The WBA didn't strip Lennox Lewis

[billeau2]

As far as Lewis specifically goes, let's imagine a hypothetical scenario where instead of Don King, John Ruiz and Evander Holyfield going to court to deprive the champion of his WBA belt Ruiz instead backed himself and waited three months for Lewis after the Grant fight.

So instead of Botha, Lewis beats Ruiz on 15th July 2000 (78 days after the Grant fight).

The rest of Lewis' career proceeds as it did except that instead of taking a year off after the Tyson fight (which was a mistake in my opinion) he deals with the Byrd mandatory before fighting Vitali on the date he did.

He would likely have finished his career with all the sanctioning body belts but would we think any differently of his legacy?

Levels to the game. To some it would make a difference, to others not so much. IMO to me? No difference at all. Lewis is a thoughtful, intelligent human being whom always honored his words. Like the Chess Player Lewis is, you can see a style, a reason to his decisions. To fight the best fighters on the planet (Lewis always stated this was his goal) it is plain to see that Ruiz, Byrd are not part of that group. Lewis was much more aggressive about trying to get Bowe to fight, which makes a lot of sense considering the opinion others held regarding the talent of Bowe when he was capable.

But the real kicker is: When given a chance to fight Vitalie, even being out of shape and preparing to fight a vastly inferior opponent (Kirk? forgot his last name), Lewis took the fight. This was a dangerous decision. But Lewis was true to his exhortations! He gave Vitalie an opportunity!

[Dr Z]

If you do you will have finally shown SOMETHING!! The last time you were going to show something I had to buy a book just to prove you were lying about it. So pardon me if I don't have much confidence in you. You just claimed yesterday you watched the Botha-Tyson fight and Tyon was winning. That was determined to be a lie.

The question remains though.....why would Johnson fight Vits in an eliminator when he could just go straight for the title against a battle worn champion?

Are you that dense? Why did VK fight Johnson? Well, it was viewed as an elimination match to fight Lewis again as he was Lewis original opponent, and Vitali took the fight with Lewis as a late sub. DUH.

Do not act like Lewis wanted the re-match. I can show you links on Lewis saying he'd give it. But it matters not what I show you if its true.

I think you do not have a handle on the history of the era.

Here my punch drunk friend:

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/7033

[JAB5239]

Are you that dense? Why did VK fight Johnson? Well, it was viewed as an elimination match to fight Lewis again as he was Lewis original opponent, and Vitali took the fight with Lewis as a late sub. DUH.

Do not act like Lewis wanted the re-match. I can show you links on Lewis saying he'd give it. But it matters not what I show you if its true.

I think you do not have a handle on the history of the era.

Here my punch drunk friend:

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/7033

You're calling me dense when you cant even get the question right. You said Lewis wanted to make a fight with Johnson after Lennox had already beaten Vits. My question is why wouldn't Johnson fight Lewis than? Why did he go thru with an eliminator when he could have just fought the champ? This is why your story about Lewis wanting to make a fight with Johnson but not rematching Vits makes zero sense. Just like it didn't make sense when you claimed to have watched the Tyson-Botha fight but claim Tyson was ahead on all cards.

[JAB5239]

Levels to the game. To some it would make a difference, to others not so much. IMO to me? No difference at all. Lewis is a thoughtful, intelligent human being whom always honored his words. Like the Chess Player Lewis is, you can see a style, a reason to his decisions. To fight the best fighters on the planet (Lewis always stated this was his goal) it is plain to see that Ruiz, Byrd are not part of that group. Lewis was much more aggressive about trying to get Bowe to fight, which makes a lot of sense considering the opinion others held regarding the talent of Bowe when he was capable.

But the real kicker is: When given a chance to fight Vitalie, even being out of shape and preparing to fight a vastly inferior opponent (Kirk? forgot his last name), Lewis took the fight. This was a dangerous decision. But Lewis was true to his exhortations! He gave Vitalie an opportunity!

Great post!!

[billeau2]

Are you that dense? Why did VK fight Johnson? Well, it was viewed as an elimination match to fight Lewis again as he was Lewis original opponent, and Vitali took the fight with Lewis as a late sub. DUH.

