Lennox Lewis - How good was he?

[Elroy1]

Vitali Klitschko vs Lennox Lewis

THE TRUTH

Vitali took the fight on just 10 days notice.

Vitali was clearly winning the fight 4-2 on all 3 scorecards at the time of the controversial doctor stoppage. Lewis barely survived the 2nd round and almost got KO'd, he was badly hurt, holding on for dear life, wobbling everywhere and staggering around the ring like a drunk. Lewis was badly hurt several times in the fight and was getting outboxed, outworked, outmuscled and outlanded by Vitali.

punches landed

Vitali 156

Lewis 102


Lewis was exhausted, worn down and hurt from the accumulation of punches and was ready to get KTFO again, he collapsed onto his stool at the end of the 6th round, Vitali was clearly the fresher of the two, he was a man on a mission and would've KO'd Lewis for sure if the fight had continued.

After the fight, Vitali intimidated the **** out of Lewis and made him look like a *****.

All the fans at Staples Center cheered for Vitali and booed Lewis after the fight.

Lewis promised Vitali a rematch.

Vitali destroyed Kirk Johnson in 2 rounds and called out Lewis again in the post fight interview. The scared Lewis retired shortly after that fight.

Lewis turned down 40 million dollars for a rematch and retired like a coward because he knew he would get destroyed by Vitali.

Vitali dominated Lewis and scared his ***** ass into retirement.

George Foreman: "Vitali was winning the fight. Lewis got lucky. There has to be a rematch!"

Jim Lampley: "A lucky escape for Lewis who was clearly losing the fight"

Even Emanuel Steward was upset and pissed off at Lewis for blatantly ducking a Vitali rematch.

Lewis is scared to death of Vitali.

Vitali wasn't even in his prime yet.

Lewis was 37, not really that old for a HW.

Vitali is 40 and is still dominating. He hasn't lost a single round in his comeback.

Lewis said he was "at the peak of my powers" when he got his ass whooped by Vitali.

Lewis was coming off the KO win over Tyson. In the Lewis-Tyson post fight interview Lewis stated "I'm like fine wine, I get better with age"

In an interview right before the Vitali fight, Lewis said "I'm at the peak of my powers, I will keep fighting for many more years"

Vitali dominated Lewis and scared him into retirement.

Vitali is a better fighter than Lewis.

I don't know for sure if VK was really better than LL, I think there is an extremely good case...

I pretty much agree with most of your synopsis, just a few what might be considered pro-Lewis or neutral points.

I don't think Lewis was scared of VK, I think he was worried about losing and damaging his legacy.

Lewis also took the fight on the same short notice.

Lewis did peg back a bit in the last rounds (but VK still gave as good as he got) and VK was far more energetic no doubt. But yeah, any loss of acumen VK may have displayed was due to no more than the lucky cut, of course!

The stoppage was NOT controversial, though VK's cut was so bad the fight had to be stopped and even though the cut was not caused by clean effective boxing it was not the sort of incident that could rule a decision out, much worse atrocities go unpunished than that, Lewis never intentionally did anything wrong.

What remains is that the fight was inconclusive as to who was the better fighter but heavily indicative that it was Vitali. And Lewis removed the chance of finding out, hence he deserves criticism.

[Elroy1]

It would've been worthwhile if Wladimir had rematched Ross Purrity, or Corrie Sanders, or not waited until Lamon Brewster was coming off a loss, eye surgery and 13 month layoff.

Sanders ducked that rematch..

Puritty rematch was NOT worthwhile..

Brewster loss was ridiculous in the first place..

Everyone knows this... It's just slander now... Pick on the actual fights, but nobody can straight faced say that WK couldn't have avenged any of those rematches..

The only one even mentionable was Sanders for speculative purposes.

[Elroy1]

No. Lennox had many career highlights and defining wins. Vitali was just a bonus win at the end of an already legendary career.

Vitali Klitscko's career defining moment was having his face ripped into a menstruating vagina by Lennox Lewis

TROLL!

VK was LL's best opponent by FAR! Who else.. E Holyfield? M Tyson? Get out of here!

And you do admit this win was just a BIT lucky right?

This was a close to prime Lewis, there's no doubt.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

TROLL!

VK was LL's best opponent by FAR! Who else.. E Holyfield? M Tyson? Get out of here!

And you do admit this win was just a BIT lucky right?

This was a close to prime Lewis, there's no doubt.

Stop it

[Boxing Goat]

I don't think anybody is denying Lewis mentioned retiring beforehand. Many boxers in there 30's comment on retirement. Of course they do, they know they ain't lasting forever anymore and they contemplate what their exit will be like. How many fighters say they will retire and don't for a decade...

Holyfield was RETIRING for 20 years! LOL

Lewis made the decision to fight on, in prime form, he had Johnson, Byrd, VK, WK on the horizon who he confidently thought he could beat. OOPS, nearly lost, luckily won on a fortunate cut. See how this pans out... ****, he destroyed Johnson, "nobody has ever done that to Kirk Johnson before", I'm in deep here.. Good time to hang up the gloves...

I'm not knocking Lewis.. SMART move! He gets to sign of on a win, no matter how controversial, and always maintain that he was the better fighter than either of the 2 brothers, and it worked. Whether he was right, nobody can say..

That's why I consider them on equal footing.

Exactly and I'm not going to sit here and explain it to these nitwits.

It's not f@cking rocket science.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Exactly and I'm not going to sit here and explain it to these nitwits.

It's not f@cking rocket science.

So why did you say he never mentioned retirement?

[Weltschmerz]

What is so ridiculous is that people claim Lewis to be fat and old when actually he was carrying what, 10 lbs more which can even be an advantage and probably was vs a huge guy like Vitali. Lewis was the same age as Vladimir is today and Vladimir is sparking out Lewis resume now. Lewis clearly retired too early because he wanted NONE of a Vitali rematch. That is just the truth, even though you don't like it. Smart move yes, but cowardly too...

[Boxing Goat]

Stop it

Nothing suggests that he was not at his best just because he was like 2.5% heavier than he was in his prior fight.

You just stop it. It's a cop out to make an excuse why Vitali landed 26 punches on him a round and was beating him 2 to 1 in rounds and connects.

In his previous fight, he looked better than ever. The year off didn't make a sh@t bit of difference either.

[Elroy1]

Stop it

I will not insist on this Lewis being the best version ever..

I think that was Rahman 2, 2 fights before!!!

But the Lewis of VK fight..

Was the heaviest of career (that counts for chin, power, resistance) and on the low side it was only 5 lbs more than his OPTIMAL weight which is F/A for athleticism, especially for a boxer puncher and about equal to some other earlier versions.

And this was the most experienced version of Lewis of course, which accounts for most. Unless of course age had deteriorated their performance or they'd been damaged from wars... None of which apply to Lewis..

Sorry mate, VK nearly upset a prime LEwis, fate did save him!

[SeekDaGreat]

Damn. 31 page ATG thread.