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

[sonnyboyx2]

It doesn't because you're using two completely different time periods to prove your point. The issue was the fight after Johnson pulled out. One doesn't have anything to do with the other. And Lewis would NOT have been stripped if he didn't fight Vitali on 2 weeks notice so you need to stop with that.

ha ha ha... yeah i need to stop it alright, you just cannot admit when you have been proved wrong, i provided a newspaper link and Ironmike provided a newspaper link yet you claim i am using two different dates... just admit that your wrong instead of tying yourself in knots mate.. Lewis pulled out of a fight with Vitali Klitschko which was scheduled for March 8th 2003, the WBC told Lewis he had to fight Vitali after his fight with Kirk Johnson once Lewis had signed to meet Johnson who then tears a pectoral muscle and has to pull out of the fight... The plan was for Lewis to meet Vitali in December on PPV but Lewis was left without an opponent once Johnson pulled out and Lewis could not fight any other opponent other than Vitali or be stripped of his belt, so the December bout with Vitali was brought forward because Lewis was in fantastic shape by all accounts and did not want to relax and start again in a build-up to a december fight.... There is nothing difficult to get your head around about that ffs

[joseph5620]

ha ha ha... yeah i need to stop it alright, you just cannot admit when you have been proved wrong, i provided a newspaper link and Ironmike provided a newspaper link yet you claim i am using two different dates... just admit that your wrong instead of tying yourself in knots mate.. Lewis pulled out of a fight with Vitali Klitschko which was scheduled for March 8th 2003, the WBC told Lewis he had to fight Vitali after his fight with Kirk Johnson once Lewis had signed to meet Johnson who then tears a pectoral muscle and has to pull out of the fight... The plan was for Lewis to meet Vitali in December on PPV but Lewis was left without an opponent once Johnson pulled out and Lewis could not fight any other opponent other than Vitali or be stripped of his belt, so the December bout with Vitali was brought forward because Lewis was in fantastic shape by all accounts and did not want to relax and start again in a build-up to a december fight.... There is nothing difficult to get your head around about that ffs

Sonny...point out where it says Lewis would have been stripped if he didn't take a fight with Vitali on short notice. I'll wait. What Ironmike posted actually disproves everything you're saying. Don't pretend like it supports your argument in any way. It doesnt. Where does it say "Lewis will be stripped if he doesn't replace Johnson with Vitali." Again I'll wait...


After HBO sweetened his deal considerably, heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis decided yesterday to make his mandatory World Boxing Council title defense against No. 1 contender Vitali Klitschko at the Staples Center in Los Angeles June 21.

"It was going to be his next fight anyway. He just moved up the schedule," said Gary Shaw, who co-promotes Lewis. "Lennox has trained very hard. He didn't want to do all that hard work in vain. It leaves open the possibility of doing a bigger fight in the future."

That bigger fight could be against WBA champ Roy Jones Jr., who is negotiating to meet former champ Evander Holyfield in November at the Garden.

When Kirk Johnson tore his left pectoral muscle in sparring Wednesday and pulled out of the fight on Friday, Lewis' representatives tried to salvage the show. They zeroed in on Klitschko as the most logical choice. But they had to convince Lewis to take the fight early because the Dec. 6 fight was supposed to be on pay-per-view and his pay would be reduced by fighting Klitschko on HBO.



Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, bumped up Lewis' purse for the fight. "It's the largest rights fee HBO has ever paid for a boxing match," said a member of Lewis' camp, who wouldn't divulge the figure.

Greenburg was on vacation and couldn't be reached for comment.

[GJC]

you are and always have been a huge Lewis fan so dont try to hide it GJC... what you cant handle about me when i discuss Lewis is that you know i am correct but cannot find a single link on the entire internet to prove what i have always said as wrong......

Rid**** Bowe was the man who beat the man... Holmes, Ali, Charles, Louis, Foreman and many others had belts taken from them by alphabet organizations but the public still knew that they was the real champion.. so are you saying those champions are also liars

Personally I wasn't I big fan of Lewis and like I said I rate him out of my top 10. I and many others have pointed out the double standards and illogic you use for Lewis but you have your opinion and I applaud you for sticking with it. That said have you heard the phrase if 30 people tell you you're dead, lie down?

[sonnyboyx2]

Personally I wasn't I big fan of Lewis and like I said I rate him out of my top 10. I and many others have pointed out the double standards and illogic you use for Lewis but you have your opinion and I applaud you for sticking with it. That said have you heard the phrase if 30 people tell you you're dead, lie down?

no... never heard that phrase before do you have a link?

[sonnyboyx2]

Sonny...point out where it says Lewis would have been stripped if he didn't take a fight with Vitali on short notice. I'll wait. What Ironmike posted actually disproves everything you're saying. Don't pretend like it supports your argumant in any way. It doesnt. Where does it say "Lewis will be stripped if he doesn't replace Johnson with Vitali." Again I'll wait...


After HBO sweetened his deal considerably, heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis decided yesterday to make his mandatory World Boxing Council title defense against No. 1 contender Vitali Klitschko at the Staples Center in Los Angeles June 21.

"It was going to be his next fight anyway. He just moved up the schedule," said Gary Shaw, who co-promotes Lewis. "Lennox has trained very hard. He didn't want to do all that hard work in vain. It leaves open the possibility of doing a bigger fight in the future."

That bigger fight could be against WBA champ Roy Jones Jr., who is negotiating to meet former champ Evander Holyfield in November at the Garden.

When Kirk Johnson tore his left pectoral muscle in sparring Wednesday and pulled out of the fight on Friday, Lewis' representatives tried to salvage the show. They zeroed in on Klitschko as the most logical choice. But they had to convince Lewis to take the fight early because the Dec. 6 fight was supposed to be on pay-per-view and his pay would be reduced by fighting Klitschko on HBO.



Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, bumped up Lewis' purse for the fight. "It's the largest rights fee HBO has ever paid for a boxing match," said a member of Lewis' camp, who wouldn't divulge the figure.

Greenburg was on vacation and couldn't be reached for comment.

Hope i have not kept you waiting too long mate, i was under the impression from your posts that you guys in the USA did not need guys from the UK to tell you about Lennox Lewis because Lewis was all the rage in the USA and his face was plastered on every newspaper & TV screen with you guys knowing everything there is to know about the guy...obviously that is not the case so once again i will fill you in on one or two facts about Lennox which you did not know about and have kindly asked me to let you know about...

Vitali Klitschko was the official No1 contender for Lewis WBC title with Lewis mandatory defence against Vitali proposed for March 8th 2003

Lewis backed out of fighting Vitali on 8th March so that he could have a voluntary fight against Canada's Kirk Johnson BUT Lewis WBC title would not be on the line and Lewis could not take the WBC belt into the ring for the Johnson fight he could only fight for the lowly regarded IBO belt.

The WBC had insisted that Lewis must make his mandatory defence against their No1 contender within 6 months of the Johnson fight, so Lewis agreed to face Vitali in December 2003.

Kirk Johnson pulled out of his IBO Heavyweight bout with Lennox Lewis due to injury, so Lewis brought forward his WBC Heavyweight mandatory defence against Vitali Klitschko which was scheduled for December bringing it forward to replaced the Johnson fight.

reason Lewis could not take his WBC belt into the ring against Johnson was: "he had to fight his mandatory next" Lewis had already taken a fight against Mike Tyson who was not the WBC mandatory so had to fight Vitali within the time limit or be stripped (check out WBC rules)..

http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2003/0425/tysonm.html

Hope i have enlightened you on the matter because i know from past history that Lennox Lewis was not well know to you USA boxing fans but if you drop us UK fans a line i am sure we can sort you out with the info you require....

[Scott9945]

The reason that Lewis and Vitali fought each other on short notice is simple. They had both had almost a full training camp and simply wanted to get paid. Nothing annoys a fighter more than having trained for free. HBO wanted to keep the date and I'm sure sweetened the deal. Ticket sales for the Lewis-Johnson match were dismal. When Vitali got the match instead, there was tremendous "walk up" business the night of the fight from the large Russian/Ukranian community in LA. I know this because I was at the Staples Center that night. Any other accounts of why this match was made are just reaching to fit an agenda.

[JAB5239]

i am from the UK not the USA and Lewis is English yet you are speaking for us Brits... The Lewis camp dragged their feet not wanting to risk a fight against Rid**** Bowe who looked awesome in winning the title from Holyfield.. TV pundit Barry McGuigan & IBHOF commentator Reg Gutteridge both felt Lewis stood little chance against Bowe and voiced that opinion on the TV.. Lewis took a belt out of the bin and struggled defending it against washed-up opposition while Bowe was introduced as THEE Heavyweight Champion of the World in his fights against Ferguson, Dokes & Holyfield.. Lewis had no recognition so had to fight on a Don King bonanza bill which included Julio Cesar Chavez & Julian Jackson vs Gerald McClelland.. Rid**** Bowe was the man who beat the man...is Bowe telling lies in your opinion in this video

Im not speaking for the Brits. You said Lewis was only known in the UK and Canada. That is a false statement. You want us to believe Dokes and Ferguson were decent comp though neither were rated by The Ring but would have us believe Tucker (who was rated) and Bruno (a former and future titlist) were not in comparison. The bottom line is Lewis was the number 1 ranked heavy in the world and whether or not anyone though he or Bowe would win it was the biggest heavyweight fight that SHOULD have happened. You like to say things like "Lewis took a belt outn of the bin", but fail to recognize that wouldn't have happened had Bowe manned up and fought him.

[JAB5239]

no... never heard that phrase before do you have a link?

I have a link showing Lewis was not only the number 1 contender by the WBC, but also by The Ring. You like to say Lewis ducked Byrd and Ruiz, neither who were ever rated 1 by The Ring. Why does that logic pertain in one case but not the other?

[Joeyzagz]

The fact Lennox was inactive for an entire year proves he lost passion for boxing long before his 2004 retirement. Apart from his vendetta against Tyson, there really wasnt any motivation to continue.

He had the heart and insane skills of a fighter, but had lost the hunger for it. To say he feared any boxer is laughable.

[sonnyboyx2]

Im not speaking for the Brits. You said Lewis was only known in the UK and Canada. That is a false statement. You want us to believe Dokes and Ferguson were decent comp though neither were rated by The Ring but would have us believe Tucker (who was rated) and Bruno (a former and future titlist) were not in comparison. The bottom line is Lewis was the number 1 ranked heavy in the world and whether or not anyone though he or Bowe would win it was the biggest heavyweight fight that SHOULD have happened. You like to say things like "Lewis took a belt outn of the bin", but fail to recognize that wouldn't have happened had Bowe manned up and fought him.

Ring ****zine ratings are not official sanctioning bodies and they are meaningless when it comes to how governing bodies make and set their official ratings... How about Boxing News ratings or Boxing Illustrated ratings maybe we should use them in ranking fighters.... The bottom line with you JAB is that you cannot accept that Lewis is guilty of exactly the same offense as Rid**** Bowe in that they both dumped belts to avoid the No1 contender but Lewis done it Twice... and you will argue too you are blue in the face that Lewis avoiding was "Different & Correct" and that Bowe was just afraid, yet the truth is that they are both as guilty as each other and should be equally condemned for it.