Lennox revising history re Vitali rematch

[Bennyleonard99]

Lennox Lewis explains why he didn’t take the Vitali Klitschko rematch back in the day.
Lewis said: “Let me clear this up for you. Vitali was always supposed to be my last fight. I took it on 10 days notice.
No champ has ever taken on a number 1 contender on such short notice. I looked forward to the moment of starting a family and no more camps. I seriously considered a rematch, but in the end, decided to go with the original plan.
Vitali went on to be a great champion in his own right. I also knew that Father Time was not in my corner.”
“But I’ve always said, I had him figured out by the time the fight was stopped. I took this fight on 10 day notice. On ten days notice it was very hard to get sparring partners that tall with good skills. Most of what I had to learn about Vitaly I had to do so during the fight.
He did well early on because I had to solve the puzzle. Once I did, I was able to get to him more. Unfortunately, his face just couldn’t hold up. I would have preferred to stop him so there wouldn’t be any speculation, but it was not my call. For his safety, the ref stopped the fight.”

I have the HBO vhs tape of the Lennox vs Vitali fight and before the fight there is an interview with Lennox and he says nothing about it being his final fight,in fact he even mentions having more fights after he expected to beat Vitali.

This fabrication by Lennox shows he is still insecure about the Vitali fight even though he won it, it was an incredibly gutsy win, he still feels some guilt and perhaps shame or regret for not taking the rematch. He is still hounded by this by boxing fans. And so now he's trying to change history by saying Vitali was always going to be his last fight. The HBO telecast tape proves otherwise.

[Bennyleonard99]

There is still a lot of intrigue about the Vitali vs Lennox superfight, one of the best hwt title fights ever. Rumors persist that Vitali team paid off Kirk Johnson, LL's orginal opponent, to fake the rib injury to allow Vitali to get the shot. There was an interview with Vitali promoter Peter Kohl who accused LL of ducking Vitali for a couple of years before this, and they even had to take LL to court three times to force him to face Vitali who was his mandatory challenger. Man, that rematch would have been amazing. But LL seemed to know he probably was going to lose it (he was aging and not getting better while Vitali learned a lot from that first fight and was, as we later learned, getting a lot better). LL just didn't want anymore of that Vitali smoke and waited and hoped he lost to Sanders and Kirk Johnson before retiring. What he saw Vitali do to Sanders and Johnson, who he predicted to beat Vitali, discouraged him from taking the rematch for $25m plus.

[Mr Mitts]

I think Lewis beats a lumbering Klit anytime.

[Haka]

I think Lewis beats a lumbering Klit anytime.

Klitschko was outlanding Lewis by 50%.

[Bronson66]

Lennox Lewis explains why he didn’t take the Vitali Klitschko rematch back in the day.
Lewis said: “Let me clear this up for you. Vitali was always supposed to be my last fight. I took it on 10 days notice.
No champ has ever taken on a number 1 contender on such short notice. I looked forward to the moment of starting a family and no more camps. I seriously considered a rematch, but in the end, decided to go with the original plan.
Vitali went on to be a great champion in his own right. I also knew that Father Time was not in my corner.”
“But I’ve always said, I had him figured out by the time the fight was stopped. I took this fight on 10 day notice. On ten days notice it was very hard to get sparring partners that tall with good skills. Most of what I had to learn about Vitaly I had to do so during the fight.
He did well early on because I had to solve the puzzle. Once I did, I was able to get to him more. Unfortunately, his face just couldn’t hold up. I would have preferred to stop him so there wouldn’t be any speculation, but it was not my call. For his safety, the ref stopped the fight.”

I have the HBO vhs tape of the Lennox vs Vitali fight and before the fight there is an interview with Lennox and he says nothing about it being his final fight,in fact he even mentions having more fights after he expected to beat Vitali.

This fabrication by Lennox shows he is still insecure about the Vitali fight even though he won it, it was an incredibly gutsy win, he still feels some guilt and perhaps shame or regret for not taking the rematch. He is still hounded by this by boxing fans. And so now he's trying to change history by saying Vitali was always going to be his last fight. The HBO telecast tape proves otherwise.