Do not act like Lewis wanted the re-match. I can show you links on Lewis saying he'd give it. But it matters not what I show you if its true.

I think you do not have a handle on the history of the era.

Here my punch drunk friend:

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/7033

Ok so somewhere floating around is a statement by Lewis... Lets assume so... stating that he would give Vits a rematch. This is me conceding the point purely for the sake of argument... SO!!!! Lewis apparently changed his mind! Do you change your mind? Heres what you fail to understand Mendoza: If Lewis had won the fight on a low blow, or a really bad stoppage, or even if he was getting destroyed and given a decision... Vitalie would have SOME grounds to say " I deserve another opportunity." BUT the fact of the matter is, Lewis beat him, he had opportunities he did not take advantage of. He blew it! When the fight was stopped Lewis was coming on and his face was destroyed... Lewis caused the damage with punches. WHY DID HE DESERVE A REMATCH? Even if... Lets say when the fight was stopped Vitalie was coming on!!! He wasn't.

So where in your narrative do you see a nreason why Lewis should have changed his life around for a rematch?

[billeau2]

Here is an article detailing the fight between Lewis and Vitalie. The media bias in this article even favors Vitalie's cause. Those who can look at things carefully will notice the following: Vitalie led the fight, However at least one judge gave him the 5th round and all judges gave him the 6th round. That indicates lewis was coming on. Assuming the scoring was right... some judges gave lewis the 3rd, and Klitsko was leading by two rounds, but Lewis arguably won the 5th and definitely won the 6th round... That means Lewis was coming on... Everybody, even the biased judges followed a similar trend. And if one watches that last round, one can see Lewis really catching Vitalie hard... Everyone knew it was time to make a stand, except Vitalie?

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?...was+stopped%3f

[Willie Pep 229]

Are you that dense? Why did VK fight Johnson? Well, it was viewed as an elimination match to fight Lewis again as he was Lewis original opponent, and Vitali took the fight with Lewis as a late sub. DUH.

Do not act like Lewis wanted the re-match. I can show you links on Lewis saying he'd give it. But it matters not what I show you if its true.

I think you do not have a handle on the history of the era.

Here my punch drunk friend:

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/7033

No! You are completely wrong.

A fighter retires and then comes back, then you can claim it to have been a duck.

But if a fighter retires and stays retired then that's it. He has no obligations.

You don't get to change the rules because you want your guy to get a rematch.

A man (a champion) knows when he's done and has a right to take his hat out of the ring.

[Coverdale]

Following a separate discussion I have been having with brodbombefly I found some more interesting quotes and articles from around this time. Ruiz was seemingly elevated to #1 following Akinwande's illness for no discernible reason.

The quote below from LL's lawyer Pat English makes reference to the suggested "box-off" which seems to form the basis of the eventual "super champion" policy.

In November we approached the W.B.A. to resolve this matter," English said. "In December we wrote them a letter with a proposal for a box-off to get this matter resolved. We got nowhere.

I didn't realise that Tua was attempting to have Lewis stripped of the IBF title around this time too. All these belts are great aren't they?

[JAB5239]

Following a separate discussion I have been having with brodbombefly I found some more interesting quotes and articles from around this time. Ruiz was seemingly elevated to #1 following Akinwande's illness for no discernible reason.

The quote below from LL's lawyer Pat English makes reference to the suggested "box-off" which seems to form the basis of the eventual "super champion" policy.



I didn't realise that Tua was attempting to have Lewis stripped of the IBF title around this time too. All these belts are great aren't they?

Good stuff.

I find it hysterical guys who defend the ABC orgs and actually believe there is a new world champion if a guy like Lewis gets stripped for actually fighting a better fighter than any particular mandatory.

[billeau2]

Following a separate discussion I have been having with brodbombefly I found some more interesting quotes and articles from around this time. Ruiz was seemingly elevated to #1 following Akinwande's illness for no discernible reason.

The quote below from LL's lawyer Pat English makes reference to the suggested "box-off" which seems to form the basis of the eventual "super champion" policy.



I didn't realise that Tua was attempting to have Lewis stripped of the IBF title around this time too. All these belts are great aren't they?

Oh yeah! Deontay Wilder even visited Charlie Z to get his belt! it is on Youtube!