In response to the thread saying Rahman rans VK into retirement

[Bozo_no no]

i agree with what you say about his legacy, but im not the one that said lewis was in great shape at 38, he did, that statement came from his own mouth. So if you take what he said seriously, then he COULD have defended his title, he just didnt WANT to.

People say a lot of things in promoting a fight. His weight was at a career high in his last fight, and he looked realy dull. I don't believe he was in great shape based on what I saw.

[hollister]

His conditioning may not have been tip top, but alot of his dull performance (according to Bozo) had to do with fighting a guy taller than him, that gave up practically no weight or reach, and hit him back, fought to win. The only other really tall guy Lewis fought that I know of was Henry Akinwande, who didn't fight him at all. Henry was very intimidated by Lewis and never gave an honest effort to win the fight. Anyone that watched the Lewis-VK fight could see that Lewis was actually bending at the waist at times to jab, almost fighting out of a crouch. How many times can any of you recall seeing Lewis fight with that style?
IMO, Lewis may not have been in tip top shape, but to say that VK lost to an old, fat Lewis is just plain silly.

[Easy-E]

i agree with what you say about his legacy, but im not the one that said lewis was in great shape at 38, he did, that statement came from his own mouth. So if you take what he said seriously, then he COULD have defended his title, he just didnt WANT to.

he was in terrible shape against vitali though, and boxers always say things like
im in the best shape of my career, and ive never been better than i am now but its total nonsense
anyone who saw the vitali fight could tell that lewis was out of shape

[Moon]

Lewis went out like a *****, what kinda of person goes out with unfinished business left on the table, and was not forced out due to injury. Lewis himself said he COULD defend his title against Vitali, he just didnt want to.

.

Complete bull****, really.

Look at Vitali's accomplishments as Heavyweight Champion, at the time of his retirement. Now look at Lewis' accomplishments as Champion at the time of his retirement.

Is there any difference to you, Rasta? If you summarize Lewis' career as something less than Vitali's, you are missing something, including Lewis' defeat of Vitali.

Do you expect anyone to believe that Vitali "retired" Lewis? How? By ushering in a New Era in Heavyweight Boxing? He didn't do it.

Recall, Lewis retired as Champ fighting Vitali. Now there's Vitali retiring after fighting nobody.

Whos' the *****?

[Moon]

People say a lot of things in promoting a fight. His weight was at a career high in his last fight, and he looked realy dull. I don't believe he was in great shape based on what I saw.

Exactly. That version of Lewis was the same guy that was hammerd by McCall and Rahman. Why could't Vitali do the same? I figured Lewis was ripe for the taking.

[hollister]

There is no comparison between Lewis' and VK's careers, but Lewis had basically said time and again that there was nobody for him to fight and that's why he was going to retire. Clearly, a rematch was warranted between VK and Lewis, but Lewis thought it to be too risky to fight VK again and retired instead. Lewis retired only after making excuses about VK's eye not being ready, and when VK provided proof that a doctor had declared him fit to fight, demanding that VK see Lewis' doctor, and after HIS doctor saying that VK was OK to fight. Through Lewis' actions, one can easily see that Lewis didn't just want to say "I don't want to fight him again, I don't want to fight anymore at all", he wanted to blame his retirement on someone else, and fessed up only when all his other excuses had fallen through. The two fighters' careers really share no similarities, with exception of the fact that they both wanted to retire as champ, and both simply beat the sanctioning bodies to the punch before they could be stripped.

[Moon]

The two fighters' careers really share no similarities......

Very quotable.