How much did Vitali have left when they stopped the flight?

No he didn't. Vitali outlanded him for most of it but i had it 4 round to 2 and Vitali looked dominant even past round 3 because he threw way more than Lewis did. But when you actually count punches landed Lewis and Vitali weren't far off in rounds 4, 5, and 6

Had the fight went on Vitali might've received irreversible eye damage. That fight could've ended his career considering there were 6 rounds left to go, Lewis's punch accuracy was increasing, and Steward told Lewis specifically to go for Vitali's eye in the end. Lewis probably would've taken over late because Vitali's vision was getting impaired

 

Without the cut Vitali was gonna knock him out. Lewis was out of shape for the fight. But the cut happened and if not stopped who knows how bad that could have gotten.

 

Vitali could of went on in the Byrd fight, I've seen plenty of boxers fight on with 1 arm and he was up on the scorecards. He just didn't want to get knocked out by a former middleweight like Byrd and took the easy way out.

 

Vitali really could not see well and he got hit some monster shots .. he was younger and may have had more stamina but Lennox did seem the more dangerous guy as the cut became more hideous .. it was some horrific bleeding ..

 

He could have fought more, but he was pretty disabled.

To this day, I'm not anywhere near as convinced as some people are that Vitali could have won that fight. He was taking some pretty nasty shots. Lewis still had ugly-ass power.

 

If they came out for round 7, this is more or less what would happen if Lewis landed another clean bomb on Vitlai.

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That’s why I said there shouldn’t be much controversy with the stoppage, but Vitali still outlanded Lewis and had a lot of fight left in him.

 

I remember towards the end Vitali was the one holding on and looking worse, Lennox may have been losing on the cards but he did his job and beat Vitali to the point the doctors had to stop it.

 

Vitali was well on his way to stopping Lewis.

He was plenty fresh, and Lewis in the last round collapsed into his stool exhausted. Lewis put everything out in the last rounds trying to get the fight stopped on the cut. He had nothing left except a champions heart.

But, the fight was indeed stopped. No argument on it . Vitali had a grievous wound

That said- Lewis was both lucky and smart with the cut happening and his attempts to get it bad enough to get fight stopped.

It is a shame too, as Vitali was both the better fighter and obviously deserving of the title.

But, to sum up, had the cut not been so bad, Vitali would have beaten Lewis, no doubt.

 

There is no doubt he quit, whether you or anyone else thinks it was justifed is another matter.Buddy McGirt went into the Whitaker fight with a torn rotator cuff I believe. Tom Sharkey fought several rounds with busted ribs against Jeffries.Jeffries himself took a hell of a beating from Fitz in their second fight,broken nose, deep gashes above both eyes mouth cut and bleeding ,I'm convinced the idea of quitting would never have crossed his mind.Artur Abraham,Sonny Liston,and KevinFinnegan among others, fought on with broken jaws ,as did Ali.
Danny Williams dislocated him arm against Mark Potter but kept going to ko Potter.
Maybe I'm cynical, but I think all that " faux protesting ,"by Vitali when the fight was stopped was a compensation and hoped for redemption for his quit job against Byrd.

 

Well my friend I think Lewis was over the worst and coming on.
One thing I have no doubt about, prime for prime Lewis kicks his arse!

 

Fortunately for Lewis Vitali was not the champion or the fight would never have ended!lol

 

Well put. That next round would have definitely been the last.

 

So was Vitali just prone to cuts, Lewis punches could just cut anyone to bits or it was just a one off?