Vitali vs. Lewis - Replace Vitali With...

For the most part I agree. There's no way I'd put money on Wlad, but we have to consider that he'd have a better set of tools going in against Lewis than Rahman, McCall, Mercer, or an old Holyfield. His glass chin would be a definate problem, but only if Lewis were to land in the right places with the right punches and often enough. That said, I'd favor Lewis heavily.

 

This is simply not true. When the fight was stopped all three judges had it 4 rounds to 2. That may seem like a lot, but it's only a one round swing. Vitali got off to a fast start and rightfully won the first round, but it was largely a feeling out round where no significant punches were landed. Had Lewis won that round, the score would have been 3-3 after 6 and not 4-2. Add to that, Lewis won the 6th round on all the cards, and Vitali had neither a comfortable lead, nor was Lewis the one under fire when the fight was stopped. (although he was under fire in the 2nd)

 

i have it 5-1 for vitali everytime i watch it. vitali was just busier throwing and landing more. lewis was landing the harder punches in general but his workrate was way behind. vitali was taking the fight to lennox. i gave the first 5 rounds to vitali with lennox getting the last. rounds 3 and 5 were close though. vitali easily won 1,2,4. even in the 3rd round when lewis cut him, vitali did more. blood shouldn't overtake a solid workrate for 3 minutes imo.

but all that matters is lewis got the win. a rematch would have been fanstastic but lewis knew it was time. both men fought like warriors and deserve a lot of credit.

the post-fight interviews were almost as entertaining as the fight though

 

exactly. vitali has very underrated skills both offensively and on defense. he could throw all types of punches from multiple angles something wlad will hopefully start to do. that awkard lean back defense was very good. underrated foot movement.

and his best asset, imo, was his intelligence. he knew when to move out and when to attack.

 

I scored it 4-1-1 for Vitlai, with the 3rd round being a 10-10 round. The judges’ cards of 4-2 were fine by me. Very few judges feel comfortable giving 10-10 rounds. I think there is a place for 10-10 rounds.

A score of four rounds to two on all three judges cards means Lewis would need to win four of the next six rounds on two cards to produce a draw. If this went the distance, Vitlai would likely win. The fight was fought at a quick and hard pace, and that almost always favors the younger fighter, not the guy in his mid to late 30's.

I agree a re-match would have been fantastic, but Lewis who seemed out to be tiring after giving it his all to finish Vitlai in the 6th round, was knew his time to step away from the ring changed his mind.

Lewis wanted to fight Kirk Johnson next in Canada, but after Vitlai destroyed Johnson in a WBC elimination match, I believe Lewis officially made up his decided to stay retired. Not even 15-18 million dollars was enough to lure Lewis back into the ring again. I understand Lewis positon. A 3rd TKO loss for him would have ruined his legacy in the eyes of some ( not me ), and having beaten Tyson and Holyfield, and survived Klitschko, Lewis had too much legacy to lose, and not enough to gain. It took Lewis a long time to love down his Rhaman KO loss.

 

lennox is 1 of my favorite hws ever but i think i would have picked vitali to beat him in a rematch by UD. Prime Lennox (imo 98-01) would win a very competitive decision by 2 or 3 pts. i think there are a lot of people who like lennox and hate vitali or vice versa which creates crazy predictions. im a big fan of both.

 

Well my comments were based on the judges scorecards, not any one individuals. I've seen this fight a number of times, and certainly Vitali started off stronger than Lewis and rocked him in the second. The third was close, but that's also when the cut landed. Most of the rounds were close, except for the second, which Vitali dominated by a lot, and the sixth, which Lewis did the same. As to a rematch, I gotta agree that Lewis likely would have lost, but he did win this fight fairly contrary to what many may think. So the rematch, while financially lucrative, probably had absolutely very little upside in terms of legacy inhancements relative to the possibility of Lewis loosing his last fight.

At the same time, those who diss Lewis because he didn't rematch Vitali, especially Klitschko fans need to realize that the onus was on Vitali to beat and old rusty Lewis and it was he who never rose to the challenge, not Lewis. He, or his corner, certainly had to know that based on that cut, the fight wasn't likely to go to the cards.