If Lennox Lewis had rematched Vitali Klitschko.........

[brocktonblockbust]

Lewis would have learned his lazy lesson for coming in like a fat slob in the first fight, he would have whipped his 38 year old body into the best shape he could, and he would---in typical vengeful Lennox fashion---have exacted a startlingly brutal revenge upon Klitschko that we would still be talking about today. That's how he did it.

[Max Power]

You might be right blockbuster. But that begs the question then... Why didn't he?

Honestly I think prime 4 prime Vitali and Lewis are about equal, but I do think the best of Lennox would get the better of Vitali and I rate him above.

Then again I can fully appreciate the other side of the coin as well. Lennox fought a lot of his great fighters when they were not prime and he had some questionable struggles against pretty average opponents, not McCall and Rahman mind you, he had difficulties against an aged, drug addicted Tucker, Frank fucking Bruno (say no more!), luckily beat Ray Mercer, couldn't KO Mavrovic and on and on.

Vitali NEVER seemed to struggle with any opponent, even Lewis himself! As another man pointed out apart from the usual pro-Vitali stuff, body language told a lot, Lewis did not want no more, Vitali wanted more!

I rate Lennox Lewis as the #1 all time but I have no issue with anybody who regards a Klitschko there over Lewis, especially Vitali!

I feel at this time, Lewis would have trained and focussed harder but Vitali would have done the same and he was so confident and so hungry for Lewis I think Vitali would have beaten him. I think Lewis knew Vitali would have got him the next time round too and that's why he retired. Especially after seeing him harpoon Johnson like he did which nobody had ever done before. The man had fire in his eyes then and he wanted Lewis bad!

A wise choice for Lennox!

Vitali UD Lennox!

The Lennox that wasted Rahman a couple years earlier than hypothetical rematch, I would edge Lennox!

[bigstinkybug]

don't believe Lennox when he says he was out of shape... Lewis was training for a fight that fell through, he was in shape. We've seen Lennox out of shape, and he gets KO'ed on those days... he was I great shape to withstand what he took from Vitali.
In a re-match, Vitali all day. to this day, I think the punch that opened up Vitli is a thumb. I'm not sure why, but there's a few punches that land on Vitali with the edge of Lennox glove... was it on purpose? there's no telling what these guys train for.
did Lennox get away with holding and hitting..yes.. did he hold Vitali behind the head as well, yes. did the ref seem one sided..yes.
the eye was bad, but Vitali ABSOLUTELY wanted to go on...Lewis, he was happy is was stopped. Lewis jumped at a chance to fight Wlad, but when a rematch was asked, he retired...lol.

[p4pking]

It would all depend on whether Lennox was actually capable of getting himself into better shape for a rematch. No doubt he was a better fighter than either Klitschko in my mind, at his best he would have smoked either.

[bigstinkybug]

no doubt Lennox is a better fighter? cuz his style is more conventional? Vitali has never been behind in a fight...EVER.
*his two losses should've prob been no contest.
*his KO ratio is one of the highest in boxing history.
*he's still fighting and dominating and looks like he could fight till 50 if he wanted too.

How can an argument be made that Lennox is a better fighter, ?

[Max Power]

I'm sorry but I have to back my man stinkybug up on this. Lewis did in fact look great in that fight. He did not even LOOK too bad FOR tht fight. He came in only 5lbs heavier- FIVE than his usual weight and had been training for another tough opponent (Johnson) before taking the Vitali fight for which Vits only had 2 weeks to prepare as well! He fought better than he had on many occasions except he met very stiff resistance.

I also agree the cuts were caused by a lot of thumbing, side gloving, an elbow etc and certainly not from the force of Lewis's punches, all of which is common knowledge. I mean come on look at the gashes and get real! Those are tear wounds not blunt trauma injuries. A punch that hard would knock anybody out.

I really think Lennox and Vitali are more or less on equal footing prime for prime. I like Lewis and he looks smoother than the more robotic Vitali but Vitali moves with a surgical precision and is always more alert than show pony Lewis. Lewis definitely hits harder though and shows more variety

Lewis and V.Klitschko are both such tremendous giant technicians, boxer-punchers and dominant champions that neither of these guys deserved to be bashed in favour of the other. And both provoded us with some great battles and gun fights to maul over.

[Max Power]

The argument for Lewis is that he beat the other candidates for GOAT HW of his generation in Holyfield and Tyson, was ducked by Riddick Bowe who he beat in Olympics anyway and defeated every other boxer he ever faced in arguably the strongest era in HW history.

[erics44]

You might be right blockbuster. But that begs the question then... Why didn't he?

