It could be, I just don't think it was in LL case. IMO, lack of motivation(as somebody posted above) along with Klitschko's awkward style were the major contributions to LL performance.
No nuthugging, Vitali was ahead on points and both were gassed out. They both beat the **** out of each other...
at the end of the day lennox won this fight fair and square against a prime v.klitschko.. he had a bad start against an more agressive fighter but took his best shots just to bounch right back into the fight and punish him, the only reason they stopped this fight was because the referee saw that VK was in big troubel! should vitaly be as aggressiv and continue the whole fight to press the action.. no way they would have stopped the fight!
Lewis was not shot, However he was fading he wasnt nearly the same Lennox that fought Evander in 99 that is for sure. but his recent performance against Rahman showed he was fading and that he had no real reason to be fighting anymore.
They BOTH took the best shots of the other. Remember that HUGE uppercut by Lewis :scaredas:? Who knows how the fight would have endet without the cuts but Lewis won fair and square, no doubt. It was a clash of titans
No he wasn't shot at all But he was under prepared and was getting ready to take on the not so stella Kirk Johnson. Typical Lewis saw an easy nights work and trained in a hasim rahman 1 style and shown by his weight/condition. I do honestly think that he planned to fight vitali for his farewell and when kirk got injured he thought **** it. He did under estimate vitali and he look very rusty up until the 3rd, but he started to get it together and toughed it out and came away with the w. Had he of lost i think we would of got the rematch, but Lewis is shrewd he knew his skills were starting to slip and had made a bucket load of money. As time goes on and people look at the record books they will see a man who defeated every man he ever faced, and retired as heavyweight champion of the world. I as huge Lewis fan felt cheated on him not giving a rematch as i wanted to see what a tottaly prepared and focused lewis could do. I just wanted one more fight i suppose and am probably not alone in that. Of course as the years have gone by, Lewis stoke has risen and will continue to. Especialy if vitali comes back and takes the mantle again of number 1 hw. Anyway im rambling Lewis was not shot but starting to slip :good
First, muscle weight more than fat. Just use your eyes and see how much fatter, slower and more flat-footed Lennox was against Vitali. Second, both Lennox and Tyson were surprised by the announcement of their weights for that fight, and both said they weighed a lot less when they weighed themselves during training. It was not a big deal because it was a HW fight, but both felt the scales were wrong.
Lewis is a pro..i dont think he take fighters easily and especially after lost to Rahman. Kirk was his opponent firstly and people (also Lewis) assume he is a good fighter..altought, lewis was not his prime...prime was around 2000...
Lewis wasn't necessarily "shot", but he was definitely contimplating retirement long before the Vitali fight... How do I know??? Because my old trainer is his cousin... Because the 1st Boxing Show I ever announced, for example, was at Eggy Marcus' GYM (Eggy was one of Lennox's main sparring partners over the years)... ya dig...? After the Klits fight when the media was clamouring for Lennox to get back in the ring, we all knew Lennox wasn't interested in getting back into top condition or getting back in the ring for that matter, regardless of what was reported, (had he been, sorry Vitali fans but your boy would've be on par with Rahman and McCall in those re-matches... Goodnight, Sweet Dreams...) It is my opinion that Lennox was preparing (if you can call it that), for a very out of shape Kirk Johnson from Nova Scotia... The same Kirk Johnson who came into the Vitali fight 6 months later, at a whopping 260lbs, the highest he ever weighed in his career (and I wonder how big Johnson was before the propsed Lennox fight? Rumours had Kirk Johnson absolutely blowing up after the Savarese fight, but I can't confirm that officially). I'm not making excuses for a Legend in the sport who won his fight with Vitali though... I'm simply pointing out that Lennox was obviously outta shape (anyone who saw the Rahman II fight and then the Vitali fight, doesn't need me to tell them that), he took the fight with Klitschko on like a weeks notice or something like that, as he was already preparing for an easy payday... And the man still won the fight... So was Lennox shot... Not in my opinion.... Was he already 1/2 way to retirement long before he beat Viatli Klitschko....? Abso-freakin'-lutely...
Lewis wasn't into it mentally, he already made it clear that he wanted Tyson and after that he's not that interested. He went into the fight with Vitali expecting Kirk Johnson and Vitali replaced him 2 weeks as he got injured, in all fairness Vitali didn't really expect to fight anyone. Lewis barely used his jab, was flat flooted, got tired in round 4 and was just a mess that night, of course Vitali had a lot to do with it but Lewis hardly looked good coming into this fight. He was 38 years old and didn't have much motivation anyway so yes he can be considered shot or at least not into it anymore and still managed to win.