Would Vitali have beaten Lennox?

funny but this was not a prime Vitali, he improved mentally and gained confidence from this fight. Lewis may have been past his best but was only 38 with only 42 or so fights WITH A LOW AMOUNT OF WARS (he was KO'd 2x by McCall and Rahman but they were both before the 4th round.

The cut was serious and Vitali was blinded but no one seems to mention Lennox held and hit to open that eye and rubbed the cornrows on it to make it worse still Vitali rocked Lennox more than Lewis rocked Vitali and Vitali took his best. It was the 6th round and in retrospect if we look at the records Lennox never Ko'd a man after 8 and Vitali likes the 8-9th round for kO'S. It may take a prime Vitali a bit longer than Rahman or McCall but the result would be the same...Vitali by 9th round KO or RSC

 

Me thinks it was a nice old right hand that opened the cut and it certainly wasn't during a clinch. And his hair made the cut worse? hahahaha

 

prime for prime lewis would bust up both of the klit brothers who have to be the dullest world champions at any weight ever.
lewis had turned that fight around with vitali a round before the stoppage anyway.

 

Like a drum

 

Vitali took this fight on what, 1 weeks notice without proper training and people say he was ready for Lewis?

 

Bummy,, Vitali was 32 years old with a ton of amateur and professional experience. He was confident enough to take the fight, swapping the opp from another fight he was training for. Lewis was 38 and at his all time heaviest. He was past his prime. Vitali hit Lewis with his best shots early and from that point on not only did Lewis walk thru his punches bit it was openly commented on by the HBO crew covering the bout. Lewis was clearly landing the flusher, harder shots. Watch the footage.

 

Lewis got rocked early and that is what the commentators said, I thought this was another KO coming for Lennox but Vitali and the cut had a change in Vitali's vision and gave Lennox a surge of confidence. Vitali gained confidence that he could beat Lennox after this fight and Lennox had his doubts that he could beat Vitali thus turning down $20-$35mm In Vitalis next fight he looked confident as he KO'd Kirk Johnson and in subsequent fights he proved he had late power and stamina. The latest Lennox ever KO'd an opponent was the 8th rd so the later fight would favor Vitali IMO

 

I don't think it really matters what Vitali would or wouldn't have done had the fight been allowed to continue. What matters is that he lost.. And more importantly, if Lennox had been five years younger, in better shape and not coming off a layoff, he very likely would have pounded Vitali to the canvas.

 

well could be but Lennox also had 2 lapses vs McCall and Rahman and IMO his best 2 wins were Rahman and Tyson and both those fights happened within a year and a half of the Vitali fight and the Rahman loss was less than 2 years before Vitali so It may have been Vitali that made Lewis look older at 38 after all is said and done Lennox only had 43 fights and not too many wars

 

This.

Lewis HATERS will come up with any old bull**** to try to discredit, any or all of his wins. The trick is not to be stupid enough to fall for it.

Lewis was in **** shape for that fight, and had lost the will to put in the time at training camp. That, and that alone is why he retired, and has stayed retired. Ten weeks of hard preparation are / were just not in his sights any longer.

Unlike most thick as **** Heavyweights, he kept, and still has his wealth. 6th in the Sunday Times rich list ( sports section ) with a fortune of 85 million pounds sterling, ( approx $125mil ) so money was not in the equation as far as continuing to fight was concerned.

As the man himself said " motivation was the problem. " Seriously, who in their right mind would want to drag their ageing body through all that training if they didn't fvcking NEED to?

 

Rahman and Tyson weren't his best wins. Tua, Golata, Briggs, and Ruddock all trump those opponents. The McCall fight happened pre-stewart. The Rahman fight happened when Lennox was 35 years old. Both fights happened when he was complacent. I don't think he takes a big man like Vitali lightly. Time frame I'm looking at is between 1997-2000. Lewis beats Vitali in similar fashion to the way he was clobbering guys like Briggs, Grant and Golata.

 

Lewis weighed in with clothes, so he was hardly way above his normal weight range. In addition Lewis was a top level older fighter who had not been through many wars, and was coming off one of his best performances ( rematch KO over Rahman ). You could say Lewis from 35-38. was better than Lewis pre Manny Steward.

The cut changed things, and gave Lewis hope when he was in big trouble the round before. Lesser men fold, Vitali did not. Lewis did not take the re-match because he knows he would not be as lucky.

Does anyone have the original HBO broadcast with the reply in slow motion when the cut happened. It seemed like the top of Lewis forehead crashed into Vitali's brow region before we saw any blood.

 

So how many lbs do we want to deduct for clothing? 3 lbs? maybe 5 at the most? that still leaves him around 252, which was on the high end of the spectrum for him.

Two ko losses, two meetings with Holy, and some tough scraps with Mercer, Bruno and Mason. That comes out to about 7 rough evenings which by modern standards is as much as a lot of fighters. The "wars" argument isn't one that I'd really use to justify why he was past it anyway.

Being two years removed isn't exactly what I would call " coming off of." In addition, I don't consider the rahman rematch among one of his better performances. A valuable win, yes given that he was avenging a loss. But the quality of the opponent belied the actual performance.

He won.. And did so under unfavorable circumstances. That's all that matters

Would Vitali have been " as lucky" had he caught Lewis around 1998 rather than 2003?

 

Lewis may have weighed in with his clothes on, but it's Lewis' appearance in the ring that confirmed LL was not in shape.

Lewis was hardly "coming off" the KO over Rahman...that was more than 18 months before the Vitali fight. 18 months is a long time for a fighter of Lewis' age, especially one that had been inactive for a year (Tyson June '02).

Of course the cut changed things, cuts of that severity do, for both fighters. From Vitali's pov, he HAD to go after Lewis once cut. I read an article (can't remember the source) where the ringside Doc stopped the fight as VK was having to lift his head very high (and therefore his chin) in order to see the Dr...

I believe that LL did not take the rematch as he simply lacked the motivation and competitive intensity to go through the tortures of a training camp. I also feel that was mentally strong & secure enough not to be bothered or concerned about any possible "ducking" jibes he may have got about not taking the rematch. LL danced to his own tune, didn't pander to others (imo) views.

It is true that Vitali did not fold, but nor did Lennox.

It should be remembered that not only Vitali take the fight at short notice, so did Lennox. At circa 12 days notice Lewis voluntarily accepted the challenge of his No. 1 contender when the 6'1" Kirk Johnson pulled out injured, against Steward's wishes, despite being clearly underprepared.

Regarding the cut, it was pretty clear it was paused by a right hand punch.