BoxRec

I recently rewatched this fight, and outside of the heat of the moment, I now have a very different opinion of what transpired.

Although Lewis looked poor at times during the fight, he never looked in any real danger in the fight. His balance made things look far worse than they were, and he looked calm and composed throughout.

Even without that Cut, Lewis looked to me like he would go on to win, Vitali looked far more tired at the end of the fight to me, and Lewis was really starting to lay some big punches on him.

Vitali's own shots never really troubled Lewis, and Lewis slipped and blocked a lot more than appeared on first viewing.

Lewis had found his range by the 4th round, and eventually on the evidence of what was transpiring, would have broken Vitali down and stopped him.

That was pretty much my opinion at the time James. I was a tad concerned with Lewis's stamina but Vitali looked to be fading fast, and that enormous uppercut Lewis landed and the cut would surely have only contributed to Klits imminent demise.

gotta agree guys, and i know Kilburn does from past discussions with him. Lewis caught Vitali with a peach of a shot that transpired to be the last of the fight.... I dont think Vitali had much left and lewis could have grinded out another few rounds to finish him... I think the cut was a blessing for him really as he can forever say Lewis didnt beat him fairly.... which he may well believe himself.

Yes a short right hook to the temple with about 10 seconds left really shook Vitali, drawing gasps from the crowd. So many people jumped on Lewis afterwards as though they expected him to say he felt he was going to lose that fight even though he was having the best of it at the end.

Kinda hard to defend when you can't see for shit.

Proper stoppage even though Vitali would have gone to 12, but to say that Lewis would win for sure w/o the cut is just plain biased opinion.

I think Lewis was geniunally hurt, but I think Vitali power was waning also from the fourth round.

Lewis really hurt him badly with seconds to go in that 6th round, the 7th would have been interesting and perhaps the telling round as to how it was going. Lewis had used up alot of energy too in that round.

I would probably say Lewis would have KO'd him in the 8th.

What was really surprising to me though, was that Lewis was actually boxing much better than I recall. Vitali made him look disorganised at times, but Lewis was ducking and riding so many of those shots, and really Vitali only landed a few flush shots. The jab was pecking away, but as soon as Lewis got his own jab going, it was no contest.

However, I still think Lewis would do well to stay retired. Vitali has improved, and Lewis won't be able to improve on that performance barring some incredible miracle in the gym.

Lennox jab was really stopping Vitali in his tracks on occasion..... probably the most effective i have ever seen it

Yes I think it's reminiscent of the 2nd fight with Rahman. It's amazing that his jab was enough to drive someone that size back. Vitali looked quite intimidated by Lewis' power.

you can watch round 2 here:

http://www.geocities.com/chesschan3/

On a seperate note, does anyone think Lewis' stoppage against McCall was premature?

From memory he didn't look any worse than David Haye when he got up from the Mock knockdown (Haye of course came back to win), but the ref waved it off right away with Lewis, who was up and on his feet despite looking very dazed.

I haven't seen the fight in ages though, so perhaps the stoppage was fair. I just recall Lewis might have seen the round out if the ref hadn't waved it off.

Tough call. I did however always think that as the reigning champion he should at least have been allowed to try and defend himself. The ref could have given him a few seconds and if there was any follow up leapt in. I've seen other champions given

Look at Riddick Bowe when he was floored by Holyfield, he was just as badly hurt if not worse.

The Rahman fight was different, Lewis didn't have a clue where he was, and actually turns to Steward and says 'What happened...who won?" Watch closely you can clearly lipread him saying that.

If I was Steward I would have been tempted to say

"The guy who can fornicating well remember"

i think lewis should have been given a chance to continue...... he was the champ in front of a home crowd......

and dont bring out the line about a fighters safety being paramount... no heavyweight in modern history has died in a fight.... and the length a fight goes on tends to depend who is the promoters boy rather than anything else!!!!

Casulties in boxing are tragic but 99.9% of the time are due to dehydration, this was round 2 of a heavyweight championship fight.. no one had boiled down in weight, no one was close to exhaustion...

