If the December 2003 rematch between Lewis and Klitchko occurred, who wins?

Take it to General.

 

Lewis,in shape and focused ,wins by stoppage again.

 

It depends on the extent of Lewis's decline, but if Lennox would be anywhere near where he was in the Tyson fight (shape wise), he wins.

 

X2

 

Lewis in a last great performance.

 

I don’t think Lennox had it in him to get motivated again to put in a tough training camp for a difficult opponent.

He didn’t learn his lesson from South Africa. I remember Larry Merchant commenting after that loss how it’s often becomes harder for aging champs to put in the hard work. I think he brought up mid to late 70s Ali as an example.

Sure Lennox got in good shape for his next 2 fights. It’s easier to get motivated when it’s revenge over a guy who just knocked you out in Rahman, or when you’re fighting Mike Tyson in the richest fight ever at the time.

Once he had another “routine” title defense, what did he do? He took it too easy in training and came in at a career heaviest weight.

Unlike Rahman 1, Lewis was able to gut out a tough win, but probably knew he didn’t have enough motivation and dedication at this point in his career. So he wisely retired.

 

I think if Lewis came better prepared he’d have a chance of duplicating his win. Is it guaranteed ? No. Lennox was fading by then

 

Lewis. He always came in better in the rematch.

 

Klitschko is not in his class & a really driven Lewis would only have won again. Possibly on points trying to avoid the struggle of the initial fight.

 

Not always. I say he looked better in the first fight against Holyfield, but Holyfield was better in the rematch. Both fights were very badly scored, in my opinion. The second fight was payback for the first. If the decisions were reversed, the judging would have been pretty accurate.

Lewis was funny, seems he tried just enough to win, didn't often give it the full effort. With his physical attributes and skills, he should have been more dominant.

 

Lewis was a super smart and great champion. He made the big bucks, came close to losing against a younger and hotter opponent, opted for retirement.

Good on him.

He still beat Vitali, no matter what spin we put on it.

 

"There's no shame in going out on top."

 

Did we not just have this very topic?

 

TKO6 again, more or less. Maybe TKO8 or TKO11.

Uppercuts gonna uppercut. Face go melty.