Honestly I think prime 4 prime Vitali and Lewis are about equal, but I do think the best of Lennox would get the better of Vitali and I rate him above.

Then again I can fully appreciate the other side of the coin as well. Lennox fought a lot of his great fighters when they were not prime and he had some questionable struggles against pretty average opponents, not McCall and Rahman mind you, he had difficulties against an aged, drug addicted Tucker, Frank fucking Bruno (say no more!), luckily beat Ray Mercer, couldn't KO Mavrovic and on and on.

Vitali NEVER seemed to struggle with any opponent, even Lewis himself! As another man pointed out apart from the usual pro-Vitali stuff, body language told a lot, Lewis did not want no more, Vitali wanted more!

I rate Lennox Lewis as the #1 all time but I have no issue with anybody who regards a Klitschko there over Lewis, especially Vitali!

I feel at this time, Lewis would have trained and focussed harder but Vitali would have done the same and he was so confident and so hungry for Lewis I think Vitali would have beaten him. I think Lewis knew Vitali would have got him the next time round too and that's why he retired. Especially after seeing him harpoon Johnson like he did which nobody had ever done before. The man had fire in his eyes then and he wanted Lewis bad!

A wise choice for Lennox!

Vitali UD Lennox!

The Lennox that wasted Rahman a couple years earlier than hypothetical rematch, I would edge Lennox!

your whole point cant be taken seriously because of your reference to bruno

bruno was a top class HW only losing to fighters many people rate in the top 10 HW of all time

the only 2 real off days were the second tyson fight where he was already suffering mentally and the bonecrusher smith fight where he had won 9 rounds out of 9 and then ran out of steam

even in the wytherspoon fight he was ahead by the time he was KOed, which was the 13th round, nowadays he could well have been champ

because of brunos light hearted approach and personality he is by far the most underrated fighter of all time, people dont seem to take him seriously

his biggest downfall was his stamina, if title fights were over 8 rounds he would have been a long standing HW champ and an all time great

lewis found that out the hard way

[beenKOed]

There was no rematch because Lennox decided that was it, be was through hitting and being hit.
He had money, fame and chess. How can anyone question his choice?

[Max Power]

I'm not questioning his choice. Good for Lennox, sincerely.

But he did want to fight and sign his legacy which lets face it was kind of dented by Vitali a little bit, then saw the demolition job on Johnson and thought fuck that!

I really think Vitali would have won a rematch at that stage of Lennox's career. And I think virtually every non-biased watcher did.

[Master]

Lennox may have lost because he was old and did not have the desire to dig deep and train hard again after all the things he had achieved. Therefore he made the right decision. That also does not mean Vitali had a greater legacy than him.

[imp]

Lennox may have lost because he was old and did not have the desire to dig deep and train hard again after all the things he had achieved. Therefore he made the right decision. That also does not mean Vitali had a greater legacy than him.

So so true masterclass.

Why bother with a rematch..look what happened the first time when lewis wasnt even botherered.

Vitali had lewis in trouble and lewis had vitali in trouble.

Vitali is 8 years younger and would have had all the advantages in the rematch but it never happened because lewis ultimately had nothing to prove..

[bigstinkybug]

Lennox may have lost because he was old and did not have the desire to dig deep and train hard again after all the things he had achieved. Therefore he made the right decision. That also does not mean Vitali had a greater legacy than him.

*OR, he met his match.

[Master]

Lennox may have lost because he was old and did not have the desire to dig deep and train hard again after all the things he had achieved. Therefore he made the right decision. That also does not mean Vitali had a greater legacy than him.

*OR, he met his match.

What do you think a prime lennox lewis would do to Vitali? The elder Klit brother must thank his lucky stars he was not around when Ike, Holyfield and Lennox were at their best.

[C.J.Rock]

I'm not questioning his choice. Good for Lennox, sincerely.

But he did want to fight and sign his legacy which lets face it was kind of dented by Vitali a little bit, then saw the demolition job on Johnson and thought fuck that!

I really think Vitali would have won a rematch at that stage of Lennox's career. And I think virtually every non-biased watcher did.

Aww C'mon man get real. Lennox was barely 80% ready for defending against his #1 contender on 10 days notice. How many world champs have you seen do that?
Lewis TKO 6 Lennox kicked Vitali's ass Wlad hid in fear What reason was there for a rematch?
As for Kirk Johnson. I knew Kirk the whole time he was in Dallas. If that Kirk had got in the ring with Vitali he'd have had a good chance of beating him. But the overweight undertrained lethargic Kirk that faced Vitali was there purely for the paycheck. He did not even try