Why Does Vitali Get More Credit for Losing to Lewis than Rahman Gets for Winning?

[Deathknight88]

Let's cut the bull****.

I was there. My uncle worked Lennox's camp. Lennox Lewis officially weight 257 on fight night. 257.

Except even that weight was false. It was 266.


266 Pounds Lennox is not out of shape? His peak was at 240ish. People have to understand that Lewis was done after Rahman I. He only won Rahman II because he was super motivated. He won against Tyson because Tyson was even more done. Vitali was in his prime and Lennox tko6 him. Get over it.

[Hitman932]

Lewis entered the ring regularly at 230 in the early to mid-90s.

And?

Wlad Klitschko regularly entered the ring in the 225 range early in his career. Now he comes in 245-250. Is he out of shape or past him prime because of it?

If he came in at 256 I wouldn't say "Oh my God look how fat and out of shape he is".


A 6'6 man can fluctuate 6 lbs from day to day.

[IMDAZED]

Let's cut the bull****.

I was there. My uncle worked Lennox's camp. Lennox Lewis officially weight 257 on fight night. 257.

Except even that weight was false. It was 266.


266 Pounds Lennox is not out of shape? His peak was at 240ish. People have to understand that Lewis was done after Rahman I. He only won Rahman II because he was super motivated. He won against Tyson because Tyson was even more done. Vitali was in his prime and Lennox tko6 him. Get over it.

Lewis was definitely past his prime when he met Tyson but he was in excellent, excellent condition for that bout. Lean, sleek and incredibly focused. A shame it was wasted on a shot Tyson, but Lewis deserved that big stage and big money as a fighter who was criminally underrated in his prime between 1996-1999.

[Deathknight88]

Lewis was definitely past his prime when he met Tyson but he was in excellent, excellent condition for that bout. Lean, sleek and incredibly focused. A shame it was wasted on a shot Tyson, but Lewis deserved that big stage and big money as a fighter who was criminally underrated in his prime between 1996-1999.

Excellent condition and motivated:

This is the chart of Lennox;

1990-94- Pre Prime. but still very elite. Ruddock was Peak

95-00- Prime with various peaks within that period. David Tua was the last fight that could realistically be counted as a Lennox Prime

Rahman I- Rahman II. I was past prime. II was past it as well, but he was extremely motivated and well trained.

Tyson- Past Prime. but extremely motivated and very well trained.

Vitali- way past prime, no motivation, badly trained.

It is what it is.

Lennox did lose in his PHYSICAL prime though, to Mccall. (Call was debatable)
Just like Wladimir lost in his physical prime to Sanders and Brewster.

[stefl14]

Although relatively inexperienced Vitali took Lennox to life and death match - something no one did before (maybe Holyfiled was the closest of doing so). I don't count 2 KOs..

He proved he is in the same league as the bests ever. He lost the fight but they were pretty much equal in that fight (lennox's words).

As for Rahman if he knew when to retire he would get much more credit for KOing Lennox.

This is horse ****. Vitali is so overrated by some people. Let me explain:

1) People say Vitali is one of the best punchers ever. These same people know nothing about boxing because Vitali is nothing more than an arm puncher. Wladimir is a good puncher but Vitali isn't. Lewis was shattered, doesn't have a particularly good chin and Vitali's clean shots were not doing anything, which proves he does not have one punch power by any standards.
2)People also say that Vitali has one of the best chins ever, which is also a load of **** as nobody but Lewis has ever tested it, and he was wobbled a few times by a tired Lewis in their fight.
3)People like yourself think that a relatively good performance against Lewis somehow puts him up there with the greats. Winning 4 rounds out of 6 does not mean that he would have won a 12 rounder. If anything Lewis was looking the better and was landing disgustingly hard punches on Vitali by the sixth (although Lewis looked tired too, giving further credit to the notion that he wasn't at his best).
4)People look at punch stat numbers and conclude that Vitali has a good defence. Well, I'm sorry to reveal that Vitali has an absolutely terrible defence; if he wasn't so tall people would see this. The reason people don't land much is because they suck or are way shorter and don't know how to get inside. When Vitali fought Lewis he got hit with 49% of Lewis' power punches, 43% of his jabs and 46% in total, and he got hit with many absolute bombs. Getting hit with that percentage of power shots in any circumstance proves that his defence is absolutely horrible when he fights somebody good/his own size.
5) People can say what they want, but Lewis clearly wasn't himself that night and wasn't in his prime either. Lewis had a history of avenging defeats and he should, in my opinion have avenged his poor performance against Vitali because Vitali is in fact very limited - the opposition just isn't there to show it.

