heaviest he'd ever been; hadn't trained and was less than two months away from his 38th Birthday.

There's really no comparison. Lewis was a very good distance away from his prime and clearly no longer interested in competing.

 

Take a punch, and defense for openers.

But what did McCall and Rhaman do better than Lewis?

Witherpsoon, with his skills, good right hand ( the punch Lewis is most open to ) and chin would be a very live & dangerous opponent for Lewis.

 

LOL, you are completely wrong again. Lewis wanted to continue his career. He had no plans to retire 9 days before Vitali fight. Prior to Johnson's withdrawal he planned to fight Jonson in June, then Vitali in November and Roy Jones Jr. after that.

June 12, 2003 - Lewis and Steward discussed their upcoming fight against former WBO Heavyweight Champion Vitali “Dr. Iron Fist” Klitschko on Saturday, June 21, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. Lewis agreed to defend his World Boxing Council/International Boxing Organization (WBC/IBO) titles against Klitschko, the No. 1-ranked WBC contender, after Kirk Johnson withdrew last Friday due to an injury. Lion Promotions will present the historic card. Los Angeles last played host to a world heavyweight title fight 44 years ago when Floyd Patterson defended his crown for the third time with a 13th-round TKO over Roy Harris on Aug. 8, 1958, at the old Wrigley Field.

Question: Emanuel and Lennox, can you give us some opening comments?

Steward: There is a lot of credit due to Lennox Lewis, because it is very difficult to change up an opponent at the last moment. In this case, changing up means fighting a guy three inches taller as opposed to three inches shorter. If Lewiswas fighting a normal guy, this would be a difficult change, but fighting Klitschko is a major change. We have to adjust to punching up, instead of punching down. It is very difficult to get him to adjust and difficult to get proper sparring partners, but Lewis’ natural talent and experience will take him through. This is the biggest fight in the heavyweight division. To me as a trainer, I am more excited about this fight than the Kirk Johnson fight.

Lewis: I am excited as well. The fact that Klitschko and I were training for different opponents, and changed to fight each other just two weeks before the fight is incredible. It was unfortunate that Johnson could not fight, but Klitschko and I said why not now, rather than waiting until November. It is a good opportunity to show the world how great I am, and how well I can adjust. It is just a size difference. I am a person that can adjust very easily. This is my chance to show the world that I can do that.

Question: Lennox, how determined were you to make the fight happen?

Lewis: I thought this was a good opportunity to make the fight happen due to the fact that not a lot of people knew Johnson as know Klitschko. This fight was supposed to be coming in November, and it was a situation where the June 21 card would have seen both of us showcase our talent as a run up to fight in November. Now, there is no run up. We are just going to give Los Angeles what they wanted, a great fight and a great card. I am just happy to be a part of it.

Question: Are you much more motivated for this fight than you were for Kirk Johnson?

Lewis: I am much more motivated for this fight against Klitschko. I am more motivated because of his size and because he has been trying to take me to into court to take my title. I am motivated due to the fact that his promoter likes to see his name in the paper. At one time, we tried to make this fight and his promoter was lying to the Klitschko brothers and overpriced himself trying to get extra money. I feel good and confident about the fight and I am ready to go.

Question: What is your response to Klitschko saying he is going to knock you out?

Lewis: That is easy. How many people has he knocked out compared to how many I have knocked out?

Question: Lennox and Emanuel, what changes in training did you have to go through in order to prepare for Klitschko as opposed to Johnson?

Steward: You have two different types of opponents. What I got from Johnson’s comments is that he intended to run when he fought Lewis. He said he was going to try and win the championship with his feet. It is more exciting fighting a guy like Klitschko.

He is too big to be doing any running. You have two guys with tremendous physical strength, and as a result, you are going to have an explosive fight between two big fighters. We just have to adjust to punching up for a change instead of punching down.

A lot of our techniques that we always use to control shorter opponents will not be effective, so we will have to start all over. You cannot get any sparring partners to simulate Klitschko’s style, so we have to go with what we have.

Lewis: We wanted to get Jameel McCline, but he did not want to come in and spar. He is scared of me as well. It is too bad because I thought we could work together and help each other. He is really too scared, and I do not blame him. We offered to give him a first-class ticket and everything he wanted, but he wanted $50,000 for one sparring session. In the end, he got really scared and did not want to come.

Question: Can you talk about what it took to get this deal done?

Lewis: It took a little coercing by a couple of people. I felt that this was the fight for me and the fight would happen. I needed to sit down with my colleagues and lawyer, and discuss the matter more. We did that and decided this was the best move. I did not want to wait until November for the next fight, or even wait for Johnson to get better. I just wanted to take advantage of the fact that I have been in camp and training, and I am ready to go.

Question: How did this deal get done so quickly when other fights have taken so long to make?

Lewis: Basically, we had a deal in place for the next fight. We had this fight and then the Klitschko fight in November, so it was basically easy to get done.

Question: Lennox, do you look at Klitschko as someone you can take out quickly?

Lewis: Each fight you fight is different, but I do not believe there are any big guys as good as me. Klitschko does not have my skills or experience, so I have to take advantage of those things. I am inclined to agree that Wladimir might be a better fighter than Vitali, but different styles make different fights. They are both good fighters, but have different styles. I look at Vladimir as having more skills because of his size. He is the shorter one. Vitali is bigger and may have different skills he can utilize.

Question: You once said you wanted to eat one Klitschko brother for breakfast and the other for lunch, but Corrie Sanders took one of your meals when he knocked out Wladimir. Which meal is Vitali?

Lewis: Vitali is definitely lunch. I have some kryptonite for the Superman, Roy Jones, for brunch.