How much longer could Lennox have reigned?

He should have just stayed on, trained his a$$ off, beat Vitali Klitchsko in a rematch and then Wladmir K and then rid us of the 2 most overrated fighters ever.

 

If Lewis didn't retire there would be no way for him to get out of a Vitali rematch after the Johnson blow out. The only other possible fights would be Byrd, Jones Jr., and Sanders. Considering he spent 2 years stringing Byrd along, I doubt the fight would come off. He could pick up good wins over the other two, but he would only be a slight favorite in a Vitali rematch, and I personally don't see him pulling it off. If he could, he probably would have done it in reality instead of leaving us all hanging for a year.

 

Vitali was the only real threat and he beat him while being completely unprepared and out of shape. If he got back in his old shape he knocks Vitali out imo. Who else is there to challenge? Wald was a nervous wreck around this time and would have feinted during the ring walk. Ruiz/Bryd didn't have anything to bother him

So who dethrones him if Vitali can't? Wlad could work his way back into contention perhaps and beat an even older Lewis. Some lucky punch but the division is hardly stacked with punchers

 

Or maybe he just didnt want another hard war, a hard camp against someone he already had a TKO win over

 

Both were fading fast, its just that when Vitali faded he couldnt keep moving to keep the better puncher off. So yes Lewis was tired but he'd got to the stage where he could walk Vitali down and land KO punches like the uppercut that had Vitali holding on

I wish it hadn't been stopped to be honest

 

LL reign would end after rematch with Vitali.

 

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Vk would have given him a good rematch, but LL would always beat him... because LL is simply better than him. LL had nothing to prove after VK. If he had stayed on and beat VK again, then another name would have popped up and then another and then another......

 

The way I see it is this.

If he gets past the hurdle of a rematch with Vitally, then there is a prety easy road ahead of him.

Vitally retires shortly after due to injuries as happened in the actual timeline.

Wladamir suffers a loss to Lamon Brewster and has to rebuild his career.

That leaves a prety weak crop of contenders for Lewis to dominate:

Title Vacant

1.Chris Byrd
2.Hasim Rahman
3.James Toney
4.Lamon Brewster
5.John Ruiz
6.Monte Barrett
7.Calvin Brock
8.Wladimir Klitschko
9.Samuel Peter
10.Nicolay Valuev

Lewis held the WBC title for which Hasim Ramhan became a mandatory, so a rubber match with Ramhan is likley his next fight after a Klitschko rematch. This would be more marketable than a unification bout with Byrd or Ruiz.

From here the big threat to Lewis is the resurgent Wladamir, who would probably still try to wrest the IBF title from Chris Byrd before challenging him. The presence of Lewis as a lineal champion would make him a target for Wlad. Lewis by this time is probably effectivley the WBC champion, fighting the mandatories associated with that belt.

 

Well, we do. Manny told Lewis to keep his guard up immediately after 6 because Vitali was still very much in the fight. It is on the tape if you care to listen.

Besides, if, by you words, Lewis was out of shape, wouldn't he (and not Vitali) be gassed after 6 rounds of the toughest fight in his career?

The cut that stopped the fight was clearly caused by an open glove so it could have been TD for Vitali if the ref called it. That was one of the reasons WBC left him in mandatory spot.

 

Not much longer.

He was already on the decline and he was aware of it. The division minus the Klitschko's would have probably given him rule until 2005 but even that's a stretch.

Vitaly put him a position where he had to do some soul searching as to whether or not he still had it. Lennox who for the better part of his career craved respect and sought out challenges in the ring and the courtroom would have taken a rematch immediately especially if it were a big money fight. But he knew he didn't have it anymore. He couldn't train as hard, he didn't have the motivation to beating him again and he proved everything that he set out to prove as a professional.

 

funny, because lewis was retired simply because he knew that he had no chance to beat a prime vitali in the rematch, he was lucky to win the first fight, vitali was winning clearly on the cards. vitali was easy to cut it is all. NO WAY LEWIS WOULD HAVE WON A REMATCH AGAINST VITALI KLITSCHKO.

STYLES MAKE FIGHTS AND VITALI WOULD GIVE THE HELL EVEN TO PRIME LEWIS. THE VERSION OF LEWIS WHO FOUGHT VITALI WAS HEAVIER AND STRONGER THAN THE YOUNG LEWIS IN HIS 20s (220-235 pounds ). really i think that the only way to win for lewis was by cuts.

 

Anyway, Lewis did the smart thing one way or another and walked away.

 

No question.

More than nice to see a champion walk away with his record and money intact.