Would Vitali have beaten Lennox?

-Well he had a legal obligation to Byrd he had to get out of, he made it very clear once he dropped the IBF belt he wanted to continue fighting and stated as much repeatedly.

"As I have recently stated, the world has yet to see the best of Lennox Lewis."


-At the time we were all looking forward to the war that Vitali/Lewis II would have been. Lewis' preserving his legacy was an afterthought for the fans, we wanted a fight.

-I could be right, I could be wrong but waiting until he was mandated to face Vitali again and not Kirk Johnson sends up some red flags.

 

Lewis was an egomaniac who managed to put his ego aside and retire before it was too late.

I'm not sure what the objection to his retirement is.
It's not really their "legacy" they preserve when they quit, it's more likely their brain cells.
I find it strange that boxing fans - who always complain about fighters going on too many fights and getting beat up out of greed and ego - would complain when a champion does the rare thing and walks away.

It's almost as if Lewis should be a slave to the whims of the guys in armchairs. And most of them suspect Vitali would have whipped him anyway ! So Lewis should just go out and getting whipped for their pleasure??

I'm not even a fan of Lewis, I think he's overrated, very overrated around here. But I give him a lot of credit for being smart enough to retire when he did.

 

He left a big fight on the table that people wanted to see and seemed capable enough of winning. Naturally it was upsetting for fans when he walked away without delivering a fight he teased for 6 months.

 

I can't even relate to that.
The guy retired, f*ck the fans. More champs should walk away when they "still seem capable".

 

Its true that Chris Byrd had earned a shot against Lewis and who's style might have troubled him at that stage in his career. But I don't recall there being a lot of demand for that fight. I think it would have made for a rather dull affair.

 

There was no demand for Lewis/Johnson either.

But that doesn't mean the card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles is off, despite very slow ticket sales.
_ESPN (same article I already linked)

 

If Lewis/Vitali II went down, regardless of the victor, nobody would probably have beef with his retirement.

 

I'm fine with the guys resume. With every great champion's story, there will always be someone who says " well how about a rematch with this guy" or " what about a fight with that guy?." He beat about 98% of the best men out there, avenged his only two losses and had some emphatic winning performances. Failure to meet Chris Byrd, John Ruiz or Vitali Klitschko in a rematch is trivial to me. BTW, kirk Johnson and VK weren't the only fights he could have gone after. He could have very easily challenged Corrie Sanders who just sparked Wlad or perhaps even sat down and offered Roy Jones a deal. I think the man was just done with boxing period. And while VK may have helped his decision, I think it was a decision that was already well in the works.

 

The WBC, the only organization that still recognized him as Champion after dropping the IBF, gave him a deadline of March 1 to negotiate with Vitali or he would be stripped. Faced with that and only that, he officially announced his retirement. We can speculate but that is the facts leading up to his decision.

 

The WBC stripping Larry Holmes of his title didn't end in retirement. There were still other fights out there and money to be made. The fact that he was off for 12 months after Tyson, was indication that his career was winding down. Yeah I agree that the prospect of having to fight Klitschko again was probably less than palatable to him at that point. Probably even made his decision to hang em' up easier. But I don't think that was the be all end all of the matter.

 

No way of knowing for sure, but this scenario would see Lewis trashing two major titles to avoid a top contender in a year and at odds with every major organization in boxing. He would be put in a simialr situation to Foreman in the late 90s, maybe find someone like World Boxing Union to represent him as Champion.

Sanders is going to fight Vitali for the WBC and RING belt. Roy Jones is returing to LHW. He's kind of painted in a corner if he wishes to continue to fight.

Well, I don't think a 32 year old Lewis would have retired if faced with this possibility. That would be weird.

 

One of whom he already defeated while the other few wanted to see him face. Part of that had just as much to do with Don King finagling as it did Lewis dropping the challenge.

any one of which would have cooperated if he took a big money drawing fight. Alphabet organizations are all about the cash. The honorable mandatory thing has been side stepped before.

Sanders and Vitali didn't fight until April of 2004 and Vitali had a fight with Kirk Johnson inbetween facing Lewis and sanders. There was time for Lewis to make that fight and if his people had proposed it with a big offer, Sanders would have dropped the klitscko fight like a bad habit. Jones wasn't likely going to fight Lewis as he has expressed many times since that period that he wanted nothing to do with the big guys. But if he for some reason had a change of heart, the bout was very makable.

??

 

This has actually evolved into an interesting fantasy scenario:

What if Lewis vacated the WBC belt after Vitali/Johnson but didn't retire.

The state of the divison would be:

Vitali vs Sanders for vacated WBC belt.

Byrd IBF and Ruiz WBA.

Wlad vs Brewster for vacated WBO belt.

top contenders: Rahman, Toney, Oquendo, and Tua.

wild card: Jones..maybe the right price would stop him from going back to LHW?

Would Lewis find a new organization to recognize him, how would the public recieve this? Probably not well but no doubt he could still sell a fight. Would see Lewis/Toney..Lewis/Rahman III?

 

It could have gone in any number of directions. The heavyweight picture between 2004-2006 was abysmal. Lamon Brewster may well have been the #1 heavyweight at that time.

 

-Lewis got crap for retiring instead of facing Vitali. You think him vacating the title to avoid a mandated rematch and fighting on would go over well?

-The belt holders were men he already turned down to face in this scenario: Ruiz, Byrd, and Vitali. Do you see Lewis crawling back and taking challenger money against these guys?

- Oh, the time inbetween Vitali/Johnson and Vitali/Lewis I? Yeah, that's when Lewis was stringing us all along and saying he was waiting to defend the WBC against the winner of Vitali/Johnson...