Lewis vs. Klitschko

it was a tough fight but personally i think lewis was getting the upper hand.
Vitali had fired all his bullets IMO.
I dont see the controversy

 

Vitali was winning at the time of the stoppage, both were landing some good shots, Vitali was hamburger... fight over. It's too early in the fight to say who'd take a decision, though Lewis' lack of conditioning may have caught up with him... but it doesn't matter; not only was the fight stopped, no way that face lasts 12 rounds.

Herol Graham would have beat Julian Jackson if he wasn't KTFO. But he was.

This LL/VK BS, in my experience, isn't indulged much around here (General, sure, but that's different).

 

People seem to forget that the best punch of the fight was landed by Lewis. If he was in better condition he would've had the strength to push Vitali off him and finish the job, alas after THAT uppercut Vitali fell on him and manged to get his head together.

Lewis from the first Rahman fight showed up and Vitali couldn't get rid of him. Says it all about the supposedly superior Klitschko Brother IMO.

 

To me there really isn't any controversy; the stoppage was more than justified. Vitali put up a good fight and although Lewis looked to be getting the better of it in the last two rounds, it was still anyone's fight when the fight was stopped.
But regardless, it was a fair stoppage.

There were definitely grounds for a rematch. Too bad we didn't see one.

 

I basically agree.

 

A stoppage on cuts is as legitimate and absolute as any other.

Saying "he couldn't continue because of cuts" is like sayong "he couldn't continue because he was counted out" or "he couldnt continue because he had one eye hanging out on the optic nerve".

The ring doctor might have used his discretion to allow the fight to continue but if he had done so Lewis would simply have targeted the cuts untill a stoppage was unavoidable.

 

Yeah, they've been stoppings fights on those sorts of injuries for YEARS, regardless of whether the injured man is "in the fight" or even "in the lead". In 1903 it would have been controversial, in 2003 it should NOT be controversial.

 

I love the way the klit lickers spin it and say "he only ever lost because of injury", as if a cuts stoppage caused by punches is the same as pulling your shoulder. Fact is, Lewis started badly looking very rusty but landed the better punches, Vitali was falling all over the ring in the sixth and staggered through a fog to his corner at the end of the round, IMO he was done.

 

You could probably point to cases of fights being stopped on cuts like that in the 50s and probably 30s as well.

 

Although Klitschko was ahead on points,Lewis was starting to come on strong at the time of the cuts causing the stoppage. Vitali deserved a rematch,which imo Lennox would have won comfortably. he'd have known what to expect a second time.

 

I'm not so sure about that. I think Lewis' age was catching up with him, I think if you compare the second Rahman fight, the Tyson fight and the Klitschko fight you can see a gradual deterioration.

 

This is the bottom line with that fight and the reason Lewis looked a little out of character. First off Lewis told Sanders and anyone who else who would listen to him, that you need to put a lot of pressure on both Klitschkos. He had seen Wlad fall apart before and knew neither had a lot of experience in tough grueling fights.
Secondly Vitali had the height and reach advantage and fought awkward and tall. He knew he had to force the fight to get close to Vitali.

So when you add all these things up, Lewis was fighting a uncharacteristic fight to his style, and Vitali showed a little more toughness than he expected. Lewis kept the pressure on Vitali moving forward because he knew eventually Vitali would start breaking down. To me it was just a fight in which Lewis had to stick to a certain game plan that didnt make him look great, but by mid fight it starting paying off. Vitali was slowing, he was getting hit more and he was fighting more at Lewis level. I thought the only thing it showed was that one of the Klitschkos was able to fight through a little adversity. You saw something similar in the Briggs fight. Lewis knew Briggs was a fast starter but he faded fast, so Lewis put a lot of pressure on Briggs, but he got tagged a couple times in the process.
Neither one of the Klitschkos has shown any other dimension to their game besides being able to box well from the outside, and thats the difference between a great champion like Lewis and the Klitschkos.

 

good post