I haven't watched this fight for a long long time but I seem to remember that Bruno was winning the fight by outboxing Lennox a bit with his jab. Have I got that wrong? It may have been a touch of sympathy but I'm sure I had Frank winning when he was stopped. And if I'm correct and others agree, this is pretty much the only time I can think of that someone had gained the upper hand over Lewis besides the two KO's. And don't even start with the Vitali horse****!
I don't think a single person on this board would've has Lewis ahead at the time of the stoppage, even Radar. the Lewis haters love this fight, it provided ammo. Same with the Mercer fight, some guy kept going on about how Mercer was winning om the cards after the first round and how as a result he 'won the event'....just like Vitali did.
I would have loved to get into this meaty debate until ESB's PWO said Vitali discussion wasnt allowed. So I have to bow out. Enjoy the rest of the discussion people.
Both of their jabs were awesome that night. Lewis's was like a piston, really thudded into Bruno's face. Bruno's jab was great too. It was the overhand rights which were winning Bruno the fight.
From what I remember Bruno dominated most of the fight and had Lennox in the corner where he got cocky dropped his guard and got caught by a Lewis left hook then it's all down hill from there.
I thought Lewis was winning but I was a big LL fan hence the bias. Sorry to go off topic but does anyone remember the LL - Mason fight ? I thought Lewis dominated but Mason still insists he was winning the fight.
Lewis was schooling Mason - Gary was a seriously deluded man. Back to topic, I don't see how anyone could have Lennox winning, but throughout I always thought that Bruno would lose, based upon past experience of the Bonecrusher Smith and Tyson fights - i.e. once Bruno was clocked the chin went up and the hands down, when it should have been vice versa
I think that's probably what I thought too - Lewis was under performing that night. Could it have been something to do with the conditions or he thought he was in for an easy night?
I had Bruno 4-2 up...thought he swept the first three rounds, 4th was close but I thought Bruno nicked it, and I had Lewis winning the 5th and 6th. Bruno's left (I think) eye was swollen almost shut and he was getting tired, so Francis told him to go all-out on attack in the 7th. Almost got somewhere too, but that left missed by a mile while Lewis's most definitely did not. Considering this is considered one of Lewis's worst performances, ironically it was the one which made me a Lewis fan. I liked the fact he was in a hole but dragged himself out of it, and that left was a real peach of a shot. I was supporting Bruno going into it, and continued to do so, but that 'converted' me to backing Lewis too. As for Lewis-Mason, I did think Mason came back into it in the 3rd and 4th rounds (especially the 4th), so I could possibly made a case for a 4-2 Lewis scorecard there. No better for Mason than that though, Lewis's jab was on good form that night. I did hear someone saying a while back that Mason was apparently up on the cards at the time of the stoppage though...does anyone know anything at all about this? If so, bad scoring IMO...
Bruno was winning but only by a couple of rounds and then he got KO'd. Bruno was much better than he is given credit for, people forget that he was beating Witherspoon and Smith when they both stopped him late too, and later than Lewis did. He got up off the canvas in the first round against a peak Tyson and then rocked him in the second and got back into the fight before being stopped in what was it the fifth? Lewis looked a bit complacent and Bruno came out fired up, crowd behind him and did what he did to pretty much everyone bar Tyson....out jabbed and pressured. Then Lewis turned it on and stopped him.
Even Lewis said he was down 4-2 at the time of the stoppage. A poor performance by him, but still a resolute win over a future WBC belt holder. There was no way Mason was beating Lewis.
