Wlad: Best way any Heavyweight ATG has gone out?

Yes if Bruno was winning and if Lewis ducked a rematch...

 

lewis gave a master class in thumbing and using dreads to win. only livingstone bramble could rival , i'm sure that is where lewis got the idea.

 

lewis wanted the rematch, but his mommy grounded him.

 

Vlad was not slurring his speech, he still have his brain, so does Vitali. They are rich, need no more money at all..................they can enjoy life to the fullest....................

 

My memory is a little fuzzy on the Lewis-Vitali fight, but I seem to remember they both looked really tired relatively early in the fight. Lewis especially. But at the end of the day he hit him with a booming right and left Vitali's eye brow hanging off. Game over.

From Lewis' point of view, that was the smart exit plan, his heart clearly wasn't in it any more. Why volunteer for a war when you are pushing 40, and you feel like you don't need this any more?

 

Butterbean got robbed in that fight he also knocked larry down in the 12th.

 

Wlad retires is good for boxing. It's the end of the boring era.

 

Yes. Very true and great observation!

Also:

Manny stewart saw Tyson Fury as the next big king.

Wladimir Klitschko saw Anthony Joshua as the next big king.

During Lewis's career Many Stewart also saw Wladimir Klitschko as the next big king.

Lewis avoided the next one and retired during his prime.

Wlad fought BOTH past his prime - THEN he retired!!

Its the difference between egoism and sportmanship.


I rate Klitschko higher.

 

What's best for the sport is kind of the opposite of what is the best ending for the fighter.

Ideally you want the "passing of the torch" fight. While for the boxer, the best ending is to retire as champion, which leaves no successor.

 

On a loss: Jeffries, Walcott, Dempsey, Louis
On a win: Marciano, Lewis, Louis (first retirement)
Special shout out: Tommy Burns, not his final ever fight, but the fight which he lost his title

I like how you point out the excitement and heart that he'd been long criticized for not having. Good line. But still, I'll take the above cases because we know who they lost to and the circumstances to hand off the torch. In the grand scheme of HW history, we still don't know where Joshua will end up, and that will be the ultimate factor here.

If in time Joshua ends up being known as a legitimate top 15-ish sort of HW ever, then yes, you're almost certain to be correct. Either way, good thread/discussion.

 

No he didn't. Replay clearly showed it was a slip/push. Bean got a boxing lesson from the old man.

 

Lennox

 

Lewis left a bit of a sour taste to me. he showed some serious balls in that fight in the way he survived the beating he was getting and still won, but his attitude afterwards was terrible, he barely gave Vitali any credit. I dont blame him for not taking the rematch but he should just have admitted he was old and the young guns were taking over. With Wlad he may have lost but I personally liked the way he went out better, on his shield and giving his opponent respect.

Depends how you see it I guess. To me being a warrior isn't always about winning, whatever has been said about Wlad, even his detractors cant deny the man was a warrior after that fight, he succeeded in proving his point even if he didn't win.