Lennox Lewis v. Vitali Klitschko - does anyone think this was a good fight ?

Cooney was definately in better shape for the Foreman match than he was for the Spinks affair. He was a horribly deconditioned 238 Lbs in 1987, and had been spending the last 5 years since the Holmes fight partying with his earnings. Against Foreman, he had been training diligently with Gil Clancy and showed up at least 10 Lbs lighter than the Spinks fight. Holmes was at ringside that evening and even said that Cooney looked far more focused than he had in previous fights.

 

Agreed,

Although he was overhyped, I think the talent was truly there, and visibly. He had genuine power and not just the kind that wore fighters down, but the type that could really put a guy to sleep. He showed evidence both early and late in his career, that he had quality skills, ie. jab, footwork, body punching, left hook, ability to tie a man up,etc. Lastly, and most obviously, he was a giant for a man fighting back in the late 70's/early 80's. He had good management from a business standpoint, but poor guidance. Victor Valle once told someone that he just couldn't get Cooney to train enough. Then there was the drugs, alcohol, and self confidence problems..... All considering, its a miracle the man made it out of boxing with a record of 28-3-0-24. Its a shame he never went further. He's a nice guy from what I'm told who helps Larry Holmes with his FIST program for disabled fighters and is now considered in the boxing world as a respected elder statesman.

 

The Klitschko/Lewis fight was exciting as far as I am concerned. The back and forth exchanges is what made it exciting. It was the doctors call to stop the fight and you cannot argue too much considering the severity of the cut, but Lennox owed Vitaly a rematch! I stand by that statement as much as I did just after the fight ended. They both took the fight at short notice, Vitaly was giving Lewis all he could handle and was very fortunate that the fight was stopped in my opinion? Vitaly's vision was impaired due to the cut which made him more cautious as the fight wore on. Whether anyone agree's with that bit of info is up to the individual, but the fact that Lewis was in a life and death battle with Vitaly until the fight was stopped due to a cut leaves questions in the minds of the fans!!!!! There is no other way to look at it IMO. Even if you think Lewis was starting to come back and wear Vitaly down, we will never know what the outcome would have actually been had Vitaly not had the vicious cut which impaired his vision and possibly slowed his pace down due to some caution? That fight required a rematch!

 

I think it's a great fight to watch in terms of excitement and action. Indeed in terms of pure boxing skill it isn't - but then again, Ali vs Frazier III is just as God awful from a technical point of view, but that doesn't make the fight any less exciting!

On a sidenote, i don't think anyone has ever looked good fighting Vitali Klitschko.

 

It seemed to me ,then,one of Lewis' typical ugly efforts when he didn't come in 100%.
Personally I don't understand why people rave on about the power of Vitali.It was the lack of explosiveness in his right that lead Lewis back into the fight.
I would go far as to say,if it had been his brother in the ring doing the early running ,the title would have changed hands there and then.

 

The joke is that Vitali and Lewis would have easily defeated that Foreman and Cooney ...

I liked the fight ... it was dramatic .. I was impressed that Vitali took it as a last minute substitute .. it showed his confidence ... I like that Lennox , past his best, stood tough and slugged away ... it was a shame it ended on a cut as we really do not know how it would have ended up ...

An exciting fight ...

 

Here are some seldom spoken facts. Vitlai was prepping for a 10 round match, and took the offer from Lewis on less than 2 weeks notice because Vitlai felt Lewis, who signed to fight Vitlai with Lion promotions would never fight him in the ring. Lewis was prepping for a 12 round match vs. Kirk Johnson.

Had Vitlai know it was Lewis all along, I think he would have prepared better & harder.

After the fight Lewis said he would give a re-match, and told the press, he would give a re-match a few times. What is not known is Lewis was considering a re-match vs the washed up Tyson first, and was also considering fighting Kirk Johnson in Canada if Johnson got past Klitschko. However, when Vitlai blew out Johnson, it was not to be. The WBC ordered a re-match or would strip Lewis of his belt.

Lewis had an offer of $18,000,000.00 to meet Vitlai in a re-match, but decided to retire. My personal opinion is Lewis knew he would likely lose the re-match, so he opted to retire. I also believe that if the ring doctor did not stop the fight, Vitali could have won late as Lewis punched himself out and crashed down hard on his stool at the end of round six, but such fights with bad cuts do not happen in this century.

