"Vitali retired Lennox Lewis"...?

mr. magoo · Sep 29, 2011

bremen said: ↑

It is all about perception. The timing of Lewis announcement was most certainly forced - you cannot deny that. WBC basically gave Lewis an ultimatum: "step up or step aside." So he stepped aside.
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He could have just as easily dumped that title and gone after other meat like Corrie Sanders who had just sparked Wlad, or Roy Jones or Byrd or whoever.. It wasn't like Vitali was the only money fight out there. Nevertheless, leaving a multi million dollar profession and making a major life decision is not something that's just done in the heat of the moment. He had every right to do as he wished, weather it be to stay in boxing or leave as a champion.. Sometimes i don't think Lewis haters would have been satisfied until the man got beaten into the canvas, even if it took him being 47 years old and borderline crippled...

mr. magoo · Sep 29, 2011

ChrisPontius said: ↑

Being at the top of the amateur and professional boxing for more than 2 decades retired him.

Would he have stayed around if he'd run over Vitali? Probably.

But I think the phrase "He retired that boxer" should only be used when said boxer was in or near his prime going into the fight, and ruined afterwards. Think Marciano vs Vingo, or Taylor vs Chavez. Lewis was 37 years old and already had an ATG career behind him, going into the Vitali fight.
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Thread..

The Mongoose · Sep 29, 2011

Rock0052 said: ↑

I think the tough fight with Vitali and the lack of other options were certainly catalysts in why Lennox stepped down when he did. I don't think it was fear because I don't buy that in high level boxing, but it's understandable that he wouldn't want to end his career with a loss like so many champs do - and that would've been a very realistic outcome had the rematch happened. Even if he'd won the rematch, he'd have taken significant punishment in it. That was enough that a mountain of cash wasn't able to persuade Lennox back.

As for those saying it wasn't necessary for there to be a rematch, I'd beg to differ. Lennox always got rematches for his losses (or the gift draw in the Holyfield case), but never once handed one out for his closest/most controversial wins, including Vitali. It was a massive fight that the sport would've benefited greatly from. The first one was patched together pretty hastily- this would've had the proper build up to be a genuine superfight, and the sport's never better off when those superfights don't come off. Lennox didn't have to prove anything to anyone and had an illustrious career, I just wish there was one more fight in it.

On another level, even though I respect the guts it takes to retire as champion and not keep fighting until it's too late, it does leave a void in the division when a champion retires with his title and no clear line of succession has been established. Part of what held back HW boxing in the 2000's was Lennox and Vitali both leaving as champions. It took years for another heavyweight to step up and land the fights necessary to become "the man" again instead of having a clear lineage of who the champ was. Outside of Wlad, unification fights were unheard of because nobody wanted their slice on the line. So, although Lewis was well within his right to retire and it was the right call for him personally, that fight not happening did set heavyweight boxing back.
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No, this is thread.

:deal

bremen · Sep 29, 2011

mr. magoo said: ↑

He could have just as easily dumped that title and gone after other meat like Corrie Sanders who had just sparked Wlad, or Roy Jones or Byrd or whoever.. It wasn't like Vitali was the only money fight out there. Nevertheless, leaving a multi million dollar profession and making a major life decision is not something that's just done in the heat of the moment. He had every right to do as he wished, weather it be to stay in boxing or leave as a champion.. Sometimes i don't think Lewis haters would have been satisfied until the man got beaten into the canvas, even if it took him being 47 years old and borderline crippled...
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No, there was no "other" fight for Lewis. Lewis-Vitali II was the fight everybody wanted to see. Lewis would not be able to sell any other fight at that time because the media backlash would have made it impossible. Besides, the other 2 belts were controlled by Don King. Lewis without a belt would have had to sign a slave contract with DK to get the title shot.

Daruf · Sep 30, 2011

FilipMNE said: ↑

He was 38 and as i recall he needed to wait at least 6 months for rematch because of Vitalis cuts and Lennox wasnt geting any younger, so he retired he had nothing to prove it was legetimate win cut were from punches, imagine 38 year old Vitali against prime Lewis...people are always going to complain if he gave rematch and won people would say but the first fight he was losing bla bla bla
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You forget that Lewis said he would give Vitali a rematch, then told Vitali to beat Kirk Johnson first which he did.
And only THEN he retired.... it had nothing to do with waiting on cuts as he retired after Vitali was fit and healthy again and ready to fight.

johnmaff36 · Sep 30, 2011

The Mongoose said: ↑

Now I think we need to cut Vitali a little slack. If that was Kirk Johnson out there against an aggressive Lennox Lewis, he would have been KOed in the first round and Lewis would be moving forward with his plans to fight Jones. What other top contender going into that fight could have pushed Lewis that hard? McCline? Rahman III? Tua II? Holyfield III? Jones, Byrd, and Ruiz might have been frustrating but for different reasons, doubtful they would batter and rock a forward moving Lewis all over the ring. Wlad and Sanders have a puncher's chance but Lewis would probably get to them first and early. Lets give Vitali a little credit here as an awkward troubling opponent.
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Yeah, i can live with that. He was arguably the hardest fight out there at that moment. I still dont buy into the notion that Lewis somehow ran away from a rematch with Vitali and retired. I mean, if every fighter had to rematch after a competitive fight or because 1 party felt hard done by, we would be having best of 5,7,9 rubbermatches.:good

TheDarkLord · Sep 30, 2011

Lewis realised he wasnt the fighter he was

Vitali who made him realise that

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