No offense to teh man. I am sure he is a nice fellow. But lets be real. All great champs have bad nights. Joe Louis- Almost too numberous to name. The first Schmeling fight of course. Knocked down by 5'8 fat guy Tony Galento. Almsot outboxed by light heavy Billy Conn. Knocked through the ropes by Buddy Baer. The first Joe Walcott fight. Muhammed Ali- Close call against Doug Jones. Knocked silly by Henry Cooper (Angelo Dundee admitted in writing that they cheated for time, so don't even start with the "he was fine" bull****) The three lousy perfomances agaisnt Norton who, otherwise, had a very ordinary career. Rocky Marciano- Virtually evey major fight he fought, but we'll just point out Roland Lastaraz I, hitting the deck agaisnt Moore and Walcott, the tought fifteen rounder agiasnt Charles, and getting his nose split open. Jack Johnson- Lost to Marvin Hart and knocked unconsious by Joe Chonyski. So give me a break . Lewis was great, period. Only in movies are guys unbeatable.
Agreed. His post only looks at the negatives and you can make ANYONE look bad that way. You could say that Larry Holmes barely got by an aging, glass chinned Norton while dropping his (at that time, only) belt to avoid mandatories, not fight Thomas, Dokes, Witherspoon rematch, Norton rematch, Williams rematch, Coetzee, and then lost to a lightheavyweight. But we all know that he's accomplished a LOT and is a certified great fighter.
Totally agreed. Fighters with a lot of control in the ring are often underrated by people who think greatness means to always stand forehead to forehead and trade hooks until someone falls. Lewis would have been a very tough assignement for any HW in history, a truly complete boxer - puncher - athlete with a great ratio of size to skills. In other sports, the effective, classy, quiet athletes are appreciated more. Nobody in basketball underestimates Tim Duncan, who is more effective in carrying his team to titles than many of the flashy trash - talking slam dunk artists. In boxing, someone like Lewis or the Klitschkos are not appreciated for how good they are until their careers are over.
The fight with Vitali was a great fight between a first class great in Lewis, and minor great in Vitali. The differnence between first tier and second tier greats is who wins these fights.
Taking the fight on such short notice...... I suppose this may have just been a lack of respect for Vitali but if the Lewis from the Oliver Mccall II fight turns up he beats Vitali IMO Anyway he still busted Vit up:good
