Comments Thread For: Wladimir, Vitali Klitschko Call David Haye The First Choice

[Steelhammer2011]

You're a guy who's written in over 2.5 thousand letters, so you yould know that in the interests o truth and accuracy, you should stick to the facts, and not tell fairy tales.

1) Lewis had 5 fights in the 2.5 years befure he retired- 4 fights in the 2 years before retiremant-3 fights in the 1.5 years before retirement and 2 fights in the 1 year before retirement.

They were some of his best wins, starting with his overwhelming win over a prime David Tua, including his losing and winning fights against Rahman, Tyson etc.

Klitschko's "eye" was not touched in the fight, his eyebrow was cut, but contained, and did not hinder him. The doctor was either a fool, or, as has been said, may have bet on Lewis.

A rematch would have been the biggest heavyweight fight for the past 20 years, and Lewis knew well how to extort more cash from the promoters.

All the evidence points towards Lewis scurrying into retirement rather than face Klitschko again.

1) The antagonistic lack of credit given to his opponent in the after-fight interview, when Lewis was still shaking from his narrow escape.
2) The wild statements he was making that Klitschko wouldn't be able to give him a good fight and the fans would be deprived.......
3) The outrageous and demeaning public demands he made on Klitschko neccessitating Klitschko's pilgrimage to London England, to be "examined" by Lewis's own doctor, to make asure his "eye" would be in fit condition to give HIM< Lewis, a good fight....with which Klitschko meekly complied.
4) Lewis's refusal to honour the December return fight date.
5) Klitschko's annihilation of Lewis's original opponent, for whom Klitschko subbed at 10 days notice, the 30-1 Kirk Johnson..........which led to.........
5) Lewis's further "dragging-his-feet" culminating in his final refusal to face Klitschko and retiring in March (or April) 2004.

And as "icing on the cake" which I give you as a bonus, the many times that Lewis contacted Klitschko's subsequent opponents with advice on how to beat Klitschko.

None of which advice, unfortunately, was successful.

Excellent post!

[WladIsTheChamp]

I was 100% sure you would come back with this, but bottom line is, he fought Vitali in the end, he accepted that fight, so it means he wanted a good challenge, and Byrd wouldn't have given it to him

come on are you ******ed to the point you believe Lewis feared Byrd ???

I call them as I see them, it's you who is blinded by hate for the Klitschkos to the point of ******ation. (Evidenced by your videos of Lennox and Corrie against Vitaly's worst moments, I could pick 5 second clips of any fighter that way and make them look like ****. That inlcudes Ali, Lewis, Tyson, or any other fighter.) How do you know Byrd wouldn't have given him a good challenge? Fact: Lewis dropped a belt so he would not have to face Byrd before he even knew he would fight a Klitschko. He chose to fight Kirk Johnson, an unproven prospect rather than face a former champ who was still in his prime in Byrd. Those are all facts, now you can speculate as to the reasons behind it but to me, it shows a character flaw in Lennox. First this and then him breaking a promise to Vitaly and retiring instead.

[knn]

1) The antagonistic lack of credit given to his opponent in the after-fight interview, when Lewis was still shaking from his narrow escape.
2) The wild statements he was making that Klitschko wouldn't be able to give him a good fight and the fans would be deprived.......
3) The outrageous and demeaning public demands he made on Klitschko neccessitating Klitschko's pilgrimage to London England, to be "examined" by Lewis's own doctor, to make asure his "eye" would be in fit condition to give HIM< Lewis, a good fight....with which Klitschko meekly complied.
4) Lewis's refusal to honour the December return fight date.
5) Klitschko's annihilation of Lewis's original opponent, for whom Klitschko subbed at 10 days notice, the 30-1 Kirk Johnson..........which led to.........
5) Lewis's further "dragging-his-feet" culminating in his final refusal to face Klitschko and retiring in March (or April) 2004.

You forget 1 thing:
Vitali and Lewis met to negotiate a rematch.

Lennox came with his mom.

Vitali claimed that Lewis' mom talked his son out of a rematch:

Plans for an eagerly anticipated rematch never materialised, with Klitschko yesterday offering an interesting explanation for why that was the case. "Lennox promised me but his mum decided he wasn't going to fight," said the 38-year-old ahead of the Laureus World Sports Awards in Abu Dhabi. "He invited me to London, without managers. He said he wanted to talk just together. I came to the room and his mum is there. We talked for two hours and his mum was looking at me and scanning me.
"After that I went away and he called me a couple of hours later and said, 'Sorry, but no'. I felt it wasn't his decision, his mum decided. I tried to change his decision, but it's difficult.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010...nnox-lewis-mum

[guru]

lewis/VK 2 was the biggest fight in the division at the time. a fortune would have been made on it but lewis chose to retire becuz it would have been very difficult fight for him. if it was easy he woulda done the rematch instead of retire

[Squirrel]

Excellent post!

****ing typical.

[ChopperRead]

I call them as I see them, it's you who is blinded by hate for the Klitschkos to the point of ******ation. (Evidenced by your videos of Lennox and Corrie against Vitaly's worst moments, I could pick 5 second clips of any fighter that way and make them look like ****. That inlcudes Ali, Lewis, Tyson, or any other fighter.) How do you know Byrd wouldn't have given him a good challenge? Fact: Lewis dropped a belt so he would not have to face Byrd before he even knew he would fight a Klitschko. He chose to fight Kirk Johnson, an unproven prospect rather than face a former champ who was still in his prime in Byrd. Those are all facts, now you can speculate as to the reasons behind it but to me, it shows a character flaw in Lennox. First this and then him breaking a promise to Vitaly and retiring instead.

Yeah, I don't know what he thinks he is proving with that stuff. That Corrie Sanders and Lennox Lewis could punch? We knew that already. As for Lewis, he was always seen to be flawed when he was still fighting, and was unpopular in the US to the point where the relatively unknown Vitali was the crowd favorite against him. Even the Brits called him a Canadian and never really accepted him as one of their own until he was almost finished fighting. Since Lewis's retirement his flaws have been forgotten by many and he has gone from underrated to almost overrated now. He was a great heavyweight, but hardly perfect.

[Steelhammer2011]

****ing typical.