Oliver McCall vs Lennox Lewis 1

If the ref has to hold the guy up, yes...I don't recall seeing gatti being held up by the ref without the fight being stopped...

 

Frank Bruno - Big puncher, had Lewis stumbling all over...
Lennox Lewis x 2 - Huge puncher, atg...Had Vitali stumbling all over...
Oleg Maskaev - Big puncher...
Lionel Butler - Big puncher
Larry Holmes - Good puncher, atg...
Bruce Seldon - Good puncher,
Tony Tucker - Good puncher

He's never even looked hurt, much less stumble, not once. He's a HW, you don't know **** about boxing if you aren't amazed...

 

The fight was stopped too quickly, but I think McCall had him and might've put him down and out if given the opportunity. We'll never know.

 

He was hurt in Seldon match

 

The ref stopped the fight too quickly. Lennox should've been allowed to continue.

 

Lennox was poisoned.

 

Great win for McCall that night. He was giving Lewis problems throughout the fight and was looking for the right hand form the beginning.

Lewis was badly hurt, he staggered about after getting up and walked into the ref. While I think as champion he should have been given the benefit of the doubt, I don't think it was a bad stoppage.

Personally I think McCall would have won that night even if Lewis had been allowed to continue. Lewis looked sloppy and was easy to hit and counter while McCall looked focused and with Steward in his corner had the perfect preparation and strategy to beat Lewis. Had the fight continued it would only have been a matter of time before McCall landed another big right hand.

This loss was the best thing that ever happened to Lewis he would not have become the fighter he did become if not for this humbling experience.

 

After being down, you are supposed to show to the referee you are willing and able to continue. This includes staying at one place on yourself (without the help of the ropes or the referee) and Lewis simply wasn't able to do it after 9-10 seconds. You can see he staggers a bit even AFTER the fight is waved off. Good stoppage.

 

It's a fair stoppage, a bit on the quick side.

I've seen Holyfield be allow to continue in a far, far worse state than that, after a longer amount of time. Plenty of guys with titles have been allowed to carry on when in much worse condition.

Having said that.... I agree with Brighton Bomber. I think McCall would have kept landing that straight right hand all night.

 

Holyfield had a long history of being hurt and coming back from it, seemed to happen almost every fight, everyone was used to seeing him that way...Like it or not, that becomes a factor and you can tell from his speach it did effect his safety...That being said, I don't remember seeing him fall into the ref...Saw him be allowed to go on when he shouldn't have though, but that doesn't mean we needed to see Lennox take a beating or that the stoppage vs McCall was wrong, I think it was textbook...

 

Good post.:good
Steward programmed McCall to throw the right hand as soon has Lewis threw his. The philosphy being that MCall's would land first due to his shorter arms. A simple strategy that worked perfectly.
McCall stung Lewis with a right hand to the body in the first round aswell, a round which he won.
Lennox was regressing skillwise at that stage under Correa, who was rumoured to be getting fired months before the McCall fight. Lewis was having trouble getting up for fights at the time also, due to the big ones falling through and being frozen out of the picture.
He went into the McCall fight lazy and thinking he just needed to land the right hand. Boom! It was a wake up call him and his team needed.
A lot of ref's would've let Lewis continue, but the stoppage was a fair one.
Correa was the scapegoat and sacked immediately. Story is that Lewis went over to Steward while still in the ring and asked if he would train him. The rest's history as they say
Lewis showed character and the fighter that he is by coming back and doing what he did under Steward. Complacency hurt him again 7 years later, but for different reasons and circumstances.

 

what a ****ing pathetic comparison....nice try :rofl

 

a good stoppage on espn2 between club fighters...
a **** stoppage for the heavyweight championship of the world....and an undefeated heavyweight champion......
watch the ****ing fight...everyone was outraged at the stoppage...except you, 2 other people on here , don king and mccall

 

Away mate..MCall's chin is certified tugnsten steel!
Just his fights with Lewis and Bruno should tell you that. Plus the fact Tyson beat the **** out of him in sparring for years, and never once dropped him.
One of the best chins ever, if not thee best.

 

Wasn't a comparison...too funny...