T.K.O. in 6

Watch the fight... Sure Lennox made a slow start but the tide had turned Lennox nearly decapitated Vitali with that uppercut Vitali hung on for grim death lol. Even without the cuts Lennox would have stopped Vitali within 2 rounds.
Another thing that gets me is how people have insulted Kirk Johnson.
The Kirk I knew back in Dallas with Curtis Cokes would have boxed Vitali's ears off. The Kirk Vitali faced was there merely for the paycheck he didn't try to win.
The double team of John Ruiz & Joe Cortez broke Kirks spirit when their tag team denied him a KO win over Ruiz. Ruiz should have got an Oscar for his acting & Cortez should have been relegated to officiating ice dancing

 

Yes he did. He also beat Larry Holmes. Point is, he was a world champion, he did accomplish something on the world stage so he cannot be classed as either a "has-been" or a "never-was" as G-Man attempted to.

Golota only lost his two fights with Bowe because he got himself DQ'd. In both fights he was ahead on all cards. He was fully deserving of his high ranking at the time

He was also rated #1 by the WBA ahead of Holyfield and Ruiz at one point. Akinwande was not amugst the elite heavyweights of the era but was clearly better than the average and if not world level then borderline world level.

I did not say it was a career defining victory, just a victory over a fighter that had accomplished enough not to be regarded as "has-been" or "never-was".

You'll note that I did class Mavrovic as "never-was". I just listed him as one of the opponents that Lewis fought between 1997 and 2000. I never said Mavrovic was anything special.

And was #1 rated Heavyweight and #3 rated P4P. He was still considered the Heavyweight King and one of the best fighters in the world across all divisions until Lewis dominated him their first fight, then suddenly he became old and washed up.

Never said they were amazing, just that they were good wins over fighters who weren't "has-beens" or "never-weres" - except Botha.

Mercer has close fight with Lewis where the case could be made that either man won or that it was a draw. Certainly neither man did enough to be able to claim to have won the fight by a clear distance.

As far as the rematch goes, Lewis was within his rights not to give Mercer one. There was no contractual obligation and Mercer never became his mandatory when he was WBC Champion. Lewis had no moral obligation to give Mercer a rematch either.

And Lewis was never "granted rematches". His rematch with McCall was one he earnt by becoming WBC mandatory. The WBC then picked McCall to be his opponent in the fight for their vacant title. Neither McCall or anyone in his camp gave Lewis a rematch out of their kindness of their hearts. And Rahman was contractually obligated to give Lewis a rematch and had to be taken to court to actually do it.

Certainly on the performance on the night Mercer and Vitali deserved rematches, but as for a Holyfield/Lewis 3, that would be pointless as Lewis had decisively beaten him in both of the previous fights.

There was not a big pool of left-handed heavyweights during Lewis's era. The best of them - Moorer - had no interest in a fight with Lewis and made no effort to make one, the second best - Byrd - lost out to money as a bigger payday against a bigger name was chosen, and the last one Lewis could have fought as World Champion without being accused of cherry-picking - Sanders - failed to get himself into a position to be a legitimate challenger to Lewis until Lewis's final year in the sport. Frankly, I fail to see how the lack of left-handed fighters on Lewis's resume is an "eye opening stat" given the lack of left-handed fighters available.

 

Lewis retired because he is a *** and there were finally real live threats in the division who weren't washed up or ****ed on coke.

 

Vitali ducked Rahman and retired rather than face him after quitting against Byrd and losing to a washed up Lewis only to talk about a comeback the second Rahman lost the WBC Title.

Fair to Vitali? No. But then, why the hell should I be fair to Vitali if his fanboys cant be fair in their assessments of Lewis?

 

wont happen the Quim is too nationalistic in her awards, she very rarely awards outside the 'English' box.

 

He had a knee injury you fck wit. Hardly going to duck a multi million payday.

 

how long did the knee injury last?

 

Missing the point of that comment entirely.

If Vitali fanboys can sit there and say that Lewis was "a ***" who avoided all "live threats" and only beat fighters who were "washed up" or "****ed on coke" and imply he was afraid to fight any dangerous opponent, then what is to stop me or anyone responding in kind and portraying Vitali's career in the worst possible light, focusing on one or two fights where you can knock him or his opponent, and find a reason why he retired that you use to run him down?

So my question again, if Vitali fanboys cant be fair and unbiased in their assessments of Lewis why should there be any expectation for a fair and unbiased assessment of Vitali either?

 

Satisfied with legacy and finances.

I will say that the tough fight with Vitali and the rematch being the only option is the only reason Lewis retired. For example, if Vitali retired a week after that fight and publicly didn't want a rematch, my guess is that Lewis would have fought at least once more.

 

I agree. Lewis didn't want a tough fight at that stage of his career. He wanted easy fights for easy money before he retired. Vitali gave him one of the toughest fights of his career and then got himself into a position where Lewis had to face him in a rematch if he stuck around, and Lewis didn't want that. He knew how much effort it would take beat Vitali a second time and he didn't want to do it, and might very well have been uncertain as to whether he could do it.

 

Because he wanted to?

 

Good points. :good

 

Legendary Thread.

 

Complete lie

 

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