I know in there 1st fight, Lewis was a bit past his prime but it was Vitali's 1st fight vs a top guy and he did not have the mental maturity or confidence and was not yet prime. Still until the cut opened Vitali looked like he was on his way to victory. The cut was one of the worst I have seen but at the time of the stoppage both men were tired. We learned later that Vitali had the better late power of the 2, Lennox never KO'd anyone past the 8th round and Vitali has a few late stops. In a historical view, how dose a fight play out between a Danny Williams/Kirk Johnson version of Vitali and a Michael Grant/Fran Botha version of Lewis. Be realistic....Thoughts
A re-match would have been nice. Lewis said he'd offer one. The money and fan interest levels were there. Lewis had an $18,000,000.00 purse lined up but opted to retire, perhaps because Vitali was getting the better of him in their match which was stopped on cuts. Or perhaps because Vitali was coming into his own in the Johnson, and Sanders matches. After the Vitali fight, Lewis talked about a Kirk Johnson match. The angle would have been the first all Canadian heavyweight tittle match. After Vitali blew out Kirk Johnson, he looked into the camera and winked at Lewis saying he knows he watched this fight. I think this performance nudged Lewis into retirement. It is likely that the younger Klitschko would have defeated the older Lewis in the re-match. A prime vs prime match would be hard to call. Vitali had the better chin, threw more punches, had a style that was tough for Lewis to solve, and was more dangerous late Lewis had better power, and more variety, and beat better oppositon, but he also lost worse as he was Ko'd twice by one punch early, and had some fights where he was in danger of losing. Vitali was only cut bad in one professional fight, and that was the reason Lewis won the first time. Cuts stopapges where one guy has a lead over the other are very rare. I think it could go either way.
Frankly, I don't know how you can make concessions for Vitali Klitschko being green in his 2003 meeting with Lennox Lewis. He was 32 years of age, had 33 pro fights, and had a rather extensive amateur career. In fact, he was actually nearing the end of his run. Anyway, Lennox struggled mightily in that match, and at times looked like he was going to lose it. He was however, 38 years of age, off for a full year before the fight, and showed up at a career high weight of some 256 Lbs. Yet, he still found a way to win the fight and made Klitschko's face look ugly in the process. I know it sounds unimaginable, but my guess is that if we were looking at the Lewis of say 5 years earlier in 1998, he might have beaten Vitali in similar fashion to that of Grant, Golata, etc....
I think Lewis would win convincingly by stoppage around the 7th. That fight WAS Vitali's peak - nobody has ever tested him like that before or since, and he was absolutely shattered. I think Lewis would have worn down and stopped him in that one around the tenth with a few uppercuts. Bashing up Danny Williams doesn't mean **** by comparison.
Lewis did what he had to do to get to an awkward tall man. He knew a boxing match might not be his best tactic to fight Vitali. In the fight with Vitali it showed two things. Vitali didnt punch as hard as earlier thought, and that eventually he like his brother would be forced into a fight they didnt know how to win. It took Lennox four or five rounds, but by mid fight he started closing the gap and making Vitali fight. Vitali got really busted up because he doesnt know how to move his head and fight inside. Vitali being a little more mobile, lasted a little longer than Wlad would, but Lennnox Lewis beats any version of Vitali or Wlad.
I think you have to give the edge to LL at this point. Vitali hasn't done enough in the ring for me to give him any sort of edge against an ATG like LL.
I think what Bummy meant was Vitali lacked top level experience in 2003, which is true. Vitali also took the fight on less than two weeks notice. The very large heavies tend to mature later. Most of Lewis' best wins happened when he was over 32. Some of his best performances also happened when he was over 32 and gained experience.
I don't care how you cut it. Klitschko was in his prime, and he wasn't getting any better. Incidentally, Chris Byrd was one of the best fighters of that early 2000 ear, and Vitali had already faced him in a match that he was easily winning before the stoppage. He also had beaten men like Hide, Donald and a few respectable upper tier journeyman and fringe types. So claiming that he had never fought world class opposition is not entirely accurate. Also, using the excuse that he took the fight on two weeks notice works both ways. Lewis had no idea he was fighting Vitali either.
Put it this way, if he was ever going to beat Lewis, it was that night! Good bloke and good fighter that he is, he isn't on the level.
Lewis in his prime would have been much faster, athletic and closed distance faster. Meaning he lands more and more shots and punched sharper. He had Vitali severely wobbled way past his prime as a 38yo who was way over weight and a shadow of his former self. Lets not pretend Lewis wasn't landing the better more effective blows that both hurt Vitali and cut his face to shreds. Vitali was landing allot of shots but Lennox was walking through them uneffected after the 2nd just looking for KO blows, which he got near to in the 6th Prime Lewis KOs Vitali within 5rounds.
Lewis would dominate Vitali and stop him in the mid/ late rounds he is far more skilled and proven wouldn't be surprised if he is beating Vitali to such a degree that Vitali quits.
That about sums up my thoughts on this as well. If a prime V.K. can't bet an out of shape old Lewis, I don't see how he would beat the prime version. Hell I think the version of Lewis who fought Tyson would have beaten V.K. Having said that I was very impressed with Vitali's performance and I was glad to see how much of an actual fight it turned out to be. As one commentator said it was like "Gatti - Ward" on the highest level. Maybe it's just me but I really enjoyed that fight and I honestly think Lewis doesn't get the respect he deserves for going in there and as he says taking Vitali into deep waters and drowning him, Lews made it into a fight..and gutted out a hard fought win.
Lewis was a couple months off 38 years old, Vitali was 31. Vitali wasnt any better against Kirk Johnson, Johnson was just so out of shape and quit that it made Vitali look good. Saying that if it hadnt been for the cut is like saying to Michael Spinks that if it haddnt been for the knockout punch he took then he may have won the first round! Lewis caused the cut, the multiple cuts!!!! with his punches. Vitali was almost out on his feet at the end of round 6.
Yeah, it was the first time in a long time Lewis had to dig really deep to win, after copping some stick after the shock loss to Rahman. If you look at his previous fights.... Tyson was shot Rahman was blasted out Tua was outclassed Grant blown away Holyfield outfought Holyfield stood on his head Mavrovic outboxed Briggs blown away after a shaky start Morrison blown away Probably the first time since Mercer, where he looked really shaky in the middle rounds before battling through.