Vitali Klitschko lost to the worst version of Lennox

What's more interesting is why Vitali never rematched Byrd who was a champion and a top 3 Heavyweight whilst Vitali was active during 2000-2004.

Vitali fans are always quick to discredit Lewis for not rematching him but why did Vitali not fancy a rematch vs Byrd ?

And Vitali never fought anyone better or more highly ranked than Byrd during 2000-2004 so there's no real excuse for Vitali not fighting Byrd.

 

On top of that, people who are saying "Lewis retired instead of facing Vitali in the rematch" never mention that Vitali retired instead of facing his mandatory Rahman, trying to change the opponent before doing so. If Lewis is a duck for doing that, so is Vitali.

 

I think Wlad outclassed Byrd in 2000, and the rematch has become somewhat irrelevant, although I agree that Vitali should fight Byrd for his legacy. But those who remember those fights and the atmosphere also remember that the Klitschko-Byrd fight wasn't very interesting.

A few of my observations:

1. Byrd was ranked by the IBF, and Klitschko by the WBC. Nobody was ordering anyone to fight like the Lewis-Vitali II fight.

2. The Vitali-Byrd fight didn't generate the same excitement as the Lewis-Vitali fight. It didn't generate half the excitement. The money was much lower, the interest was lower, the TV and fan pressure was lower (probably nonexistent), and no belts were on the table.

3. If you're going to Lewis instead of Byrd, it's hard to accuse you of running away. Vitali didn't go to Byrd, but to an opponent considered better, higher-ranked, and far more unsuitable for his style. And for very little money, to boot. I have no problem with the lack of Vitali-Byrd II, although I still think it should happen for Klitschko's sake.

4. I agree that Vitali should have fought Rahman instead of Danny Williams. On the other hand, Danny was an easy catch for big money after his blowout of Mike Tyson, and Rahman didn't get good press after the John Ruiz fight. However, Vitali suffered an injury.

 

He did. 3 times.

 

Post of the year.....































...... in the Stupid Post category.

 

Vitali actually retired due to injury and sat out four years in the prime of his career came back and fought Sam Peter for the WBC belt with no tuneup fight and won every second of every round before Peter quit on his stool. Vitali then had another 9 fights before retiring in his early 40's. Lennox had no injury, no surgery, and for whatever reason(s) didn't want a rematch with Vitali.

 

Well, he was getting injured, so he knew he could lose due to it, so he called it quits. Just like Lewis, he knew didn't have it in him anymore and he could get hurt too.

 

Good point. But the problem is Lewis' attitude, who implied that he would destroy Vitali in a rematch (beside giving him no credit for the fight). If you talk the talk you have to walk the walk.

 

Sure thing, that's why a lot of people wanted to see Lennox sparked out by Vitali for what he was saying.

 

He did, but he also put in a great performance and created the most talked about heavyweight fight of the century so far. I remember listening to it on the radio and it was nail biting. No one expected it to be that kind of a fight, and what we got was a passing of the torch.

Yes, Lewis looked older and out of shape, but he would have still beaten every other heavyweight in the world that night and comfortably. No controversey with stoppage, Vitali looked like he'd been in a car accident.

 

Not to mention Kirk Johnson was 260 pounds which was like 20+ pounds above his normal weight he was in terrible shape and didn't even turn up to win.

One of the commentators said after "that whale got harpooned" which puts that into perspective.

 

Byrd did hold a belt he was IBF champion between 2002-2006 so there was a title that Vitali could've won.

Byrd was higher ranked than any opponent Vitali fought between 2000-2004.

They easily could've hyped up Byrd/Vitali 2 considering how the 1st fight ended.

 

Thanks for your input Lennox. If you'd rematches Vitali and been KTFO as was the probable outcome, revisionist history would have been very different. Keep these thoughts to yourself.