Exactly, Lewis was getting completely out landed, if the fight continued Lewis would’ve been tko’d. I don’t even know how people count the Byrd fight since it was literally an injury
No he wasn't. Well not the whole fight anyway. Klitschko clearly won rounds 1 and 2, lost round 3 and round 4 is a swing round. I scored it for Lewis because after slowing everything down most of Klitschkos shots were actually blocked and Lewis landed a lot of shots to the body in the clinches and won the round by a few punches. Klitschko threw way more shots but didn't land most of them. He won it by a few punches but it was kinda sloppy so its debatable Round 5 is a close round. i slowed the footage down and scored it for Klitschko but just by a few punches because again a lot of them didn't land and neither did Lewis's although Lewis landed 12 right hands to the body during a clinch which is the reason why its a close round. Besides that body work Klitschko outlanded Lewis by a quite a bit. In round 6 i slowed the footage and scored it for Lewis by just 1 or 2 punches but if you score it for Klitschko thats fine. It was extremely sloppy work for both men and i could have missed a few punches from Vitali that landed. Klitschko was outlanding him in the beginning but Lewis was getting better at connecting his shots after he landed his monster uppercut. By the end of the round it was clear both were exhausted although Lewis more. Again Klitschko threw more but landed less. Most of those punches were blocked or just didn't land on Lewis. Lewis just barely edged out by landing an uppercut/left hook combination on the inside right before the bell rang. Lewis wouldn't have been TKO'D. Both were exausted and were slow. Lewis was landing his shots better and better as time went on and Vitali wasn't improving with his accuracy at all and was slowing down. Tbh even if Vitali won Lewis was 2 months shy from 38 and 6-10 pounds overweight and took him on 2 weeks notice. Lewis in his prime would have worked Vitali. Sorry for the long write up but just had to get it off my chest.
It is uncertain, but it seems to me most fair to include it as part of any reasonable interpretation of greatness. You can (& likely should) average the conditions out between eras, making conditions somewhere between both, & have them competeing under each other's rules sets. Everybody decides for themselves, but naturally all reach conclusions about who is better in the abstract-& in specific conditions. The fact that it is subjective does not mean we should bypass it entirely. The "Eye test" is also heavily subjective. Especially when we do not realize what is more useful in certain eras, or find aesthetically pleasing styles superior to awkward ones, regardless of what is most effective. We will never know for sure who passes it better, but it is reasonable to say some like Langford do very well even though we are less familiar with the exignecies of his era. Even how good wins or opponents are is wide open to interpretation. If we demand surety in analyses, there is nothing left to work with. There is a special nuance that should be considered between eras though. Should we grant credit to fighters who have less access to better training? To my mind no: we can ad a caveat that wthey may have been somewhat better with it, but the basic question is how good athletes were. As long as it does not involve cheating-in techniques or illegal drugs-then the question must remain who was or got better, for whatever reasons. However something like fighting very often & the best folks available must also be taken into account. Because modern guys would suffer if they were tested so often & well, + usually lack the same endurance to do so.
You have to laugh at people using the Lewis bout to diminish Klitschko in a few different ways. The cut that stopped the bout was caused by a grazing punch that didn't land as intended, almost missing and "rubbing" the skin apart. It wasn't a cut caused by the skin impacting against bone. In other words, it was ridiculously lucky. Then there's the people who talk about short notice. It was short notice for Vitali Klitschko, too. Lewis, who was much more experienced, therefore should've been able to handle such circumstances much better; he was far more well equipped to do so. Although Vitali Klitschko didn't have the names to face to build his record, he done just about as well as he could have otherwise. The two losses were not losses in the traditional sense that he was second best on the night, and he was never done in his entire career. He also lost something like 8 rounds in his entire career on the cards. He was phenomenal and he was entertaining. I really like Vitali in all ways.
sorry but this hillarous.Lewis exposed Vitali’s flawed defense and destroyed his face with the overhand right.hardly any luck you bring up short notice that is ridiculous.vitali is always in shape.It was Lewis who was overweight and was expected to face a weaker opponent in Buba J.A great fighter would have taken advantage of these circumstances and take the W. Fact remains his resume is weak
Vitali's face was already messed up against Lewis after 3 rounds. The referee and doctor gave him until the end of the 6th. He had 3 rounds to get Lewis out of there while in that desperate state, but he wasn't good enough.
vitali won the first three rounds after beating the champion with the jab, then Lewis changed his style and he went inside to make it an "alley fight", he took it to the street. Lennox roared in, using his 5 inch reach advantage to reach Vitali's tissue paper skin and cut him to pieces. The lion raised in the judges' scorecards and in the last round, due to Vitali being emabrassed by the horrible cut, Lennox was taking control of the fight. So even if the referee didn't stop the fight, i think Vitali ,due to his warrior's heart, stays on his horse until the end of the fight, but he would lose on points, due to the cuts. So yeah, this fight gives me feeling that Vitali would have lost one way or the other. And i don't see a different result had They stepped in for another match. Vitali makes it a tough fight early, Lewis change styles, goes inside, find the magestic button which was the "Quarry" type of Vitali's skin, and stops him on cut. Vitali just met a heavyweight who was better than him. Lewis had one flaw: his whiskers, but does Vitali have the punching power to crack it? I don't think so. Lewis had Vitali's number, always has been, always, and forever will be.
