Did Lewis duck Byrd

Depends if you believe internet rumours or not.

 

can't really agree with you there. i had him beating Golota and McCline. and Vitali pulled a sick note the same reason alot of fighters who fight Byrd end up injured. he ****ed up his shoulder trying to hit him. Golota complained of shoulder problems after there fight as well. as for wlad? that was a nassssssty beatin

 

He fought Holyfield for the vacated title Numbnuts! That was after Lewis turned him down.

Don King got him rated in order to sacrifice him to Evander. Ruiz was one of the worst examples of a Don King creation that ever existed.

 

Again... AFTER the potential Lewis fight.

You are truly clueless. :verysad

 

WTF are you talking about?

Get YOUR facts straight!

Why do you think the Holy-Ruiz fights were for a title???

Ruiz got his "mandatory" position from the bogus victories against tomato cans that I posted above.

Lewis turned him down and fought the BETTER CRIDENTIALED, and at the time MORE PROVEN Grant.
Face facts, at the time Golota was a better scalp than anyone on Ruiz's resume except Tua who ANIHILATED Ruiz.

Ruiz went on to fight Holy who had just lost to Lennox.

 

At the stage of his career when he signed to fight Johnson, most journalists were telling him to retire because his legacy was already secure.

He only took the Johnson fight because it was supposed to hype up the tyson rematch. It was originally the date for the rematch, then tyson said he needed a tune-up so it was a co-feature with tyson on the undercard. Then tyson pulled out altogether.

 

At the point Wlad faced Byrd, Wlad was faster and better suited to beating Byrd stylistically than Lewis. Against Vitali, Lennox looked undermotivated, slow, and more easily befuddled by an unorthodox opponent than he had been years ago. Byrd loved to fight this sort of opponent as a fast, frustrating southpaw who preferred to fight bigger men.

 

Ruiz in fact didnt take the opportunity to fight Lewis!
In fact, the WBA gave Lewis an exemption to fight Grant as long as he agreed to fight Ruiz next by july 2000, Lewis agreed and set up the date in july and the venue for London. Ruiz`s promoter Don King wouldnt sign the agreement that the WBA wanted them to, instead he took Lewis to court over a clause in the Holyfield Lewis contract. It was because of that clause in that contract that Lewis lost the belt.
The WBA did not strip him. Ruiz actually could have fought Lewis in july but because he and his promoter brought the court case he had to wait until august for his fight against Holyfield for what the world saw as a paper title.

Due to the disparaging things Ruiz and Holyfield said about him in court to take his title he basically said he wouldnt dignify them by having anything to do with them in the future. They went on to have 3 meaningless fights by everyones opinion which brought neither fighter public support for a challenge to Lewis.