"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." - Muhammad Ali
We always see these type of phrases that allude to the fight being won in the gym. Its partially true. There are kids that look great in the gym and the freeze up when it's showtime, too. So i believe at least part of it is won in the gym. That being said, Lennox was responsible for being ill prepared and getting his clocked leaned by Rahman. It's a loss. Did he win the rematch, sure by KO...but I do see what Memphis means by it getting glossed over. Would Rahman get beat in a rubber match? Probably... Rahman was a fighter that always knew when he had enough and then his shine was gone. It doesn't mean lightning couldn't have struck twice nor does it erase the sight of a bloated Lennox flashing a cheesy grin a second before getting obliterated by that ugly right hand. His dreads did him a favor and kept his head from bouncing off that mat. Otherwise i don't think he would have gotten to his feet without assistance.
As for McCall.. Lewis got caught. McCall knew what he was doing when he threw that combo. As for the rematch, McCall is responsible for that loss for whatever he was trying to do. Lennox gets credit for frustrating him and you have to admit that Lennox gets up for revenge matches and preps well and is motivated... probably better than most... or one knockout doesn't really negate another. One might even argue that a rematch win or knockout might not even have the effect it does if the first fights loss wasn't casting doubt or suspense on the rematch.
Records, knockout losses, subpar preparation aside. Lewis was probably one of the more complete heavies in recent memory. Not ferocious by nature but knew when he could have an easy night by jumping on someone early. Fought quite a few names and didn't mentally come apart. I wasn't a fan before because I thought he could have been more aggressive many times when it seemed like he was playing with his food. But he always got flak for playing chess instead of checkers.
Last edited by J_Undisputed; 01-12-2019 at 04:55 PM. Reason: extra copies of the quotes showed up after submitting
They want your @$$ beat because upsets make news. News brings about excitement, excitement brings about ratings. The objective is to bring you up to the tower and tear your @$$ down. And if you don't believe that, you're crazy.
Roy Jones, Jr. "What I've Learned," Esquire 2003
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