We never had a return fight, but if we did what tactics do each need to do to win I think apart from being in shape Lewis needs to control the fight with his jab and not try and brawl with VK when I look at their fight VK doesn't seem to be able to avoid the Lewis jab I think this is the key for Lewis and to straighten up his punches Vitali has no problem with wide swinging punches. Vitali should keep that pressure on Lewis and use his unorthodox style which in the later rounds will wear Lewis down. Vitali is always in fantastic shape and this may be the key to his victory.
Quite the contrary. Vitali's lack of inside game is the key and Lewis knew that too. In shape Lewis would have finished what he started to do in the latter rounds of their first fight. But considering Lewis was past prime and fading it was a very tough task to do.
I'm not sure fighting VK inside is right for Lewis you could hear Steward telling him to use his jab and it was the jabs and rights that did the damage. VK had a multitude of cuts on his face not just the one over his eye, with that pawing jab he is open to a god jab and Lewis's is one of the best.
If 100% PEAK VITLAY could not beat 38 year old, Old-Man Lenny Lion, who was proper undertrained cos he had no respect for VitKlit And had never watched him fight - HOW in God's bloody name can he beat Lewis of 1997-2000?? :huh:huh:huh ANYWAY to brutally DECAPITATE Vitlay's face again, Lenny Lion needs to do what he did at teh start of Rounds 3,4,5,6 - proper rough savage POWERPUNCHING-PRESSURE on teh INSIDE. Vitlay has zero inside game, always a ZERO.:ko :ko :ko All Vitlay can do inside is hug like a *****, And Lenny has even more functional strength And is a brilliantly brutal brute in teh clinches with holding/hitting.:!: Foreman Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook!:smoke
I think it always has to be plan b for lewis. He tried and failed to outjab vitali. Fighting on the outside vs vitali you need an exceptional speed advantage and lewis didn't have that. The weakness for vitali is he is perhaps the worst inside fighter of the top 40 or so hw's. Even carnera was better on the inside. As well as vitali's poor inside game, his slow hands give opening for people to get there (as we saw lewis and byrd succeed in). Lewis isn't great on the inside and with his uppercut he's pretty much a one trick pony in the pocket, but vitali is a no trick pony so the edge is with lewis. Lewis would have walk him down and beat him up to win. The problem is lewis was past his prime and his reflexes or conditioning will have slipped considerably as we'd have seen in the rematch. He'd begin taking too much punishment on his way inside and after about 8 rounds he'd start fighting in a shell on the outside which is suicide vs vitali and vitali would have probably got the stoppage around the 11th. Prime for prime lewis takes it but if the rematch would have come off, we'd have seen vitali take the crown from lewis.
That's a possible scenario - being past prime and having little motivation is not a good idea if you're going to fight a prime motivated good fighter.
Vitali is awkward and uses his height very well. Lewis was never the greatest brawler but he had enough of what it took to beat a guy like Vitali. Lewis just needed to do the same exact thing, and thats just put a ton of pressure on Vitali and take him apart. If anything he could box less, and brawl more. Vitali never learned how to fight inside or brawl so Lewis would always beat him at that game. We've seen Lewis outjabbed by the likes of Frank Bruno so it would never been in his best interest to try and box Vitali. Just take it to him and break him down, just like he did in the first fight. The jab would only be used to setup his offense coming forward with big overhand rights, uppercuts and hooks on the inside.
The jab was ultimately the key for Lewis. I rarely have seen a harder one thrown. he literally was stopping Vitali in his tracks with it. But to win he also needs to get on the inside and make it a fight. The would need to throw straighter punches up the middle, rather than trying to loop them around Vitali's left hand. Vitali seemed to be pretty much waiting for that punch it was so predictable. Not sure what Vitali could have done, but if he gets Lewis hurt like he did in the 2nd, he would need to finish him off. Otherwise Vitali's best option is to stay on the outside and box, but given how they fought in the 1st fight, Lewis likely won't have let that happen.
Lewis needs to be aggressive and turn it into a street fight, as he basically did in the long run. He's not used to such size and reach and was getting hit when he thought himself out of range. Shorten the distance and punch Vitali's face off earlier than he did in the initial encounter.
That is what I saw too the jab was stopping VK in his tracks and Lewis was getting the straight right through which did the damage to VK's face which was not cut in just above the eye but his face had just taken a beating he had a bad cut under his eye and on his lip. Its almost as if VK can take Lewis's punch but his face can not I see almost any fight with Lewis his face ending up cut and beaten to a pulp. For VK I don't think Lewis can fight at his pace for a man his size to be able to have the work rate he does with hard powerful punches and his awkward style is exceptional. I really can't pick between him and Lewis I slightly favour Lewis but would never put money on it and I only favour Lewis because I think he would get a stoppage on cuts again but not really win the fight if you know what I mean. Lewis is a better inside fighter but this effort I think would wear Lewis down over 12 rounds.
The thing is that when Lewis faced a guy of equal size, he always seemed to be able to win by turning it into an Irish brawl. I suspect that he would do just that, and that it would work!
He never really faced an excellent brawler, and when he did he held or ran for his life, Holyfield, Tua, Tyson etc. Lewis would brawl with guys he knew couldnt counter or punch back well, but for the most part his brawls were pretty unimpressive in my opinion, save for the Mercer fight, which was close.
What he did was win all of them. He also stopped some peeps early (by unloading some bombs pretty much straight up) that would have been otherwise dangerous.