So what is the OFFICIAL reason that Lennox Lewis decided to retire instead of Rematching Vitali?

TKO6 lives.

 

Not quite true . Kirk pulled out claiming injury, so to keep the card afloat Lennox agreed to fight Vitali & defend his World titles against him on a few days notice. Kirk was never the same fighter after the Ruiz debacle. He was screwed out of the WBA title by Ruiz acting & Cortez bias..
It was common knowledge he hadn't trained right & it was just really a keep warm fight for Lennox suddenly he's facing his #1 contender on a few days notice. Name me one other champion with the balls to do that ??
Lennox lovely wife , & his mother, both named Violet, had been begging him to retire plus there was no one out there to seriously consider. He'd beaten Vitali, when only 80% ready, Wlad had gone AWOL , Ike was unavailable, a guest of the state. He did the right thing & retired , Healthy Wealthy & wise

 

I recall one interview where he said he could tell his body is starting to slow down

 

He was pushing 40, and was slowing down.

Why not retire on top, with a wagon load of money with his senses intact?

The real question is why WOULDNT he retire at that point?

 

He pussied out.

 

Unfinished business.

 

Such as?

He'd been an olympic champion, undisputed HW champion and beaten everyone he ever fought

 

Name me one other world champion that had trained for a keep busy fight finds his opponent has backed out claiming injury agrees to take on his # 1 contender on a few days notice to save the card being cancelled he risked his titles & career ? Id hardly call that what you accused him of LOL

 

Not much of a Lewis fan, I'm guessing?

 

Vitali. The fight deserved a rematch.

 

Lennox was a great fighter but he didn't want it. He did not want to risk it vs Vitali. He was 38 so it's ok.

 

He was scared of losing to Vitali in a rematch.
That's the reason.
Almost always when a fighter has a war like that with someone they think they are much better then, when there is some controversy with the outcome, they want a rematch to correct it and leave no doubt.
Lewis didn't want to risk losing because he knew Vitali was a difficult opponent.

 

There’s no such thing. Yes, it would have been cool to see a rematch - although, in my opinion, it would also have been a bit pointless. When an overweight and undercooked Lewis takes on a fully fit Vitali on a few days notice who, on the other hand, had been studying Lewis for years (Vitali’s own words), and still Vitali ends up looking like he put his face in a meat grinder, there’s not much left we need to find out about this matchup. A rematch with a fit and prepared Lewis could have been over even quicker with Lewis TKOing Vitali.

But in any case, there was nothing left to prove for Lewis. In fact, it was the perfect way to retire. While being in the worst possible shape and pushing 40, he beat a young, hungry talent who turned out to be an ATG. So from a fans perspective, it would have been cool to see Lewis fight some more, but as he himself said, there would always be a newer and newer challenger who the fans think he should have fought so there’s no point in trying to find a way to retire that everybody is happy with.

 

Lol flashback of Lennox the lion Lewis on Joe Rogan: he tells the whole world or those tuning in his chess.com username, then proceeds with the interview lol. He kept getting notices of nerds challenging him to play while he was on the air lol. It was pretty funny. He set himself up for that one.

 

Why?

Was the fight stopped early?
No.

Was there dispute over the result?
No.

Vitali put in a few good rounds before being stopped. Thats it.