T.K.O. in 6

I'll ask you again to name any world champion, heavyweight or any other that had the balls to defend his title against his #1 contender on 10 days notice knowing he wasn't 100% ? You cannot there isn't anyone else

 

wheres the controversy? lol i'm sure lennox didn't mean to thumb him on purpose.

 

As one poster said:

"How much does it eat you inside that Vitali lost this fight? its been over 10 years and you are desperate to discredit it still. Though I guess if my steroid abusing hero got stopped by a bloated past prime 37 year old, I'd be upset too....

Move on.

I have nothing against Vitali, but I just don't get his nuthuggers still going on about this get over it FFS. "

 

How was that punch and all the other punches that cut Vitali not legal? What exactly made it illegal, the fact that it grazed Vitali? I'm fairly certain Lewis wasn't THAT good that he could time the movement of Vitali down to the millimeters it would have taken to just graze his eye, intentionally. And if he could do that, hell I'm a bigger fan of his now then I was before..that's a hell of a talent. I'm sure he wished he could have pulled that trick against Rahman and McCall in their first fights.

In case people having been following, here's a news flash, boxing's a tough sport and **** happens, both intentionally and unintentionally. Hell, I still remember Ali pulling down the head of virtually everyone opponent he fought, don't recall any warnings from the ref or any complaints by Frazier (who was the most affected by this). Guess in those days men were men and boxing fans knew that a fighter would do what he needed to do to win. Holyfield wasn't above bending the rules either, neither was Tyson. Hell now that I think about it I don't think I've ever seen a champion not bend the rules if he thought he could get away with it. But for whatever reason, it's the Klitschko fans that seem to want to whine about it for years upon years, upon years..

 

Protect yourself at all times

 

"Lennox landed a lucky punch"
He made his own luck by throwing the punch

"Lennox was lucky they stopped the fight when they did"
It was only the sixth round

"If Vitali hadn't gotten cut, he would have won"
Bernard Hopkins once said "If you don't want to get a bruise, take up golf" If you don't wanna get cut, avoid the punch

"If they hadn't stopped the fight, Vitali would have eventually knocked Lennox out"
If they hadn't stopped the fight, Vitali would have ended up blinded in that eye.

 

10 people are from eastern european countries.

 

Vitali would have been KTFO and he would have lost an eye. If you disagree you're a f*cking klittard.

 

:good

 

Vitali would have lost half of his face and had to retire.

 

vitali would have had to wear a patch over his eye and become a pirate!

 

^This :bbb

Lewis was a veteran he would have kept beating that eye until Vitali couldn't see, and then knocked his ass out.

As to the what if Vitali wasn't cut questions... What if Lewis had actually trained for the fight and didn't walk in at his career high...

 

An honest answer is that nobody really knows.

Yes Vitali was winning on points and had Lewis hurt early, but Lewis was coming back strongly and had hurt Vitali just as badly in the later rounds.

Lewis was the fighter in resurgence he seemed to have adapted to Vitali's style. He abandoned his usual boxing style and had his hands up high and was walking Vitali down, using stiff jabs, big right hands and mauling on the inside and using upper cuts. Very different from his normal style.

If I had to choose I would say Lewis would have won. Yes he was tired but he had Vitali hanging on for dear life at the end and probably unable to see out of one side and Vitali also seemed very tired after the 6th. Also Vitali's punches were not having the same effect as early on and Lewis was having so much success with right and Vitali had no answer to the upper cut on the inside.

Lewis I think would have KO'ed Vitali in the 7th or 8th round.

 

I voted Klit to win because from memory (long time since I saw it), Lewis was gassed and I believe we were talking about if the eye was t damaged.
However from reading the comments it seems I was to consider the eye was still damaged - the fight just carried on.
In that case Lewis by TKO via maiming by a missing Klit left eye.

 

what a shame we didnt get a rematch
i'm sure a lot of people have their view on who would have won, but we'll never know

lewis was looking better at the time of the stoppage, but he also took a huge amount of punishment in the first 2 rounds when vitali was fresh and strong

lewis showed he was stronger technically than vitali, and that uppercut he landed was one i wont forget

i wouldnt like to pick who would've won that fight