And that was Lewis’ DEFINING MOMENT. Lol That Tyson was really no different then the one Williams beat. Vitali should have been the one to retire him. Mike wouldn’t have even thought about fighting once more after that massacre Klitschko would have dished out. They didn’t want that though.
The fight was fairly pointless really, I guess the most you could say is Tyson still carried some power so was dangerous to a degree, but without the physical gifts and skill he had in his 20s he was a sitting duck against a fighter as good as Lewis was at the time. Lennox does try to get more credit than this fight warrants though, I can understand as a less popular heavyweight he needs to promote himself a bit but it comes across laughable, the Rogan interview where he had to finally admit Tyson wasn't at his peak was awkward, he skirts around it. The fact is Lewis would have given any version of Tyson trouble, but their actual fight was no measuring stick, Tyson could barley slip a jab as his back was all messed up by then, yep it was "spinal".
the funny thing is the Tyson trained by Roach that fought Williams looked better to me, his body just gave out on him. Its not saying much that Klitschko would have beat him either, just about anyone with a pulse would have as he was barely a 3 round fighter.
What bothers me about that fight is that Lewis pushed for a pointless rematch against Tyson. Yet he decided to run away into retirement when pushed for a Vitali rematch. I think even Lennox knew himself he would have gotten stopped in a potential rematch with Vitali.
I think its clear Lewis knew he was in a rough fight for that rematch, he was too smart to put himself though that again. He plays that off a bit as well, i think he would have more sway if he actually took that rematch and won, but his footnote is basically he was at his very worst and still won. I guess he is right but he took one hell of a beating in the process!
I know it wouldn’t have been no greater accomplishment for Vitali if he beat that same Tyson that Lewis did. BUT... it would have been a nicer notch on his belt than Williams was. And it would have put Vitali’s name out there more back then.
Tyson had absolutely no chance in this fight. He was easily handled by Holyfied 6 years earlier and that same Holyfield was soundly beaten by Lewis.