I think things might be getting misinterpreted .Vitali was supposed to be his last fight.I've read this myself ,but not this fight, Lennox meant to defend against him later and then retire.

Rightly or wrongly its academic ,a 37 years old Lewis, weighing his heaviest ever stopped Vitali.

[Bronson66]

Klitschko was outlanding Lewis by 50%.

Good one!

[Bronson66]

There is still a lot of intrigue about the Vitali vs Lennox superfight, one of the best hwt title fights ever. Rumors persist that Vitali team paid off Kirk Johnson, LL's orginal opponent, to fake the rib injury to allow Vitali to get the shot. There was an interview with Vitali promoter Peter Kohl who accused LL of ducking Vitali for a couple of years before this, and they even had to take LL to court three times to force him to face Vitali who was his mandatory challenger. Man, that rematch would have been amazing. But LL seemed to know he probably was going to lose it (he was aging and not getting better while Vitali learned a lot from that first fight and was, as we later learned, getting a lot better). LL just didn't want anymore of that Vitali smoke and waited and hoped he lost to Sanders and Kirk Johnson before retiring. What he saw Vitali do to Sanders and Johnson, who he predicted to beat Vitali, discouraged him from taking the rematch for $25m plus.

Lewis never ducked dangerous opponent ,his resume emphatically proves that,he chose not to fight 2 boring fighters Byrd and Ruiz,but took on every puncher there was to fight.

[Bennyleonard99]

Lewis never ducked dangerous opponent ,his resume emphatically proves that,he chose not to fight 2 boring fighters Byrd and Ruiz,but took on every puncher there was to fight.

Truth, Lennox never dodged anyone except that rematch with Vitali. Ruiz and Byrd were Don King pawns and not worth the time of Lennox.

It seems Lennox is still partially haunted by skipping that Vitali rematch. The optics are he knew he got lucky in 1 and didn't believe he could do it twice. What compounded the problem for Lennox was how much better and dominant Vitali became after. Lennox was hoping Vitali lost to Kirk Johnson and Sanders and that would have been the end of it. The only blotch on the legacy of the great Lennox Lewis was dodging the Vitali rematch. While it was a better way to go out than losing the rematch to Vitali it came at a cost.

[Bennyleonard99]

I think things might be getting misinterpreted .Vitali was supposed to be his last fight.I've read this myself ,but not this fight, Lennox meant to defend against him later and then retire.

Rightly or wrongly its academic ,a 37 years old Lewis, weighing his heaviest ever stopped Vitali.

Lennox never wanted the rematch and never committed to it, even when Merchant pressured him about it in the ring after the first right, Lennox would not commit to it. So it was clear Lennox knew he got lucky and didn't want that smoke again.

For Lennox to say Vitali was always going to be his last fight is simply not truth. On the HBO telecast of Vitali vs Lennox, Lennox said during a prefight interview bit that he intended to keep fighting after he beat Vitali. This is fact, I have the tape and it should be in you tube. But the fight Vitali gave him wrecked all those plans. Lennox needed his last surge of greatness to survive Vitali. He knew he had nothing left and could not beat Vitali a second time.

[Bennyleonard99]

I think things might be getting misinterpreted .Vitali was supposed to be his last fight.I've read this myself ,but not this fight, Lennox meant to defend against him later and then retire.

Rightly or wrongly its academic ,a 37 years old Lewis, weighing his heaviest ever stopped Vitali.

Lennox was heavy vs Vitali but it was by design, his body looked very fit, no soft spots. He knew he had to be a little heavier because Vitali was the same size. For Lennox to imply he came in out of shape for Kirk Johnson/Vitali is baloney. Never once in his career did Lennox ever come in out of shape and looked flabby or soft. He always looked in optimum shape. The Rahman fight in South Africa he was undone by the altitude, he did not acclimatize to it by arriving a week before the fight, due to filming Oceans Eleven in Vegas. The altitude affected his breathing and that is probably the main reason why he lost to Rahman who arrived to S Africa a MONTH early to adapt to the altitude.