Lewis Retirement: One fight early, or one fight late?

First topic message reminder :

Hey guys, just thought I would throw something out there that as a casual fan I have been thinking about for a while.

It is pretty much agreed that Lennox Lewis retired at the right time, whilst he was on top of the world, and didn't get carried away into continuing boxing for too long. My question is that did he do this one fight too early, or one fight too late?

Before his fight with Vitali, Lewis had beaten all the opponents he had faced. He had won his mega fights with Tyson, and gone 1 win, 1 draw with Holyfield, albeit neither of them being at their, and I loathe to use thw word, "prime". He had avenged his two losses, and beaten decent level, if not great opponents in Golota and Tua. The one obvious gap in his CV was Bowe, but that was not down to any of Lennox's doing after the infamous "bin dumping". So should Lewis have got out after Tyson? Would people be questioning him now for not fighting Vitali because of what Vitali has gone on to do, or would we remember that at the time Vitali was labelled as "Quitschko" after retiring on his stool against Chris Byrd and deemed by most people not of true great qualities like Lewis. However, as Lennox did go on to fight Vitali and win on cuts whilst being down on the cards, should he have gone on to re-match Klitschko, as that was the least Vitali deserved.

So, finally, my question is when would have been the best time for Lennox Lewis to retire for optimum legacy? Would he have the legacy he has now if he never faced Vitali, was he right to retire after the first fight, or should he have re-matched Vitali and would this have increased his legacy enough to warrant the risk he was taking?

But in this case it wasn't caused by a headbutt was it

No but that wasn't the point he was making..

I haven't got a persecution complex because I take posts at face value and don't analyse them and try to read through the lines..
************************************************************
We read BETWEEN the lines over here..and as for not feeling persecuted, you original outburst came as a direct result of the board essentially laughing at you and you "he basically lost the fight" statement


You don't know how I feel about my Wife.........
************************************************************
Really, you've writen enough about her over the past few months to give us all a ruddy good idea. You've essentially said that she has no right being pregnant at her age and you resent the fact you're going to still be bringing up a child well into your sixties...or am I making all this up as well?

As for how much you can lift...yawn with a capital WHO GIVES A ****?


Any fairminded guy can scroll back to the beginning and see who started it...You like always...
************************************************************
Whereas anyone with eyes can see for themselves. Are you suggesting Windy and Jeff, who both picked you up on the cheap, needless REDUNDANT comment, aren't being fair-minded?

As for "starting it" I think we can all agree it was your "he basically lost the fight" comment which triggered this latest fiasco!

..and so back to the topic at hand

Re Chris's 11th round stoppage comment, I think it's a little ambiguous as to whether or not he's referring to Lewis/Vitali or making a generalisation. Hopefully he'll clarify for us!

You're not still going on are you?????

Dear oh dear......A cure for imsomnia aren't you!!

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:You're not still going on are you?????

Dear oh dear......A cure for imsomnia aren't you!!

I'm only filling in until you enthrall us with another of you "Lewis was Canadian" "Why no respect for Don Curry" "Why America is great" threads....that should send everybody off to sleep. Shame you're so against having another child, you have a huge library of bedtime material at your disposal son!

Goodnight lads..going home to spend a fun packed weekend with my moody pregnant piranha fish and my spoilt lad.....

Hope you have a good weekend.....

i would have loved to see him fight wlad after vitali- but thats just personal opinion- he defintly did the right thing retiring when he did.

i never understand when people question the victory over vitali some much- if you let your opponent hit you that hard that a doctor stops the fight and you need to go to hospital after then you have legitamitly won- regardless

I think the main point about the rematch that people are missing here is that the damage Lewis caused to Vitali's took months to heal and there was some doubt as to when Vitali could fight again. By the time the possibility of fight rematerialised, Lennox was content to be not training so hard and thus had made up his mind.

Yes, a second fight would have been a cracker, but it is the fighter's perogative to retire. I don't believe Lewis had anything left to prove and didn't want the potential risk anymore. IMO it was a good move.

How long did it actually take Vitali to heal?

Retired in perfect time. He was behind in cards, but if it had continued Vitali would of had blood in his eye and wuld of been servearly damaged. Legit win.

I had Solis winning against Vitali last night before Vitali dropped him in round 1 resulting in a knee injury causing Solis to retire.

So can I clarify - did Vitali basically lose this fight?

Good point Sugar, seems that way according to this thread.

Sugar Boy Sweetie wrote:I had Solis winning against Vitali last night before Vitali dropped him in round 1 resulting in a knee injury causing Solis to retire.

So can I clarify - did Vitali basically lose this fight?

Yeah lost his unbeaten record after basically beating Lewis and Byrd.

I always felt if the fight went on Lewis would have lost it was probably a fight to far but their would have been no shame in losing to VK. Their was no luck involved with the win good clean punches caused the cuts. Lewis was a great of his time and so is VK timing just wasn't on their side or they could have had a series of great fights.

I think the timing was perfect for Vitali and he still couldn't get the win, it was the worst of Lewis that night and he was probably in the worst shape of his life.

Haven't trawled through the other posts on this topic so not sure if the mood of the article has changed, but Lewis couldn't have timed his retirement any more perfectly. All his boxes ticked (regardless of how hollow some think these were) and a win over a man who has since been a dominant Heavyweight champion in his final fight.

For the life of me, I can't understand why the so-called 'controversy' regarding the Lewis-Klitschko fight still rages on. The doctor saved Vitali's bacon that night, and possibly his career - and he knew it.

Just watched the fight again on youtube. I knew that Lewis had won because of the cut. However i didn't remember there being so much controversy at the end, even with the crowd seeming to think that Vitali had got a raw deal.

Lewis could have easily called time on his career before this fight, but given the unsatisfactory ending of this fight I now think Lewis should have given Vitali the opportunity of a rematch as long as vitali's recovery wouldn't have taken too long.

Just spent a while reading through this discussion and although amused at both Truss's ignorance and Daves sensitivity I feel inclined to add my two pence....

Truss by your reckoning - Ali basically lost to Foreman because of fatigue......

Lewis v Klitchsko was competitive - all rounds were - Klitschko started the better - Lewis was getting stronger (many boxers are known for a slow start before ramping it up and Lewis is a prime example in this fight) lost the 1st couple of rounds but still gave Vitali plenty to think about - he got going then ripped his face apart!!!

I have no doubt from USING Lewis's past performances throughout his career that he would have gone on and finished Vitali in the next few rounds - even more so from the cut on his face! By the end of the 4th Vitali was clinging on for dear life at times