Vitali vs Lewis - Did this fight prove Vitali's quality?

Lewis was 37.5 and hadn't fought in 12 months since beating Tyson

Wlad was 41, had been inactive/retired for 17 months, dethroned in his last fight and was fighting away from home

 

Lennox beat Vitali fair and square. He busted his face up with his fists.
By the 6th round Vitali was coming apart.
I can not believe anybody is still trying to pretend that Vitali won or that Lennox retired to avoid a rematch.
It was not a questionable stoppage. A rematch was not warranted. And based on Lennox legacy he would
have kicked Vitali's butt worse the second time.
Also, Lennox would have KO'd Wlad as quick as he did Grant. Glass chins are like that.

 

True. But a loss via cuts or premature stoppage is always controversial because the opponent has not been beaten into defencelessness or submission, it's a technical "safety stoppage" that is often a mask for corruption. In Fury's case he was comfortably winning the Wallin fight on points and should have been comfortably winning the first Wilder fight on points, which makes a stoppage even less meritorious.

Another example of subjectivity is A-side and hometown bias. For example, if AJ had fought Savon anywhere in the world but in London, he have been eliminated in the first round and not won a gold medal. Likewise, if Wilder hadn't been fighting at home the doctor wouldn't have given him additional time to recover against Ortiz and he may have got KO'd. Corruption of this kind is far more egregious than letting the fighter continue to fight while he is still able and willing to do so.

 

The quote was he said older heavyweights are closer to prime. I'm just saying how his logic sounds

 

A losing effort even a valiant and impressive one is still a losing effort for me. Plenty of guys look good losing, Chisora, Takam for example often lose but look good doing so. Look how people overrated Jennings after his losing effort to Wlad. Same with guys like Golota, ruined Bowe but lost both fights and then afterwards never really lived up to what he showed in those fights. Ruddock too gave Tyson hell in two losing efforts but then his career never lived up to those 2 fights.

So while yes Vitali was impressive vs Lewis that fight alone doesn't prove his quality. What he did after that along with that performance did though. Yes his resume lacks depth but nobody really ever troubled him again apart from the odd moment vs Sanders early on. I think how he looked vs Lewis combined with him looking utterly invincible for almost a decade afterwards and never coming close to losing again showed his quality.

 

Personally I think so never quit and he wanted to continue

 

His face looked like it was pressed into a cheese grater.

Vitali was up 4-2 and looked to be in the much better shape stamina wise for the upcoming rounds. But the face got badly cut and that is that. TKO6. Like all fights there are details beyond just the result.

You will be hard pressed to find a fighter that lost by stoppage who without question deserved a rematch more than Vitali did. Yet, TKO6.

 

Vitali got the confidence boost he needed.

Once he found it, he automatically stepped up a level.

Some guys never find it.

 

Yup. That fight was only going to go one way....Lewis had the momentum, Vitali's face was getting shredded.

 

What from this?
Lewis cos this was " better boxer " for you.
If they did not had stopped this fight and Vitali was A side lad, he might did vs Lewis like Ward and Glowacki had did in some fights and Lewis then had been lad who had been get stopped.

I do know that pro boxing fans does have sense of masculinity and national pride when they resemble pro boxing fight as h2h potential.
If you think about this level of pride, I think Spong h2h had obliterated Lewis, A.J, Wilder, Fury and Usyk and Wlad with a glance in h2h.
With Vitali might be more questions cos he despite was prone to head kicks, had enough skills to check low and middle level kicks from lads like Spong.
This is what is this here.

 

Did Lewis prove Mercer and Bruno's quality? Performing well and getting stopped is not a lot to hang your hat on, against anyone, frankly. George Chuvalo gave Muhammad Ali something to think about in the hospital. Chuvalo was tough but how he matched with Ali and how any fighter matches with any other one fighter is not a great career if they put up a great fight. In short, Vitali has reptilian DNA, like most people in Ukraine. And we cannot-simply CANNOT-ever forget that. It's why that country is corrupt.

 

Lewis won, but he thought he would lose the rematch so he retired. Vitaly was getting better and Lewis knew he had to dissappear.

 

Pre prime Vitali beat prime Lewis.

 

I'd hardly call a fight where Vitali almost went blind in one eye against an old, past-prime Lewis "proving his quality".

 

It proved Vitali had an iron jaw.