Why did lewis retire and not rematch vitali?

He probably felt he couldn't perform at his peak anymore, and that against a guy of Vitali's caliber that sort of thing could damage his legacy.

 

He retired because people retire.

 

Why O why

1-Lewis TKO 6 Vitaly
2-Old enough
3-Nothing to prove anymore
4-Rich enough
5-Lewis TKO 6 Vitaly

overused subject, infinite debate

 

he done the smart thing he had beaten every fighter he lost to in the ring, was undisputed heavyweight champion and was sitting on around 90 million

nothing left to prove

 

Its possible Lewis lost his love for the sport before his bout with Vitali.

Lewis didnt do himself any justice coming to fight in the shape he did.

When you can no longer get up for fights, retire. It saves getting beaten
next time around when you are a shadow of your former self.
Look at Tyson once he stopped doing the things that got him to the top.

 

oh and that 90 million GBP

so for you yanks 180 million $

he is one of the greatest heavyweights in history

 

i think a fighter gets to a point where they lose hunger, where they don't want to train anymore and don't want to get involved in wars.

once that hunger dissapears then its only a matter of time before they get beat. the smart fighters get out of boxing before that happens, lewis had proved everything, looked after his money, and didn't have anything to gain from carrying on. he was old and past his best, where as vitali was young and improving.

 

I am a big fan of Lewis, but he was in a fair amount of denial about the Vitali fight, at least publicly. No idea what kind of conversations went on between Steward and Lewis after the fight, but Steward has cautiously hinted in interviews that he felt Vitali was on his way to winning the fight. I guess he retired becaue he knew this was not a case of a lesser fighter he underestimated like Rahman, who he would beat 9 out of 10. Vitali would have given any version of Lewis a tough fight.

 

This. Lewis was only getting older, it was a big risk legacy wise plus he was good with money and didnt need it.

He did the smart thing by retiring and sticking to it.

I used to despise him for it as a Vitali fan but I am tired of seeing guys in their 40s still going after the next big win that will never happen. Id rather them retire, even that ***git Calzaghe, Id rather him retire than be in his 40s getting beat by bums.

 

He was overweight against Vitali and still stopped him.

If they had a rematch the same thing would happen.

Nothing left to prove

 

Of course he took him lightly - he was supposed to be fighting Kirk Johnson up until just a few days before Vitali stepped in.