Holmes was in worse shape when Shavers bombed him, Holyfield has been in worse shape on a number of occasions...

Chances are McCall would have found a few more shots to end it, but lewis deserved the opportunity to show his survival skills...maybe he could have smothered McCall and cleared his head...

Yes, due to that fight, we never got to see how Lewis was at recovering from being hurt. It was a hell of a shot that hit him, but Lewis deserved the chance to last the round out. I forget how long was left to go, but something smelt a bit about that, wasn't it Richard Steele who stopped it? Most convenient for a certain Mr King.

Lewis was fuming when he was stopped, and looked clear eyed to me when he was ranting at the referee, I do feel that fight did a lot of damage to his legacy.

He could hardly keep upright he couldn't control his legs, Knockout.

It was early in the round also.

When Lewis does spreads his arms to complain, look at the video the ref can push him back - he has gone.

Good stoppage.

As for no heavyweight dying in recent history, you are right thankfully - usually though its because its one punch and they are out. Look at the sorry state of Greg Page - he had a long career, but that came from one fight and one brutal KO.

Are you sure its not a bit of British Bias coming out, I mean some people on here thought the Byron Mitchell stoppage was fine, but the Lewis one was premature? For me, Mitchell was in a much better state than Lewis.

Mitchell was at least allowed to get up and continue. He was heading for what was almost certainly the second knockdown, and had just taken abotu 6-7 unanswered shots and was lurching backwards into the ropes, as he had already been down not long before, it could definetly be seen as a wise move to stop him. Mitchell didn't have any real complaints afterward.

I'll have to watch the fight again, but I felt Lewis should have been given a few seconds to demonstrate he could fight on.

Lewis was able to hold his gloves up and got himself to the upright position before the count of ten... plus it was the first knock down and was early in the fight... in my opinion he should have been given another 10-15 seconds or so.......

Brit bias has nothing to do with it..... i have complained many a time when an overseas fighter gets stopped early after having a home fighter in equal if not more trouble.... Mock V Haye sperings to mind immediatly....

Remember Enzo v Scott... Enzo was all over the place against a noted banger but managed to survive the round... and win the fight...

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I recently rewatched this fight, and outside of the heat of the moment, I now have a very different opinion of what transpired.

Although Lewis looked poor at times during the fight, he never looked in any real danger in the fight. His balance made things look far worse than they were, and he looked calm and composed throughout.

Even without that Cut, Lewis looked to me like he would go on to win, Vitali looked far more tired at the end of the fight to me, and Lewis was really starting to lay some big punches on him.

Vitali's own shots never really troubled Lewis, and Lewis slipped and blocked a lot more than appeared on first viewing.

Lewis had found his range by the 4th round, and eventually on the evidence of what was transpiring, would have broken Vitali down and stopped him.

I think you are being unfair to Vitali who, lets be honest, had Lewis hanging on for dear life in round 2 after a peach of a right bang on the chin.

Vitali landed some flush shots in round 1 also.

Both men hurt each other.

Because Lewis finished slightly stronger, don't forget he collapsed onto his stool at the end of the sixth and it can be argued that he had just blown his load and was ready to be taken.

I can handle the way Lewis was stopped against McCall only because for me there was absolutely nothing Lewis could have done that night to stop the Atomic Bull from beating him.

But for an unbeaten record and world title to be ripped away like that without the guy being given any oppurtunity to ride the storm was pretty appalling no matter how you look at it.

I suggest you watch the fight again without any preconceptions, I think you will be surprised. My feelings at the time I watched the fight were very much the same, however viewing it after a long period of time had elapsed without being het up in the heat of the moment and screaming at the TV because Lewis looked awful.

I honestly don't think Lewis was badly hurt at any stage in that fight, he was unbalanced and lumbering around like a Gnu on roller skates, but he wasn't hurt.

lirva33 wrote:don't forget he collapsed onto his stool at the end of the sixth

This ridiculous observation is still doing the rounds I see...

