It was a huge fight. It is quite obvious that Lewis was past his prime, was not even entirely prepared, but I don't think he was in worse shape than against Tyson. Vitaly was in the bets shape of his life I think. IMO the cut (caused by a punch and further damaged by Lewis' rasta hair) changed the fight. Without that cut Vitaly would have won it by late stoppage or decision. But the cut happened, it was caused by a punch and according to the rules it is a clear Lewis TKO. Still I didn't like Lewis' behaviour afterwards, no respect for Klitschko and no rematch. Shame.
Holyfield wasn't 'far far' past prime, he was 36, younger than the Lewis who faced Vitali. Sure he was past prime but he was undefeated since Bowe and had the scalps of Tyson x2 and Moorer leading upto Lewis. Lets not forget the extra help 'Evan Fields' was getting. The list you supplied is open to scrutiny. Wlad wouldn't beat Bruno or McCall at the points Lewis did, hell he got beat by lesser fighters. Today, of course he would, but then today he's prime, Lewis wasn't.:deal Lewis did what he could blah blah blah. His advice was to Sanders for the Wlad fight, and to Williams a fellow Brit, ffs how many times do I need to bring this up??:roll: Assess who was the better man all you like. You do know boxing history is littered with fights where one guy was down on the cards then pulled it out the bag yes?
If no cut in this one Lewis would have surely been KO'D. Some stats from the fight: Total Punches Lewis Klitschko Landed 102 156 Thrown 222 432 Pct. 46% 36% Jabs Lewis Klitschko Landed 52 77 Thrown 120 240 Pct. 43% 32% Power Punches Lewis Klitschko Landed 50 79 Thrown 102 192 Pct. 49% 41% Klitschko was leading on ALL the scorecards.
i find it comical with many people saying lewis was bashing the guy, just look at vitalis eye. i repeat, if fights were awarded to the fighter with the clearer skin, then michael katsidis would be yet to win a fight. it shows the maturity of the person making such a comment. just like lewis, i can't believe how many people not willing to give vitali credit and admit that lewis got a lucky decision. it just smells of hater syndrome and nothing else.
funny how you feel the need to point out that you didn't feel that Lennox was going to KO him after you point out how 'dominant' you thought Vitali was. I mean, that doesn't make it seem like you have some kind of agenda here at all lol... If Vitali was being dominant at all, you wouldn't have to defend him against the suggestion that he was about to be knocked the **** out. If he wasn't about to be knocked the **** out, the most popular perception wouldn't be that he was about to get knocked the **** out in the first place. Since that IS the popular perception, you can pretty much rest assured that Vitali was, indeed, about to get knocked the **** out by Lennox.
r u for real? agenda? this is the 1st time i have ever commented about vitali in any forum. so the only agenda here is from u bud! i'm not a fan of either of the two. just hear people bash vitali over the years about how he was beaten up badly by lewis. with vitali's latest fight approaching i was curious to watch him fight and watched the lewis fight and was surprised that vitali was so accurate and effective most of the time. from watching the replay now i not sure that i had watched it before either.
before the vitali fight..lennox said he had 3 or 4 more fights in him... ...after the vitali fight....he retired......nuff said.
IMHO: Lewis wasn't shot. Past his very best, but only just. Both men took the fight on short notice. Vitali landed the better shots and dealt with Lennox's shots better than vice versa. WITHOUT the cut, Lennox would probably have been stopped. But the cut was there, and WITH the cut, Vitali would have been stopped in round 7 or 8. Vitali would have been favoured in a rematch. Lennox, having nothing further to prove, and having felt Vitali's shots, decided to end it things there. (He had said pre-fight that he wanted three more fights and he said post-fight that he would give Vitali a rematch. After watching Vitali's next fight, he changed his mind). Vitali demonstrated a very good chin throughout the fight, as did Lennox. Faced with adversity, Lennox demonstrated the ability to dig deep when it counted. Cuts are a part of boxing and this cut was opened by a punch. Lennox opened it further with subsequent punches. Despite Vitali's protestations, the stoppage was good and the result, Lennox TKO in 6 over Vitali, was fair and legitimate. Lennox was an ATG in my top five, both by achievement and head to head. Vitali, partly due to injuries and partly due to a lack of good opponents on his resume, doesn't crack the top ten.
What a vicious uppercut landed lewis on the last round..., one of the hardest shots I've seen... monstrous.
Out of every single thing that has been said about this since we first starting beating it to death in '03 I think the one aspect being more neglected than anything else is that, had the bout continued, Vitali would of had to continue in that god awful state. The reasons for a Lewis win from then on (not too mention a sweet 6th) make more sense than vice versa.