What has Lennox Lewis gotta do to earn some respect round here?

Should have taken the rematch then.

 

Lennox went out with a win on a cut in a fight he was losing.

Lennox said he would fight Vitali again and he then retired instead of facing him.

Vitali was winning on the cards he was also on his way to win the fight until it had to be stopped.

Lennox would have more respect if he did not go out the way he did, even Tyson went on his shield as a warrior should. ( immense respect for that)

Lennox is an all time great, but is lower on my list than most. He went out and into retirement without doing what a champion should do.

 

Lennox went out on a win against his mandatory in a fight he took on short notice at his heaviest ever weight, with all observers agreeing that he was in terrible condition and gassed early yet was not knocked off his feet once, caused considerable damage to his opponents face and looked the stronger fighter in the final round.

Vitali was winning on the cards after 6 round, but he did not last the whole fight and Lennox hurt him bad enough that the Doctor stepped in and stopped the fight.

True, but he's hardly alone in backing out of fight he said he would take. Vitali said he'd rematch Byrd, fight Rahman, fight the winner of Haye/Chisora and fight Stiverne but failed to deliver, and in the case of Rahman and Stiverne chose to retire instead of fighting them.

Does this make Vitali any less of a fighter or damage his esteem in your eyes, or is it only Lennox Lewis who gets damaged for breaking his word?

Vitali had worn himself out with the high pace he had set from the beginning. He wasn't hurting Lewis anymore beyond the 4th whereas Lewis was landing the heavier and more telling shots.

No one can say what might have happened if Vitali had never been cut, he might have gone on to win or Lewis might have powered throught and won anyway.

So to get respect Lewis should have fought on long beyond his prime against increasingly inferior opposition, not challenging himself at all only to take a fight against the new dominant force in the division and get exposed as a washed up hasbeen and a shell of his former self, then get stopped by opponents who he wouldn't even have broken a sweat beating in his prime and end his career broke with everyone feeling sorry for him.

What do you think a champion is supposed to do? A champion is supposed to defend his title and fight the most dangerous potential opponent. Lennox generally did that.

If a champion is unwilling or unable to defend his belt then he shouldn't be champion, and, as far as that goes, Lennox's 8 month inactive with 2 months having a mandatory before he relinquished the belt and retired looks a hell of a lot better than Vitali's 16 months inactive with 9 months having a mandatory does.