In 1993, was there a bigger fight than Lewis vs Bowe?

[joseph5620]

Because he didn't fight Vitali until Johnson pulled out with short notice. And he retired soon after (despite being offered insane amounts of money.) I choose not to believe that he retired because of Vitali. Are you saying he did?

What I'm saying is he fought Vitali when he didn't have to. That's a fact. Whether he would have retired(or anything else) and not fought Vitali had Johnson not pulled out is speculation. It's also a fact that Vitali had been preparing for Lewis before the fight was even signed. So apparently Lewis did have plans to fight Vitali.

[Joeyzagz]

It would've been nice to see Lennox fight Bowe, Foreman, Ruiz, Byrd and W.Klitschko. Had Kirk Johnson not pulled out, Lewis would've retired without fighting either Klitschko, despite Wlad calling him out in Mar, 2001. And a rematch with Mercer would've been nice as well.

Why stop at those names?

To add to your list, I think Lennox shouldve fought

-Monte Barett
-Davyrell Williamson
-Oleg Maskaev
-Nikolai Valuev
-David Haye,
-Randy Coutoure,
-Brock Lesnar,
-Larry Holmes,
-Muhammad Ali(PRIME)
-Butterbean

Along with hundreds of other fighters that he ducked.

Lennox shouldve fought every registered boxer from 1990-2011 and given them all rematches in case he got lucky.

[Jim Jeffries]

What I'm saying is he fought Vitali when he didn't have to. That's a fact. Whether he would have retired(or anything else) had Johnson not pulled out is speculation.

There are only two options. Either he was ready to retire right after Johnson (great career, nothing else to prove, starting to slip physically, etc) or Vitali made him retire. Nothing speculative about it.

Had he beaten Johnson easily though he may have chosen to fight either K bro. Its a possibility that can't just be written off in my opinion.

That would fall under the "Vitali made him retire" option.

[joseph5620]

There are only two options. Either he was ready to retire right after Johnson (great career, nothing else to prove, starting to slip physically, etc) or Vitali made him retire. Nothing speculative about it.



That would fall under the "Vitali made him retire" option.

No it wouldn't. If he wanted to avoid Vitali from fear(as you implied) he wouldn't have fought him in the first place on short notice. He could have retired after Johnson pulled out or avoided Vitali completely. Nothing speculative about that.

[JAB5239]

There are only two options. Either he was ready to retire right after Johnson (great career, nothing else to prove, starting to slip physically, etc) or Vitali made him retire. Nothing speculative about it.



That would fall under the "Vitali made him retire" option.

Choosing to retire is not being made to retire. Be made implies he had no choice in the matter, when the fact is he chose to go out on top after winning a tough hard fight over a hungry, younger fighter. No shame in that.

[Jim Jeffries]

No it wouldn't. If he wanted to avoid Vitali from fear(as you implied) he wouldn't have fought him in the first place on short notice. He could have retired after Johnson pulled out or avoided Vitali completely. Nothing speculative about that.

Not fear necessarily, just risky fights that didn't offer Tyson like money (like Byrd, Ruiz, Wladimir, etc.) What were his other options for a respectable title defense on such short notice?

Choosing to retire is not being made to retire. Be made implies he had no choice in the matter, when the fact is he chose to go out on top after winning a tough hard fight over a hungry, younger fighter. No shame in that.

I'm not implying there was any shame in retiring when he did. It pains me to see fighters go on too long past their best. You're saying he could've gone on fighting Johnson (or shot Tyson) type opponents till he faced someone like Vitali, then retired. Which is perfectly logical speculation.

[JAB5239]

No it wouldn't. If he wanted to avoid Vitali from fear(as you implied) he wouldn't have fought him in the first place on short notice. He could have retired after Johnson pulled out or avoided Vitali completely. Nothing speculative about that.

...Exactly!!

[joseph5620]

Not fear necessarily, just risky fights that didn't offer Tyson like money (like Byrd, Ruiz, Wladimir, etc.) What were his other options for a respectable title defense on such short notice?

An easier fight that he could have made if he truly didn't want to fight Klitschko. I'm sure there are a number of fighters that would have taken it.

[Jim Jeffries]

...Exactly!!

As Lennox neared the end of his career (his final 2 years,) he fought 3 fights. First he avenged his (only unavenged) loss, secured a big money fight with Tyson and (after more than a year) was scheduled to fight what I can only guess was a mandatory. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that he still felt like he had something to prove, like clearing out the division, or even fighting the best guy out there (or high risk low reward fighters like the 4 I mentioned.)

I'm not knocking him, I'd have done the same. He had earned the right to fight (a rather meaningless at that point) Tyson for a huge payday. And after that I probably wouldn't have fought young, hungry, low reward (save a unification with Wlad) fighters like the Klitschkos. They certainly didn't have the stature that they enjoy today, though in retrospect would've (and did, in the case of Vitali) add to his legacy.

[BigStereotype]

Ok, then no. Nothing bigger than Bowe-Lewis that springs to mind.