Why Did Lennox Lewis Duck Byrd, Wlad and Ibeabuchi?

:huh Your butthurt has rendered you unable to even write a coherent sentence now. :rofl

 

You obviously have zero knowledge regarding boxing and should perhaps learn to keep quiet. Vitali was definitely more durable than his younger brother, had better stamina and possessed an unorthodox style which was very difficult to fathom. Wladimir had already showed his level in bouts against Sanders, Brewster and Puritty and was clearly vulnerable at the highest level, whereas his older brother had shown no such weakness. Grant was considered a tougher opponent than Ruiz and Bryd who were zero's at world level and probably nothing more than fringe contenders who attempted to lay their claim on the Championship..........Lewis barring one or two niggles pretty much cleaned out the division and the only names missing were Moorer and Bowe and the latter of whom spent his entire professional career avoiding the Brit. I personally vote Holyfield as being No.1 with Lewis a close second and Tyson third., Bowe deserves an honourable mention but your opinion carries little or no weight at all....

 

My responses in bold green font above. I do not agree with anything you said, even the stuff which is not a deliberate troll like the last comment.
We get it, you hate Lennox Lewis.

 

Ibeabuchi went to prison before he could break out, he was still very much an upstart when Lewis vs Holyfield were seeking unification.

Wlad vs Lewis was never in the works officially. HBO wanted the fight, but Wlad lost to Sanders before it could happen.


Lewis did duck Byrd. The 1 million dollar buyout was because Lewis already said he would not fight Byrd but he was still sitting on the title until the deadline. King was in a rush to get Holyfield as a replacement opponent for Byrd by year's end, so the deal was to get Lewis to drop the title before the deadline. Lewis already went on record saying he would not fight Byrd. And this was after the Tyson fight, Lewis vs Byrd was scheduled to take place in December 6th of that year. Lewis had no opponents lined up and ended up doing commentary for Byrd vs Holyfield.


Lewis wanted an easy fight with Kirk Johnson, that was selling poorly. So his talks of big money and stuff was all bs. He just wanted an easy fight. Thankfully, Johnson backed out with injuries and we got Vitali vs Lewis at the last minute, though not under the most ideal circumstances.

 

Bunch of rubbish. It was considered a duck by the boxing media world, there are countless articles where Lewis got trashed for ducking Byrd. The decision to not fight Byrd was not well received like history revisionists want to make out.


Byrd at this time actually was a decent draw, and Lewis stood to make a solid pay day out of an IBF defense against him. Lewis chose Johnson as his next opponent, which was selling poorly.

 

We have different opinions on this then, because I never saw Byrd as a genuine HW champion and I thought it would be a boring one sided beat down win for Lewis.

 

Not necessarily me, it was the opinion of regular boxing fans and the media. Alot of these articles are old and likely not up but I still have the links for most.


Word is Lewis accepted $1 million from King to give up his International Boxing Federation belt because he wanted no part of Byrd, a slippery southpaw capable of making him look clumsy.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/mike_fish/news/2002/12/10/fish_straight_shooting/

This is business as usual in the not-so-credible fight game. Rather than taking on the mandatory IBF challenge, Lewis will sit ringside Saturday night for the title fight on HBO between Byrd and four-time champion

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2002-09-05-lewis-ibf-belt_x.htm


Lewis ducked a mandatory defense against Byrd, saying his team felt there was no public interest in the fight. Then he tossed out a line about Byrd offering no competitive challenge to me. That's fine, except Lewis is next booked against Vitali Klitschko, a 6-foot-8 Ukrainian who was stopped by Byrd for the WBO title two years ago


The second question asked who Lennox Lewis should fight next. Again, five choices: Chris Byrd, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones, David Tua and Evander Holyfield (I am sure of these choices, because they are still posted on the site as I write this). Again it was a close contest between Byrd and Tyson. Again, Byrd edged Tyson out.
Now, who might be responding to a question on ESPN.com's boxing page? Mainstream sports fans with a passing interest in boxing, or informed, hard-core fight fans? Let's face it, if you're reading this right now, there is a good chance that you are as big a boxing degenerate as I am. And, according to our data here at ESPN, chances are, you believe that Roy Jones and Lennox Lewis should both pick Chris Byrd as their next opponent.


http://a.espncdn.com/boxing/columns/kellerman_max/1526109.htm


The ultra likeable Chris Byrd, even holding aloft his IBF belt, remains the most undesirable night of work for any of the top heavyweights. Lewis opted out of an eight million dollar night with Byrd.

http://www.secondsout.com/archive/patrick-kehoe/heavyweight-boxing-or-total-chaos2



...etc.

 

BBC article shows a lot of fan criticism of Lewis.

Lewis ducked Chris Byrd last year, and ducking the Klitschko brothers will only further tarnish his name. Lennox Lewis is a very, very good boxer.

But if he continues to avoid the tough bouts and sit back and take the easy money, he will never be considered as a great.
Gary Hopkins, England

The Klitschko brothers and Chris Byrd are the three most legitimate challengers Lewis has. The mere suggestion of a re-match with Tyson, who Lewis has already crushed, is ridiculous. He should fight one of the Klitschkos or Byrd, or simply hang up the gloves.
Johnboy, USA




http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/sports_talk/2707025.stm

 

Byrd wouldn't have been a tough bout for Lewis. Lewis was taller, longer, bigger, and hit harder.

 

Lewis declined to fight Byrd because at the time, LL looked at it as a waste of time versus someone with no fanbase. I would have liked to see it, but I'm positive Lewis would have won a rather boring UD.

 

Stop lying to posters.

 

Lewis would have demolished Byrd.

 

Bottom line is Lennox Lewis was the best HW champion since Ali. Imagine the reaction if he had fought Chris Byrd
He fought Michael Grant instead who at the time was hailed as the next big thing. Lennox destroyed him.
As for Ike Ibeabuchi there were rumors of a potential fight with Lennox That would have been a barn burner
Look what Ike did to Chris Byrd can you imagine what Lennox big right hand would do ??
Lennox beat Vitali when overweight & undertrained. Wkad took to the hills wanted no part of Lennox. Ike was incarcerated Lennox had no viable opponents so he did the right thing & retired A Healthy Wealthy Happily married man with a great family. He's had many multi million $$ offers to come back but he's refused them all
God Bless Champ Thanks for the memories

 

That's your opinion and it certainly wasn't a popular one during Lewis' reign. He was highly criticized as most heavyweight champions are in their own time.

Are you implying a negative reaction to him facing Byrd in December of 2002 instead of commenting on his fight with Holyfield? Why? The boxing media and most educated fans at the time were interested in the match up. It was an 8 million dollar mandated defense. Fans would rather see Lewis in the ring then commenting on the guy he was supposed to fight.

As I've shown, Lewis was criticized by fans and the media for not facing Byrd.