Lewis v Klitschko: the Cut

I have no issues at all with a champion taking an easy title defense along the way, but when he drops belts to fight lesser fighters or avoids re-match, then we are talking about something different. Can you concede this point? Yes or no?

I do not see either Klitschko running from anyone. In fact they are both gunning for the last world title belt. Valuev and Haye won't fight them. Neither will Toney. It seems like Povetkin has reservations too. Just like Lewis had resvervations with the re-match once he found out how good Vitlai was.

It seems like a Don King backed Oliver McCall might get a title shot again. Lewis fans might have a tough pill to swallow if Wlad stops McCall, which makes him 2-0 vs Rhaman and McCall, while Lewis mark vs the same men stands at 2-2.

 

No I can't concede that point because you're still trying to attack Lewis for not facing Byrd or Ruiz when he chose to drop the IBF or WBA belt or whatever it was so he could face Michael Grant. If Lewis had defended against Byrd or Ruiz and avoided Grant people like you would have been up in arms and he'd have probably lost one of the other belts for doing it so it was a lose-lose situation. Lewis took the tougher, more marketable fight and won in devastating fashion, and there's absolutely no doubt in any reasonable fans mind that he would have beat the llving **** out of Byrd and Ruiz had he fought them. Lewis did not avoid a rematch with VITLAY, he retired, and he was entitled to do that because he WON THE FIGHT atsch He retired because he struggled against a B level opponent, something that he wasn't used to....Lewis is a sensible man.

Neither Klitschko runs from anyone? What about VITLAYS nemesis, Hasim Rahman? Please feel free to make the usual excuses but the facts are that Rahman retired VITLAY, using the ******ed logic that you like to apply :good Can't wait for your "but.....but....VITLAY was injured" response to that one :rofl

Oh and yes, I'm sure all Lewis fans will be really upset if WALDO or VITLAY stops a 50 year old Oliver McCall, what a dent that'll put in Lewis's legacy...it'll be the same sized dent that Tyson put in Ali's legacy when he beat Larry Holmes :nut

 

tko for a good reason...........lennox pounded vitali.....

 

Vtali's power is cumulative and Lennox has one punch power, which to me given the shape they were in doesn't bode well for Vitali, he was outgunned. the momentum of the fight was shifting irrespective of the cuts. Vitali just doesn't have the right style to beat Lewis. Lewis would have gone on to win by K.O. Although i do think Lewis could have been more forthcoming with a rematch.

 

LOL, you got to be employed by Lewis..................net press agent to hold the flag up.

Sonny, your hero got waxed TWICE by C level fighters, so he was DEFINITELY used to struggle with ham and eggers.

 

and yet Vitali in the most important fight of his career couldn't do it...hmmm what's that make him? By your logic it would be a D level fighter

 

Lewis was heavily criticized after the uneventful Holyfield snoozers and took the Grant fight as a showcase fight because he was someone he can look good against. Simple as that. Has nothing to do with him battling corruption and looking for a tougher, more marektable fighter. Nobody cared about Grant but unlike Ruiz, Lewis had a good chance of knocking him out in easy fashion and he delivered. I followed Lewis during his reign and was a fan but this revisionism is getting ******ed. I guess people hate Vitali and Wlad so much they must rewrite the books to make the previous Champion into a flawless Superman that did no wrong. Oh, the days of Lewis when we had a true Champion that was just as unfairly abused as the one now. A real Lewis fan can empathise with Wlad and Vitali to a lesser degree.

Now Byrd and Ruiz had as good a chance of beating Lewis if not more of chance than most of Lewis' elite opposition during that timeframe..Grant, the White Buffalo, fat Tua...etc.. Its not even about that, its about earning your shot and say what you will in retrospect, Byrd certainly earned his shot several times over and deserved a go at Lennox and so did the Quiet Man to a lesser degree. Doesn't matter if the odds were 100-1, they were contenders for his title and most writers at the time speculated there was more to it than Byrd and Ruiz being easy unmarketable opponents. Godl knows, Lewis wasn't shy about those.

From SI


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[/url] said afterward, in his disturbingly reasonable way, that " [url]

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[/url]'s style was appropriate to showcasing my talent."

Until now [url]

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[/url] has been a difficult and largely unpromotable fighter. In that respect this bout was no different from the rest. It wasn't just [url]

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[/url], though. Either nobody was taking Grant seriously or everybody had given up on heavyweight boxing altogether, because the event was virtually buzz-free. Not even in [url]

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[/url], at the supposed mecca, could these two guys create any prefight commotion. The promoters plugged tirelessly, but nobody could produce a storyline more dramatic than...two really big kids in the same ring, same time

In particular there was that troubling bout last year with [url]

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[/url], in which Grant's flaws (he holds his hands low, for one thing) were nearly fatal. Knocked down and losing, he showed guts by finally stopping Golota, but...he had been knocked down and had been losing.


