did Vitali Klitschko effort against lewis convince lennox to retire?

[rightsideup]

I say yes but only lennox knows for sure. What do you people think?

[Scott9945]

There were rumors of Lewis retiring soon before that fight. His legs were going and no big money fights on the horizon. If anything, a nice payoff in a Klitschko rematch made it harder for Lennox to retire, imo.

[THE REED]

Only here to see Scotts new avi

[Scott9945]

Only here to see Scotts new avi

I have over 500 of them now

[CarlosG815]

From what I saw Lewis dominated from the 3rd (or so) round on. What reason would that have given him to retire? He destroyed Vitali.

[Ray Corso]

Maybe he thought the division was ready to go into the crapper and he didn't want to go with it? That makes sense, because it did thanks to the Klitz. Bros who had and have NO Personalities to promote themselves or more importantly the sport. Lenox wasn't very good at it either!! Ray.

[Scott9945]

Maybe he thought the division was ready to go into the crapper and he didn't want to go with it? That makes sense, because it did thanks to the Klitz. Bros who had and have NO Personalities to promote themselves or more importantly the sport. Lenox wasn't very good at it either!! Ray.

If you consider boxing on a worldwide scale, the K brothers have been a huge success. They generate more interest in boxing internationally. They own their own promotional company that makes them giant paydays with large crowds every time they fight, so I guess they can promote themselves much better than you give them credit for. You may want to consider watching the documentary on HBO about them.

And if you think for a minute that Lewis cared about the division going into the crapper rather than how much money he could make, you don't know anything about Lennox Lewis. This is the same guy who allowed the heavyweight title to be fractured by refusing to fight Don King fighters (Ruiz, Byrd).

[Sugarj]

There appears to be quite a split of opinion about Lewis's fight with Vitali. But two things are fact and beyond argument:

1) All three judges had Vitali 2 points up at the point of stoppage.

2) That was the worst Lennox Lewis ever to step into the ring. Even worse than Rahman 1!!

Lennox is a very bright chap. He'd have watched the video and will have considered whether he had the motivation to get himself into the sort of shape that he was in for Rahman 2. Manny Steward wanted the rematch, Lewis didn't. A very wise move in my book!!

[BennyST]

When you're at the end and tired of fighting and have climbed the mountain many times and achieved everything you set out to and more, as well as being on top for as long as he was, it's hard, if not impossible, to get up again against someone that you had just beaten by TKO while at your career worst. he would have had no motivation whatsoever to fight the same guy he had just legitimately beaten by TKO.

Lewis wisely chose to step away with everything at the top. Vitali wasn't really a factor apart from being the guy he had just beaten. Lewis isn't going to be scared or worried about a guy he had just stopped while at his worst ever. He just smartly realised he was done with boxing and had nothing left to give.

[elfag]

He was offered record amounts for the rematch and wanted none of it. He couldnt face anyone other than a Vitali rematch if he continued fighting because the criticism would be too great. It was the hardest fight of his career and so he chose to retire rather than the rematch. Nobody wants to admit it, they act like its a bad thing but its a very smart thing because too many guys like RJJ, Hearns and Holyfield dont know when to quit. Now Vitali at 42 is nearing the same position that Lennox was in. Haye cant wait to fight vitali now that he looks like crap when he backed out of fights that were already setup before and no mention of avenging his loss against the younger more capable wladimir.