Russ, The rematch in Nov. 1999 sucked **** for PPV! The initial fight in March was far better....... Screw the cards, etc.................. Lewis WON both fights hands down................... Holy did do better the second time around, but winning one round big and a few by a close shave doesn't mean he deserved the decision in either fight............... Holy LOST both fights.............. No need for a "Rubber" match............ Peace....... MR.BILLbbb
Still wonder were this Holy got robbed thing came from?? Were people watching the rematch were there eyes close, and only open them on the rounds Holyfiled won?
I agree with you here. It wasn't a clear win for Lennox Lewis as far as I'm concerned. Holyfield rocked Lewis in the middle and late rounds and Lennox didn't do enough to win this fight clearly. Like I said before, this decision by the judges was an unjustified, feeble attempt to right the ugly black mark left by Eugenia Williams. This woman should never, ever be allowed to judge another important boxing contest, especially involving Don King. I will say that Holyfield gave away a few of the early rounds and was behind in the scoring going into the middle rounds. Lennox was boxing well, but Holyfield caught him as the fight progressed and hurt Lewis more than Lewis hurt him. I watched this fight with my girlfriend at the time and Don Turner said word for word what I said moments before the end of round 4. "Evander, you have to step in with the double jab, throw the right hand to the body." No lies, word for word, that's what Don Turner said, and I couldn't believe my ears and neither did she. In fact, we almost got into a fight because she thought the fight was a repeat I've seen, and I knew all the words in the commentary. Funny but weird.
Respect to you Dempsey1238 for you post and opinion. I watched this rematch with my eyes open for every round. It wasn't a clear win for Lewis and even though I felt that Holyfield did enough to earn the victory, a draw would have been the more plausible decision in this second fight. Boxing however, could not do that to Lewis and I still believe the sport itself had to "right" Eugenia Williams' "wrong." Holyfield backed Lewis up, forced him to fight, hurt him and rocked him more than he did to Holyfield. If pressuring the opponent and making the fight happen moreso than the oppoent is viable criteria in the scoring, then Holyfield should have won this fight. Lewis won the first fight by five points minimum.
You have to score the fight by rounds, and who was the more effective agressor in each round period. As mentioned, I've seen this fight several times now and each time I score the fight 8-4 for Lewis based on that criteria. But if someone said they saw it 7-5 I could buy into that. Anything other than that would require a round by round explaination of how Holyfield won because truthfully this wasn't a hard fight to score. There were only a couple of rounds that where one fighter or the other could have won, most were one by one fighter or the other quite clearly.