Why did Lennox Lewis not give Vitali Klitschko a rematch?

[The_Demon]

Lewis was past it.uninterested,no motivation

He retired off the back of a very good win,smart guy

[Jedi Vader]

He would've been 39 years old. Not very prime.
An "accidental" headbutt and a few heavy punches would've taken it to that eye.
Close fight, but Lewis was taking over, because of the cut.

How would everybody would've reacted if the fight went on an Lewis won by Points or a ko?

If the fight had gone on, the referee would've been on all fours picking up Vitali's eye that had fallen from his busted socket.

An old and poorly conditioned Lewis destroyed a prime Vitali's face.

Simple as that.

[Tiozzo]

There was no rematch because Lewis wanted Vitali's fans to talk about how Vitali was winning the fight forever so he could live off that reputation of giving a tough fight to Lewis instead of making a rematch happen and knock Vitali the **** out that time, ending all possible discussion. So you people should be thankful to Lewis.

Amen.

[EMACULATE]

Sorry but im one that thinks the fight shouldn't have been stopped because vitali was winning. He also was coming on strong. This is possibly the worst stoppage in history beside the Taylor Chavez stoppage. Lewis knew he couldnt get Vitali out of there and he might have been out of shape, but thats not Vitalis fault.

[Tiozzo]

Sorry but im one that thinks the fight shouldn't have been stopped because vitali was winning. He also was coming on strong. This is possibly the worst stoppage in history beside the Taylor Chavez stoppage. Lewis knew he couldnt get Vitali out of there and he might have been out of shape, but thats not Vitalis fault.

if the fight was not stopped, maybe Vitali would have won, but maybe it would have been the last fight of his career, cause he could have lost his eye

saying it was a bad stoppage is ignorance

[Motofan]

Lewis had a foot out the door at that point already. He didnt want to put the effort in to fight another tough, tough fight when he really wanted to call it a day. And I like both guys.

[maverock]

Honestly? He wanted to retire. Get ready for a 100 page thread.

Right after the fight with Vitali Lewis was giving interviews where he said he "feels he has a few more good fights left" and how he is in discussions with Roy Jones Jr.'s team about a fight.

Then he saw Vitali's destruction of Johnson and the WBC mandated an immediate rematch between Lennox and Vitali. Then we didn't hear a single word from Lennox' mouth for like 4 months. Then he retired one day before the WBC threatened to strip him of his belt.

If Lennox wanted to retire "anyways" then why didn't he announce it say 10 weeks after the Vitali fight? Why did he hold the division hostage for something like 12 months with his ridiculous games?

[Canadian Kid]

He knew he was getting out boxed. And knew he got lucky and cut vitali .....



He knew he was goin get whopped

[Jim Jeffries]

Nothing wrong with going out on top.

Lennox probably would've lost the rematch. Not because Vitali is a better fighter, just because he was younger and hungrier.

[maverock]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article871930.ece

Here are the exact quotes from Lewis and Steward from 2003:

Jones, the WBA champion, now seems to be Lewis’s long-term target. “We’ll just keep fighting guys until the big fight with Roy Jones comes up and I think it will happen eventually,” Emanuel Steward, Lewis’s trainer, said.

Lewis has said that he is looking to box on for another 12 months. “People are still crying out for Lennox Lewis,” he said. “I believe myself that I’ve still got one good year. There’s still some work that needs to be done and I’m the man for the job.”

Lewis had no intention of retiring until he learned he couldn't keep his WBC belt without fighting Vitali again. Like it or not, these are the facts.