Briggs comment that Vitali is Better than Lewis or Foreman

The only thing I disagree with is that it wouldn't happen again if they were fighting again. Obviously if Lewis proved nothing else in that fight, it was that the was capable of cutting Vitali with his punches. If you look at it you'll see not one cut, not two cuts, but three cuts, one of which split Vitali's lip open. I recall this because one of the commentators was commenting on the amount of blood Vitali must have been swallowing.

So this idea of one punch just happened to have landed as a fluke and but for that one punch, Vitali wouldn't have been cut is simply wrong. But it's not wrong to say that that one punch ended up stopping the fight. I'll give you that.

I also agree, that BOTH fighters deservces prop's for that fight. I'm not a fan of those who denigrade one fighter over the other to prove a point. They both fought like warriors and unfortuately there could be only one winner. Probably safe to say, Lewis' experience played a pretty important rule in his win.

 

An old Briggs, approaching 40, is more durable than the 26 yr old who faced Lewis?
The lengths some fan boys will go to to convince themselves,[if no one else], that their hero is invincible.
Vitali wore two hats for this fight.

As boxer he performed adequately, if not excitingly, against a woefully pedestrian challenger, who had all the mobility of a ward robe ,and about the same ambition.

As joint promoter he cynically selected a man whose recent form was shown only against nondescript journey- men.
A fighter whose best days were not only behind him, but patently beyond recall.

A fighter who had done absolutely nothing to warrant a title chance.

I think this was a shameful exercise in moneymaking which we are lucky did not end in a fatality, an exercise which bore little resemblance to a sporting contest, in which both protagonists had a semblance of winning.

The only redeeming factor in this sorry affair was the courage that Briggs demonstrated, but that has never been sufficient to justify such a mismatch .

Brigg's corner should have pulled him out before the end.

The referee should have stopped it .

The promoter [Vitali], should never have promoted it.

 

Wow. That is an audacious statement considering the contents of the very same page on which it was made.