I think the fight was exciting. A re-match would have been a huge night for boxing. Even a week after this fight, there was some water cooler talk among casual sports fans.

 

Name me one heavyweight fight in the last 10 years that was better than Lewis-Vitali....

It was an entertaining fight at a time when the heavyweight division was ****.

 

While I trained at Golds Gym in Venice in 03 I looked across the first room and there was VK all by himself working out with light barbells. Nobody knew who the f he was , except me of course. lol. I did not feel it was appropiate to approach him so I just chuckled and went on with my routine. Seeing celebreties or star athletes is not a big deal there and fairly common.

By pure accident I ran into him by the bathroom in the third room where the water fountain is. So I said hi and we struck up a conversation which lasted maybe ten minutes. He was not too fluent in English so most of it we spoke in my native tongue , German.

He was absolutly astonished that I knew who he was, especially here in the US where I have made my residence for the last 25 years. He was also equally impressed when I am told him its not just me but that most US boxing fans knew him and his brother pretty well and had high hopes for them how their career would work out fighting in the US.

He said he was in preperation to fight on the Lewis/Johnson undercard but really wanted Lewis. As a matter of fact . Lewis name came up several times and he repeated that he considered Lewis the best and was very anxious to get a go at him but mentioned that politics might throw a wrench in it. I can say he was almost fixated on Lemmie. Boswell's name never came up, I guess he saw it as a foregone conclusion . So it comes as no surprise that he jumped on the Lewis fight on very short notice.................

BTW, as far as his build is concerned, very tall and almost skinny, very lean, similar for one who does hard physical labor like digging manual ditches for a living or laying 19th century rail road ties.

He certainly was a class act with not one bit of arrogance ,a down to earth or "common" type of guy.

 

That is an awesome storythumbsup

 

Good thread this.

I mean yes, it was an exciting fight with two huge guys going at it, but the fight for many is seen as some epic battle and one of the best fights in recent heavyweight history. Even Lennox seems to feel it was a great fight, going on what he said during Vitali's entrance 'theme' against Peter.
I don't think it was great at all.


Technically it was a very sloppy fight and while it was exciting, it wasn't that exciting. There were no knockdowns and neither fighter was in serious trouble throughout. The ending was also very unsatisfactory, if technically the right one.

But I do enjoy watching it from time to time. There are certainly worse fights to watch, but better ones as well.

 

Yeah, great story. :good

 

I tend to agree. Vitali is a big, strong, well-conditioned guy with a lot going for him, but his power is overrated. It was as clear as day Lewis was carrying the heavy artillery in the fight, despite being wobbled in the second by Vitali's right.

My impression of the fight is that Lewis went for an early KO but almost paid the price when Vitali wobbled him. He seemed to regain his composure when Vitali could not follow up on his advantage and allowed Lewis back into the fight, as you say.
I think Lewis was coming on in the 5th and 6th rounds as Vitali seemed to be pushing his punches and was not hurting Lewis anymore.
That monster uppercut in the 6th landed by Lewis was indeed that, but I think it disconcerted Lewis when Vitali not only took it, but actually came back.
It's impossible to say what would have happened. Lewis was looking the better fighter at that point but also more exhausted. Vitali to me had shot his bolt, but being younger and apparently able to take Lewis' punches, it could be that a long, drawn-out battle could have suited him. Maybe Lewis would have found increasing success with the uppercut, or maybe he would have been outlasted by Vitali who was younger.
We'll just never know.

 

some of you are crazy. that fight made me a fan of boxing and both fighters. it was a great war. when have two skilled big men ever thrown down like that? the fight was a back and forth brawl with intrigue and plenty of drama for the HW championship. Did u hear Staples Center? That place went crazy. Did u see the people react after the fight? The crowd cheering Vitali, booing Lennox. Vitali demanding a rematch and taunting Lewis' entourage. It was great. Then the post-fight interviews were fantastic...Merchant trying to irritate Lewis. Lennox giving Vitali no credit. :yep

Obviously, that fight impressed a lot of people in los angeles too cause the next time Vitali fought at Staples, he sold it out (more than 17K) against sanders.

I don't care what people say, imo, there is nothing like a hw gunfight. Yeah it became sloppy but they were fighting hard all the way.

I'll take that over a Wlad slapfest or seeing that slob Cooney get waxed by an old foreman or blown up lhw.