From Cyberboxing Zone prior to Ruiz/Holyfield:



Everyone who knows John Ruiz sees him as a man of principle, a genuine nice guy -- outside the boxing ring, of course. Inside the ring, Ruiz is a fierce and driven competitor. The late Jerry Ballard (a former contender who was murdered last year) had unfortunately met Ruiz inside a boxing ring. On September 19, 1998, the relentless Ruiz mercilessly knocked out Ballard in four rounds.
It was that impressive performance that vaulted Ruiz into the number one slot by the WBC. Ruiz has also acquired the number one status for the WBA. Since the designation, Ruiz has been campaigning for a shot at what he wants most, the heavyweight championship held by Lennox Lewis, a man who has refused to face Ruiz.
"Lennox Lewis has a reason for avoiding John," said Ruiz' attorney Anthony Cardinale. "Lewis knows what Johnny can do and has seen what Johnny can do."
Ruiz was at one-time a sparring partner for Lewis while also being promoted by Panos Eliades. To Stone's account, Lewis didn't look too well against Ruiz and would not spar with Ruiz while the press attended Lewis' workouts.
"Since Johnny became the #1 contender, all (Lewis' people) have done is offer us money to step aside," said Cardinale. "They offered us a lot of money without a written guarantee of a title shot. Well we're not interested in the money, we're interested in the championship."
"We fought off their legal challenge that they took against Don King and John Ruiz to avoid fulfilling their contractual obligation to fight the mandatory WBA challenger which is Johnny," said Cardinale. Lewis had signed an agreement that required him to face the mandatory challenger had he defeated Holyfield, which he did this past November. Instead of facing Ruiz, Lewis opted for Michael Grant, an over-hyped opponent that Ruiz had tried to get in the ring with prior to his near disaster with Andrew Golota. It was Grant's performance against Golota that prompted Lewis to select Grant as his first title defense after decisioning Holyfield. Now Ruiz and Holyfield will battle for the vacant WBA title in pursuit of fulfilling their dreams.

 

I always thought Ruiz and Byrd would present a very tough fight for Lewis stylistically, and hated how he just automatically got a pass for avoiding those fights even though he was such a ***** about being ducked himself. The perception that Grant was such a far better challenge because HBO said so, was beyond ridiculous he was garbage.

 

Why who anyone lump these two together and imply they had the same styles, nothing could be further from the truth, their styles were completely different.

I certaintly don't think he was worried about either one of them in terms of winning or lossing, certainly Byrd's performance against the Klitschko's would give you a good indication of who things would have transpired with him, while Ruiz, would either have gotten knocked out or grabbed his way to an extremely boring loss. Hard to imagine the outcome of these fights being any different, as neither had the power to seriously hurt Lewis and he would have certainly walked Byrd down and put him to sleep at some point if they fought.

As for why he didn't fight them, simple. Economics, nothing more to it than that. But in the larger picture, it shows that once you reach the top, most fights are made or not made due to economics, not fear, or some

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motive. Because whether or not I believe Lewis would make short work of either of these fighters, they both deserved their shot. But that's the problem with multiple belts, you're always fighting mandatories and that's not always the best option economically for a fighter.

 

Youre right they did have two different styles, I never implied they didnt, but both proved to give their opponents fits with their styles, especially slower guys. Grant was simply a deer in headlights, and offered nothing like I expected nor did he go onto anything either like Byrd and Ruiz did.
Funny you give Lewis a pass for not taking the fights for economics, because that was the very same reason Bowe and Tyson didnt fight him.:good

 

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Wlad and to a much lesser degree Vitali if anything have shown a niche for shutting out frustrating spoilers and technicians. Lewis never faced fighters like Byrd, Ruiz, Donald, or even Sultan,and Gomez..etc so I wouldn't be certain of anything. His avoidance of such fighters for more limited opposition is cause for raising an eyebrow, it certianly did at the time. Its not always the punchers that are ducked.

As the Grant article shown, economics was not really a factor in Lewis' decision to pass on Ruiz. It was a matter of him picking the opponent with the style that suited him better. He even said himself it was a "showcase."

 

I would say Mavrovic was very close in style to Donald and Gomez. Ruiz and Byrd where certainly something he never saw before, and I think Ruiz more than Byrd would have given him some trouble. Ruiz was very quick with a jab and righthand, even Holyfield couldnt catch him, and Holy had faster hands than Lewis. The jab of Lewis wouldnt be as much of a factor as most think, Ruiz was very quick to jab and fall in with a righthand and grapple inside. Lewis WAS excellent at throwing an uppercut, but I still think Ruiz would pose problems.

 

Yea I see your point given Golota beat the crap out of both them :nut They were both pure garbage and couldnt punch their way out of a paper bag, Grant could at least bang

 

Hindsite may support that John Ruiz and Chris Byrd were better career fighters than Michael Grant, but this was hardly the case at the time. Grant was undefeated in some 31 fights, was looking rather menacing at 6'7", 250 lbs, and had just gotten through beating a lengthy string of household contenders and fringe guys. I don't think Ruiz or Byrd deserved to be rated higher AT THE TIME...

 

I would agree with that assessment. I know I felt that the best fight at the time was between Lewis and Grant. Turned out not to be the case, but prior to them getting in the ring I thought it might be.