Lennox Lewis: A little selfish?

Lennox Lewis wanted no part of any top fighter when they were in their prime, holyfield was 5 years past it by the time lennox had the balls to fight him, then he wants to fight tyson 7 years removed from his last title reign, and when bowe was gonna fight him lewis DEManded purse parity, which is rediculous, bowe was the undisputed champion then. He even avoided Foreman like the plague because he knew old george would have starched him with one jab. then he retires because he knew he would lose a rematch to vitali(who sucks by the way). the above statement is chillingly moronic.

um...no He didn't "coax" anyone into anything. Who else was Rahman gonna fight and get that kind of money? He had to wait years fro McCall because he was frozen out by King. That "draw" might be the single worst desicion in the history of the sport. The only one guy who you could make a case for deserving a rematch was Mercer. Mercer, yes it could have been a draw but remember Lewis was to fight for the title next, tyson vacated it and so he fought mccall for it, meanwhile mercer beat Witherspoon in december 96 but did not fight again for 2 years because he got hepatitis, so the rematch couldnt happen anytime, its not lewis`s fault it didnt.

Lennox Lewis wanted no part of any top fighter when they were in their prime, holyfield was 5 years past it by the time lennox had the balls to fight him, then he wants to fight tyson 7 years removed from his last title reign, and when bowe was gonna fight him lewis DEManded purse parity, which is rediculous, bowe was the undisputed champion then. He even avoided Foreman like the plague because he knew old george would have starched him with one jab. then he retires because he knew he would lose a rematch to vitali(who sucks by the way). Tyson was Lewis`s Mandatory in 2002, Holyfield was the WBA & IBF Champion at the time! You say he avoided every top fighter in their prime but yet you acknowledge that he faced and BEAT vitali.

Tyson never had any intention of fighting Lewis. He was set on fighting Holyfield because he and his fans thought (for whatever reason) that it would be an easier fight for Holyfield.QUOTE] What? Wait.... What?

what would u take? a 4 million dollar bribe to NOT fight or a multimillion dollar deal TO fight? seems like lewis took the easy money... i guess he doesnt like earning his living. Tyson never had any intention of fighting Lewis. He was set on fighting Holyfield because he and his fans thought (for whatever reason) that it would be an easier fight for Holyfield. He wanted to fight Seldon because he knew it was a walkover, and thought he'd do the same to Evander.

It would have been smarter to give up 4 Million dollars for doing nothing? That's a lot of money to pay someone not to fight. Bruce Seldon was a weaker fight, and Tyson was thinking it would lead into a Holyfield fight, one he thought he'd easilly win. You can't really blame Tyson, he wasn't very smart, and was being constantly screwed by those around him. what would u take? a 4 million dollar bribe to NOT fight or a multimillion dollar deal TO fight? seems like lewis took the easy money... i guess he doesnt like earning his living.

tyson offered 4 million to lennox lewis and lewis accepted. whos dodging who? the guy who offeres the bribe or the guy who takes the bribe, drops the belts, retires, and has the gall to say that people dodged him? It would have been smarter to give up 4 Million dollars for doing nothing? That's a lot of money to pay someone not to fight. Bruce Seldon was a weaker fight, and Tyson was thinking it would lead into a Holyfield fight, one he thought he'd easilly win. There was discussions about the Holyfield fight long before Tyson fought Seldon. You can't really blame Tyson, he wasn't very smart, and was being constantly screwed by those around him.

No, it's not. Bowe avoided Lewis in his prime, and did so on live TV. Once right after the Holyfield fight, and once at the press conference that he threw his title away at rather than fight Lewis. Tyson fought Seldon instead of Lewis, paying Lewis 4 Million to step aside. Holyfield was tied up a lot fighting 3 fights with Bowe, 2 with Tyson, and two with Moore. He wasn't interested in fighting Lewis when Lewis didn't have a title, because there was little money and it was hight risk. Once agian, to assert Lewis ducked Bowe, Tyson, and Holyfield more so than vice versa is pure ignorance. tyson offered 4 million to lennox lewis and lewis accepted. whos dodging who? the guy who offeres the bribe or the guy who takes the bribe, drops the belts, retires, and has the gall to say that people dodged him?

the above statement is chillingly accurate. No, it's not. Bowe avoided Lewis in his prime, and did so on live TV. Once right after the Holyfield fight, and once at the press conference that he threw his title away at rather than fight Lewis. Tyson fought Seldon instead of Lewis, paying Lewis 4 Million to step aside. Holyfield was tied up a lot fighting 3 fights with Bowe, 2 with Tyson, and two with Moore. He wasn't interested in fighting Lewis when Lewis didn't have a title, because there was little money and it was hight risk. Once agian, to assert Lewis ducked Bowe, Tyson, and Holyfield more so than vice versa is pure ignorance.

