Would Vitali have beaten Lewis if he didn't get cut?

Yes, and no.

Yes, he was a replacement opponent - Kirk Johnson pulled out injured about two weeks before he was supposed to fight Lewis and Vitali's madatory was bumped up as a replacement

No, he didn't have "only a short time to prepare" - Vitali was scheduled to fight Cedric Boswell on the undercard of Lewis/Johnson so had exactly the same amount of time to have a training camp and to prepare to fight Lewis as Lewis did to fight him.

 

Isn't it 25500 thread about that fight on this forum? LOL

Both Vitali and Lewis are still EXTREMELY saulty about that fight. They spent a lot of time together at the WBC Convention and there were no animosity between them. But when they were interviewed by Ukrainian TV (Inter Channel), both sounded extremely saulty about that fight. Lennox said that he was wrong when he agreed o fight Vitali on the short notice and said that if he was in his top shape, he would have destroyed Vitali. Vitali said that whole world knows that he beat Lewis up and that he is the real winner of that fight.

As for the topic, I think Vitali would have stopped Lewis if he wasn't cut. Lewis looked completely spent, he gave everything he had in rounds 3-6, he spent incredible amount of energy. Vitali was tired as well, but he was almost 6 years younger and was in better shape. I think he would have stopped Lennox in rounds 10-11 if he was allowed to continue.

As for rematch, I think Vitali would beat Lewis convicingly in any case - he got tons of experince he was lacking in the first fight.

Vitali would always give a lot of troubles for any version of Lewis, but he would always be in danger of getting stopped on cuts. He looked busted up pretty badly even after Kevin Johnson fight, who threw about 10 desent punches in 12 rounds and was nowhere near to Lewis in terms of punching power. Plus Vitali was never a really big puncher himself, so Lewis could have risked more against him than in some of his other fights.

I don't think any version of Lewis could KO Vitali and I don't think any version of Vitali could KO prime and focused Lennox Lewis (like the one from Holyfield-1, Tua and Rahman-2 fights). I think prime for prime it would be a points win in a close fight for either of them or a TKO win on cuts for Lewis - Vitali's skin is really bad.

 

Lewis and Vitali had already agreed to fight in the autumn too, so Vitali knew he was going to be fighting Lewis later that year and likely was already training for him in mind, he'd been calling Lewis out for some time. So if anything he was the more prepared of the two.

 

No at the time it was stopped Lewis was looking the most dangerous and Vitali was on his way to being stopped.

Lennox had got past his worst stage of the fight and was landing some very hard shots.

 

For once we agree.

Cuts are a lousy way for a fight to end, but if punches caused them, then it is what it is.

Two lions went at it, and the better lion won.

 

The double standards.on this forum...

Going through the posts I hardly see anyone bashing Lennox for being 37 or old. But when Povetkin fights, he's a grandpa. Ridiculous.

Back to the topic - I believe the cut did honder Vitali's chances.. to be honest I never wondered about it going further than round 6... I simply wondered what if Vitali did not suffer a cut...

If Vitali.didn't get cut so bad he would have stopped Lennox.

These guys can bang... Lennox has 32 KO's.. and Vitali generates good power from his frame.

I reckon Lennox would have been TKO'd in the later rounds, but not while Vitali had.limited visibility due to cut.

 

Vitali was cut by Lewis's punches, just 6 rounds and he was looking like Rocky Balboa going 15 rounds with Apollo. He was always going to get busted up, he's so big, he was a easy target. I still think one or two uppercuts would have finished the show, and it was coming because Vitali was tired, and staggering around like a drunk zombie.

 

The double standards are because the haters are chatting $hit. Lennox wasn't old but povetkin was at 37, is a perfect example. The better boxers won the fight. The haters can't handle that and need excuses.

 

Yes he would. But you cant take away his weaknesses either.

 

well if vitali hadnt blitzkrieged lewis then he'd not have been able to build up a competitive points tally over 5 rounds.

If he had protected his face sure he might have lasted 12 rounds (unless of course lewis koed him, always possible) but he'd be behind on points by a fair margin by halfway - and then lose on points.


perhaps he knew his best chance was early since he didnt have anything near lewis skills.

 

If the cut didn't happen it would have ended 9-3 to Vitali or TKO 10 for Vitali

 

Nonsense !

I'm a fan of all three.

Lewis scored a legit (great) win over Vitali.

I rank Lewis, Wlad and Vitali at 3, 10 and 20 respectively all-time at HW.

 

If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

Would've, could've, should've.

No one cares.

What is true is TKO6. Lewis won. End of story.

 

It's a bit like saying would Khan have beaten Canelo if he didn't get KOed. It's not like he got one cut, his face was torn to shreds.

 

gotta wonder more importantly what round vitali would have got stopped in if that was prime lewis. Klitschko was VERY lucky he didnt get the most dangerous version, else a very early blowout would be likely for poor vits. His blitzkrieg would have been such a bad idea with prime LL.