Boxing Writer wrote:jamesmcdonnell wrote:Boxing Writer wrote:
Yes, but I can compare Wlad to Lewis here. Lewis looked good against big guys other than Vitali and Wlad looked good too against all his big opponents other than Fury. Both Lewis (37 y.o.) and Wlad (39 y.o.) were slowing down, both were still very good but not in their "prime" anymore and both struggled badly rather because of the opponent's style than his size. The only difference there is that Lewis had balls to turn Vitali fight into brawl and Wlad wanted to stay safe until the last minute of the fight. A lot of people are saying that Lewis got lucky against Vitali, but hey, if he wasn't throwing punches (like Wlad against Fury) he wouldn't cut his face.
Yes, when Lewis saw plan a wasn't panning out - he thought 'right, balls to the wall, I'm going to muller this bredder' - and he did. For all the talk about how well Vitali was doing, Lewis walked through his best shots, and started roughing his man up. It could have ended badly for Lewis, as he took quite a few shots on the way in to get into range and start hurting Vitali, but he was prepared to take that risk.
I'd say the size of both Vitali and Fury were significant however, as neither man could have executed such a strategy without having the height and reach to do so - Vitali was throwing lots of straight shots from range, which nullified Lewis' jab, and Fury used his reach advantage to move around the ring potshotting and unsettling Wlad - in both cases the height and reach were a factor, though not the only factor.
Wlad, is not Lewis, and seemingly preferred to accept his fate, barring a late rounds miracle, rather than get his arse kicked.
For what it's worth, I think Lewis would have eaten Wlad alive.
I think Lewis played a very risky game against Vitali and mostly not because he got hit a lot in the process since Vitali, unlike his brother, never was a huge puncher. The main risk for Lewis was losing his energy. Vitaly looked tired after round 6, but Lewis looked completely exhausted. He spent so much energy, that he collapsed to his stool like a sack of potatoes after round 6. I think 2 more rounds and Lewis would be barely able to stand because of lack of stamina. Lewis basically put all eggs to one basket, and he proved to be right at the end. I think people are still underrating Lewis' heart, because he wasn't risking in many of his fights. But he didn't took many risks in the fights he was winning. When he needed to step up and fight/brawl, he wasn't afraid to do that (against Vitali, against Mercer).
Yes, he indeed look shattered. I think he underprepared for that fight. If you recall he was due to face human water balloon kirk Johnson, and instead took on lean, mean and very hungry (though possibly not as literally hungry Johnson) Vitali, at short notice too.
I think he realised early he was maybe not going to have the stamina to live with Vitali in a high paced fight, and realised he was losing the rounds, so opted to go out there and eff him up.
I think he was hurting Vitali, who did have an excellent chin (never down as amateur or pro fighter I thought) - and it was looking like a race between Lewis stamina, and Vitali's chin.
I remember watching that in a snooker hall screaming 'f++K him up Len, mash him up!' Whilst spilling beer everywhere and leaping around - it wasn't the most genteel of crowds, but they looked pretty surprised when I started jumping around like Jehosephath