Lennox Lewis wanted no part of any top fighter when they were in their prime, holyfield was 5 years past it by the time lennox had the balls to fight him, then he wants to fight tyson 7 years removed from his last title reign, and when bowe was gonna fight him lewis DEManded purse parity, which is rediculous, bowe was the undisputed champion then. He even avoided Foreman like the plague because he knew old george would have starched him with one jab. then he retires because he knew he would lose a rematch to vitali(who sucks by the way). the above statement is chillingly accurate.

LL had rematch clauses in the contracts if HE lost. When LL won he dominated, no need for a rematch, when he lost it was lucky shots. (i do think Holy should have received a rematch, because i thought he won that 2nd figth.) Add to that he had the rematch clauses in for the Rahman and McCall fights because he was the Champion coming in. It's convenient that's left out when people are up in arms about Mercer and Vitali not getting rematches in fights they lost in addition to not being the title holders.

Has anyone noticed that the two time's Lennox lost and the one time he fought to a draw he was able to coax his opponent into fighting him again so he can try and prove himself. However when opponent's that he has defeated have asked him for a rematch he basically brushed them off and called them misfits who had their opportunity at him but failed. To me that may qualify him as a little bit of a bitch. LL had rematch clauses in the contracts if HE lost. When LL won he dominated, no need for a rematch, when he lost it was lucky shots. (i do think Holy should have received a rematch, because i thought he won that 2nd figth.)

Hollister I hope your post isn't directed at me. You should know that I put you on ignore back when you had that schizophrenic outburst of lying, subject twisting, denying things you said previously, and making up things and saying I said them. You capped it all off by admitting to doing all of that because you couldn't come up with anything else to say. It was honestly as though you had some form of schizophrenia. I haven't read a word of your juvenile drivel since that day. Have fun talking to the wind. Well "the wind" listens and responds to me, positively most of the time. You can tell yourself whatever you want, but what did you do when I brought back the beginning of the thread, and showed everyone what I actually posted and how you jumped subjects and lied about what I posted? You said that the posts were random lol You could have been more intelligent and looked at the times on the posts to see that they were actually in the order they were posted, but you weren't that smart. Again, you can say whatever you want, but you haven't really directly responded to anything that dude posted, just like you never directly responded to anything I posted. You're just a loser with a big opinion of yourself, one which nobody else shares lol

Hollister I hope your post isn't directed at me. You should know that I put you on ignore back when you had that schizophrenic outburst of lying, subject twisting, denying things you said previously, and making up things and saying I said them. You capped it all off by admitting to doing all of that because you couldn't come up with anything else to say. It was honestly as though you had some form of schizophrenia. I haven't read a word of your juvenile drivel since that day. Have fun talking to the wind.

I have a feeling that in 20 years people will still be arguing about whether or not Lewis should have given Klitschko a rematch - it seems to come up every single time someone mentions either K or L. IMO Lewis is a better fighter than Klitschko and could have beaten him if he had been fully prepared and motivated, but I do think that Klitschko surprised him and hurt him in their fight, and that Lewis was afraid to give Klitschko a rematch. Too bad because the rematch would have been an awesome fight, one that I think Lennox Lewis in top form could have won, perhaps by jabbing and boxing and then making his move in the late rounds after Klitshcko had tired himself out.