[IMDAZED]

Excellent condition and motivated:

This is the chart of Lennox;

1990-94- Pre Prime. but still very elite. Ruddock was Peak

95-00- Prime with various peaks within that period. David Tua was the last fight that could realistically be counted as a Lennox Prime

Rahman I- Rahman II. I was past prime. II was past it as well, but he was extremely motivated and well trained.

Tyson- Past Prime. but extremely motivated and very well trained.

Vitali- way past prime, no motivation, badly trained.

It is what it is.

Lennox did lose in his PHYSICAL prime though, to Mccall. (Call was debatable)
Just like Wladimir lost in his physical prime to Sanders and Brewster.

He definitely wasn't in good condition against Vitali and I believe Vitali even said so during his post-fight interview. Still, Lewis had enough in the tank to bludgeon a future champ. And despite all the talk of Lewis being tired at the end of the fight, it was Vitali who looked worn; clinching at every opportunity and taking a methodical beating.

[Deathknight88]

He definitely wasn't in good condition against Vitali and I believe Vitali even said so during his post-fight interview. Still, Lewis had enough in the tank to bludgeon a future champ. And despite all the talk of Lewis being tired at the end of the fight, it was Vitali who looked worn; clinching at every opportunity and taking a methodical beating.

So this is the real question. I always wondered about this.

Because Vitali WAS the one looking tired at the end and Lewis WAS the one coming on at the end.

So have we been over rating Vitali? Or have we been under rating Lennox? Because if Prime Vitali can't handle a old out of shape Lewis... That speaks volumes on how well he could have done against the likes of Ali-Holmes etc...

Or was it simply a matter of the cut? Who knows. lol

[IronDanHamza]

This is a great question.

He probably get's more credit because of the rematch.

He shouldn't get any credit considering he lost the fight. Other than a great show of heart and being up on the cards against Lewis when the fight was stopped.

[TheBoxingBanger]

@ts

That's easy: Because Vitali was busting Lewis' face up steadily and just generally fighting him punch for punch.

.... Where as Hasim was getting beat by Lewis... then got caught by a punch from a big heavyweight, with heavyweight power and got KO'd.

.... That's why.

[Deathknight88]

This is horse ****. Vitali is so overrated by some people. Let me explain:

1) People say Vitali is one of the best punchers ever. These same people know nothing about boxing because Vitali is nothing more than an arm puncher. Wladimir is a good puncher but Vitali isn't. Lewis was shattered, doesn't have a particularly good chin and Vitali's clean shots were not doing anything, which proves he does not have one punch power by any standards.
2)People also say that Vitali has one of the best chins ever, which is also a load of **** as nobody but Lewis has ever tested it, and he was wobbled a few times by a tired Lewis in their fight.
3)People like yourself think that a relatively good performance against Lewis somehow puts him up there with the greats. Winning 4 rounds out of 6 does not mean that he would have won a 12 rounder. If anything Lewis was looking the better and was landing disgustingly hard punches on Vitali by the sixth (although Lewis looked tired too, giving further credit to the notion that he wasn't at his best).
4)People look at punch stat numbers and conclude that Vitali has a good defence. Well, I'm sorry to reveal that Vitali has an absolutely terrible defence; if he wasn't so tall people would see this. The reason people don't land much is because they suck or are way shorter and don't know how to get inside. When Vitali fought Lewis he got hit with 49% of Lewis' power punches, 43% of his jabs and 46% in total, and he got hit with many absolute bombs. Getting hit with that percentage of power shots in any circumstance proves that his defence is absolutely horrible when he fights somebody good/his own size.
5) People can say what they want, but Lewis clearly wasn't himself that night and wasn't in his prime either. Lewis had a history of avenging defeats and he should, in my opinion have avenged his poor performance against Vitali because Vitali is in fact very limited - the opposition just isn't there to show it.

Great read.

And Yes .. People rather glorify a lost than an actual win.. Vitali also avoided Rahman FOUR times in one year....Back when Rahman meant something.,