Lennox Lewis

[BattlingNelson]

Lennox was also preparing for a different opponent, Kirk Johnson i believe, who was a far lesser fighter. Lennox looked more like the fattest man on the planet that night and the difference in motivation for each fighter was big.

I'm well aware that lummox had ducked Vitali, who had been a mandatory for more than a year. Suddenly Johnson gets injured and lummox sees the chance to get rid of vitali by giving him an offer as a late-replacement whereby klit hasn't got any time to prepare for a championship fight, while he, lummox, has just concluded a tough camp.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Fattest man on the planet?



Alright, where's my boots?

An exaggeration but he was out of shape. Calling him "the baddest man on the planet" that night was also an exaggeration though.

[Pullcounter]

A cuts stoppage when behind on points is controversial per definition.

that's not controversial. it's called a stoppage aka tKO.

The fair thing to do was to give an immidiate rematch like lummox actually promised.

He didn't.

why? lewis was on his way out and he already whupped vitaly.

[Shazam!]

A lot of people say Lewis was in his prime later in his career. This is a myth. He was merely ducked.

Ducked by Bowe.

Ducked by Tyson.

The Lewis who embarassed Bowe in 88 and KTFO Ruddock in 92 was a lot sharper and a devastating puncher.

If he was American or had he lived in America I believe he would have had more chances at an earlier age.

[cashdon]

Lewis was a skilled boxer couple that with his size and power he would have been dangerous in ANY era. After he beat Mike Tyson which was very big on his to do list once he became champ mentally he was no longer all there as a fighter. He lost that hunger and Steward has remarked that he no longer wanted to do the necessary training. At that point he was just fighting for the money at that point. People tend to either forget or overlook the fact that Lewis was scheduled to fight some non threatening "contender" (can't remember the name) who pulled out with an injury when he accepted the fight with Vitali. He didn't have to accept the fight but he did. Now granted he should have been in shape regardless of who he was fighting but most people would not train as hard for someone who they know poses no threat. Even with him being out of shape he absolutely dismantled Vitali's face and hit him with an uppercut that I am still not sure how Vitali wasn't either beheaded or not a vegetable right now. I think he realized after that fight that he was lucky to get the win and that his heart wasn't in it anymore. He suffers from not being the "legendary" Mike Tyson or American and if not for the completely pathetic heavyweight landscape right now he would be even less appreciated than he is right now.

[BattlingNelson]

that's not controversial. it's called a stoppage aka tKO.

why? lewis was on his way out and he already whupped vitaly.

You just might be the first poster to say that the fight didn't have a controversial ending.

Why? Because of the controversy and because lummox promised him a rematch, before finally putting his tail behind his legs.

[Jim Jeffries]

A lot of people say Lewis was in his prime later in his career. This is a myth. He was merely ducked.

Ducked by Bowe.

Ducked by Tyson.

The Lewis who embarassed Bowe in 88 and KTFO Ruddock in 92 was a lot sharper and a devastating puncher.

If he was American or had he lived in America I believe he would have had more chances at an earlier age.

So he was knocked out in the 2nd round, in his prime, by a second rate journeyman?

I, and most other people, think his prime came after working with Steward for a couple years.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

I'm well aware that lummox had ducked Vitali, who had been a mandatory for more than a year. Suddenly Johnson gets injured and lummox sees the chance to get rid of vitali by giving him an offer as a late-replacement whereby klit hasn't got any time to prepare for a championship fight, while he, lummox, has just concluded a tough camp.

Please....Lennox had cleaned out the entire division and didnt need to prove anything by coming back. No one saw Vitali as a threat, including Lennox, who thought he was just a cowardly Russian who quit against Chris Byrd. He was certainly not seen as anything to be "ducked".

[Dirk Diggler UK]

You just might be the first poster to say that the fight didn't have a controversial ending.

Why? Because of the controversy and because lummox promised him a rematch, before finally putting his tail behind his legs.

The only person the rematch would have benefitted was Lennox, should he have won. It wouldve been a 2nd victory over Vitali and further confirmation of his already established greatness.

Vitali wins and he just beat an old, unmotivated Lewis.

[Shazam!]

Just digressing from Vitali a moment (I'm happy to go back to it after) and looking at Lennox's career as a whole....Another key point which I haven't heard discussed. In fact, you never hear it discussed is this:

Foreign (by this I mean not American) fighters have to go to America and fight away from home, against predominantly American crowds and, sometimes, bias judging (see Lewis vs Holyfield 1).

It takes incredible balls to keep going in to the lion's den and doing the business.

That's what Lewis did his whole career.

Imagine Floyd Mayweather going over to Europe every time he fought. A tougher proposition don't ya think?