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I suggest you watch the fight again without any preconceptions, I think you will be surprised. My feelings at the time I watched the fight were very much the same, however viewing it after a long period of time had elapsed without being het up in the heat of the moment and screaming at the TV because Lewis looked awful.

I honestly don't think Lewis was badly hurt at any stage in that fight, he was unbalanced and lumbering around like a Gnu on roller skates, but he wasn't hurt.

I fornicating recorded over the fight the next day! Havn't seen it since, only downloaded the second round so maybe you are right, but not from what I can remember.

This is what I am saying. For most people watching the fight, used to seeing Lewis composed and accurate, the shock of seeing him looking so ragged and clumsy, actually made Vitali look like he was doing more than he really was.

Whilst Vitali was winning the fight, Lewis looked increasibly comfortable as the rounds wore on, and really looked to be getting into gear. Vitali was huffing like an asthmatic accordion too.

Whilst the fight (without the cut) was still in the balance, it really did look like it was Vitali who was fading, and not Lennox.

I'll do you a tape swap if you like, I've got it on tape.

I've managed to track down this old post of mine somehow, just to prove that me and that James do agree from time to time:



Saw it for the first time last night after listening on saturday night to what turned out to be very misleading commentary from radio 5 live. Contrary to what John Rawlings and Duke Mackenzie were telling listeners Lewis was NEVER seriously hurt in that fight. Sure he was getting caught far more than normal but it was obvious from the start that he was prepared to walk through Klitschkos' punches in order to land his own.

The fight reminded me a lot of the Shannon Briggs fight - Lewis sloppy, lazy, not in the best shape, catching too many punches but never in serious trouble. The difference here was that Vitali was tougher than Briggs and far more awkward.

Honestly on the night during that 2nd round I had my hands over my face because it sounded like Lewis was getting bashed all over the ring, out on his feet. It was nothing like that in reality. Aren't people used to Lewis by now? It seems too many "experts" believe that the second he even looks like he's taken a punch or gets knocked off balance then he's on his way to a shocking defeat.

Then on SKY last night you've got McGuigan banging on about the way Lewis sat down on his stool at the end of the sixth. Yep the guy looked tired for sure, but in how many fights over the years have we seen exactly the same thing?? Never mind the fact that seconds earlier Klitschko had looked almost gone from a short right hook to the temple which had him frantically clinging on.

Listening to the Lewis interview on the radio I thought "You tw*t. Give Vitali some credit he's just kicked your arss for 6 rounds and yet you still escape with your title". But after seeing the fight with my own eyes last night I realised the unlucky one there was LEWIS, the cut robbed him of the chance to properly finish off Klitschko. I'm not saying Lennox wasn't relieved that it was over as he hardly looked comfortable battling against his own lack of stamina, but I totally believe him now when he says 2 or 3 more rounds of come forward pressure would've taken Vitali out of the fight - cut or no cut.


Rawlings has gone way down in my estimation, I'll never listen to a fight on radio again.

Back to Lewis vs McCall - The ref does give Lewis a good look, but the fact that Lewis knees are dipping when the ref is looking signalls the end.

The ref asking to raise his gloves up which he does (although not all that convincingly). But Lewis' eyes and legs are the gone. When the ref waves it off - Lewis' eyes seemed to have cleared, but he still couldn't control his legs.

It wasn't an instant wave off.

What I believe we would have seen is a replay of Curry vs McCory - no way that fight should have continued after the first KO.

Going back to Mitchell is old ground - but anyway Mitchell wasn't gone after the KD. His eyes were clear and responses were good. He was hurt AGAIN by Calzaghe with probably better shots than the one that caused the KD. However, Mitchell was still wailing away and threw the last significant punch of the fight - he protested straight away also.

There are some examples mentioned here of fighters given every opportunity and prevaling (Mock vs Haye - although, was Mock given the same opportunity?). However, look at the long list of fighters given a second opportunity and taking undue punishment. No way should Jason Cook been allowed to carry on when he could walk forward (properly). It should have been waved off then.