Rocko backed his shit up with facts, your post was basically a couple of half-facts sprinkled in with about 90% of your worthless opinion. You are basically our Tex Cobb version of a poster. Fairly knowledgeable and could have had some credibility, but too stupid and biased to capitalize on your knowledge. Add to that the fact that you've hung around waaay too long, and there you go lol

As for the Mercer fight, it was competitve, but as mentioned previosuly, there are examples with EVERY champion getting a close and competitive win and not rematching. If you'd take the time out to LOOK at what happened, Mercer was 0-2-1 in his last 3 after the Lewis fight, and Lennox had the opportunity to rematch McCall for a title instead. Had he fought Mercer again instead, some of you idiots would be spouting off about how Lewis was afraid of McCall. As for Klitschko, Lewis was 37 and inactive for a year, and he still beat Klitschko. The point of debate there shouldn't be why Lennox opted to retire, but why Klitschko failed to capatalize on his 1st chance. Lennox was an assured Hall of Famer before that fight ever happened, and it was his porogative to retire when he did. He had Evander Holyfield losing all over the place to remind him of what happens to a great champion who stays around too long.

Wow, is there ever some bull shit in this thread. Riddick Bowe DUCKED Lennox Lewis. PERIOD. He climbed out of the ring after beating Holyfiled and confronted Lewis (and looked completely timid while doing so) He told him on camera he would fight him next. That made him look equally cowardly when he was obligated to fight Lewis but threw the title away instead. You need to think about what you're saying. Bowe had a screw loose, and for whatever reason, he was afraid of Lewis (possibly the beating Lewis gave him in the Olympics). He would have been mentally defeated before he ever stepped into the ring. As for the Tyson fight, Tyson was clearly interested in fighting the lesser opponent than the risky fight with Lewis. I would go so far as to say Tyson was afraid of Lewis at that point (like Bowe was), but for anyone to suggest Lewis avoided Bowe Holyfield and Tyson in the 90's more so than vice versa is sadly confused.

Bowe threw his belt in the trash can and refused to fight Lewis because when he won the undisputed championship he was a promotional free agent, had he completed the tournament that included Lewis-Ruddock and Bowe-Holyfield, he would have been contractually obligated to the promotional outfit that put on the tournament (Main Events?). Thus he opted to stay a free agent and let Lewis be called a paper champ (which is what you are when you are handed the WBC belt twice in a row for doing nothing but A. Sitting on a beach, and B. Beating a crackhead just out of retirement with severe emotional problems. When HBO had already signed Bowe to fight Lewis all Lewis had to do was beat unthreatening challenger Oliver McCall who had lost all of his most important fights. Instead Lewis was knocked out and HBO threw him back onto the scrap heap. When both Lewis and Bowe were making comebacks Lewis was being interviewed live on BBC and Bowe actually called into the show and challenged Lewis to sign a contract for them to fight. No belts (neither of them had belts) just for honor. Lewis' reply was that he was more interested in chasing then champion Michael Moorer. MICHAEL MOORER! That shows you how much he really wanted to fight Bowe. Its like when he said he was ducked by Tyson. Yeah Tyson paid Lewis 4 mil to step aside but people seem to forget or never knew the actual contract that he entered into with Lewis. He paid Lewis 4 mil to WAIT until he had beaten Seldon then he would fight Lewis with Lewis to get an additional 12 mil (his highest purse by far). Tyson beat Seldon and Lewis hid behind his HBO contract saying he could only fight on HBO (It was later revealed that Lewis had a "one time out" clause that would have allowed him to fight on showtime PPV). He tied Tyson up in litigation and rather than stall his career and the mega millions he was making Tyson dumped the WBC belt (sound familiar) and pursued the fight with Holyfield. Lewis for the second time in his career picked the WBC belt out of the trashcan by fighting a crack head who lost his last fight (against a christmas tree) and Tyson went on to fight in the highest grossing PPV fight in history. People need to realise that Lewis manipulated the system as much or more than Tyson, Bowe or anyone else, the difference is he was so boring and such a low profile HW champ that nobody cared or paid any attention accept his fans and they were so ignorant they cheered anything he did. Good points, notice how nobody responded to this post? And they probably won't, either lol

Lennox is an old man, who fought like an old man the last time against Vitali. I wouldn't ask Willie Pep to fight Juan Manuel Marquez, just as I wouldn't ask Lennox Lewis to put himself in harms way for no reason at all. It would be a bloodletting and a black mark on boxing if Lewis was to fight Vitali again. Maybe for Lewis coming back now is pointless, but back when he fought Vitali it was very necessary and everyone demanded it. He was heavyweight champion, and looked as bad as he did because Vitali made him look like that.