Sorry to be a bit coarse, but 1945? Please… You sound like my grandfather (Who died in 1992)…
Killswitch, did you have like a lot of Nyquil tonight or something. You’re all over the place.
I think Duke’s point was more or less that he “thought this thread was going to be about how bad the fight was.” And he was using Bert Sugar as a semi-cite. The 1945 thing was a statement of Sugar’s bona-fides.
Try to keep up a little, huh?
1-It was a perfectly legitimate – albeit obviously unpopular – stoppage. The gash was not only deep but also prevented him from controlling his eyelid. IOW, the skin was hanging over the eye and he had to move his head in order to see.
2-Not sure what fight Max and Bert watched, but it was easily one of the most action-packed and exciting heavyweight fights of the past few years. Yes, Lewis was overweight and slow, but both him and Vitali fought their hearts out nonstop. You’d have to go back to the Golota/Bowe, Tyson/Holyfield encounters to find a better one.
3-With Klitschko ahead on points in all three cards (58-56 and rightfully so IMO) at the time of the stoppage, a rematch seems like a definite possibility.
4-Odds are that it’ll go to PPV. Although almost no one expected such a good showing from the elder Klitschko – his brother, Wladimir, was the “real” prospect until his unlikely defeat at the hand of Corey Sanders in Feb – his name will skyrocket after this fight. Mind you, they only had two weeks to market this one as Vitali came in as a substitute for the injured Johnson. Since a rematch won’t happen for at least six months, they’ll be able to generate a ton of publicity this time. Mucho bucks in the making.
Here’s a good review from the BBC – they saw the same fight I did:
And here I return from a bbq -> Lewis/Klitschko fight -> poker night. I was the only person present who was willing to put money down on the Ukranian.
I’m chiming in with RedFury. The stoppage was legitimate - his eyebrow looked like hamburger. The cut man did an incredible job keeping him in the match for another four rounds, but it didn’t surprise me to see it end that way. I did notice that in Vitali’s post-fight interview, his eyes were clear, he wasn’t dazed, and his vision didn’t seem impaired. Of course, half a continent away I’m not exactly the best judge, but I would have liked to see the fight continue.
I suspect there’ll be a rematch by November. Lewis’ prospective fight against Jones is nothing compared to this on PPV.
What amused me the most, though, was that the boxer from a former Soviet republic got more cheers from the audience than the boxer from America’s staunchest ally. Similarly, I was hoping that Klitschko would say something akin to Dolph Lundgren’s “I will break you”.
Didn’t get to see the fight, but I saw the picture on ESPN.com That cut was HUGE, and stopping the fight seems to be perfectly legitimate.
For everyone who says his eye looked ‘fine’ during the post fight interview, realize this. They had 5-10 minutes of continuous time to work on it, without a 250lb guy punching it every 30 seconds. Not to mention that any problems he’s having with vision out that eye makes it easier for his opponent to hit it again and again.
Yeah, Klitchko was mostly blind in retrospect.
I would like to see the rematch, tho
Maybe this time Lewis will train a bit harder, he seemed to tire quickly. I think that the fight did prove that Vitale’s no bum, has “heart,” but is a bleeder.
Just rootin’ for the underdog, as usual :rolleyes:
He was fighting DICK VITALE? Holy shit! It’s time to take a TO, baby, when you’ve got a big bloody cut over your eye! Lewis is no diaper dandy, but he can still punch! Yeah, baby!
Well, I scored mucho bucks when Lewis won, but I will admit that I was mighty nervous before the fight that he wouldn’t… it felt very Buster Douglas vs. Mike Tyson. This was Klitschko’s big shot, he was ready, he was pumped. The champ was aging, tired, and unprepared. He looked very set to be taken down. I also admit that there was a part of me hoping to see the very boring Lewis dropped by the walking battleship that is Vitali Klitschko.
I think that the stoppage of the fight was very legitimate, but I also think that it was made clear that old Lennox’s days are numbered. He can’t keep doing this for much longer, and he was lucky that things turned out the way they did. If any luck at all had been on Klitschko’s side last night, he would have torn Lewis apart. If Lewis had come out in top form, Klitschko would never have had a chance. But I think last night makes us all question whether we’ll ever see Lennox Lewis in top form again.
LC
Thanks for being in my corner there, Jack Batty. Yes, I did mean to say that I thought this thread was going to be about this being a poor fight. No, I didn’t see the whole thing, just highlights, but when I hear comments from boxing analysts I respect, like Bert Sugar, who thought the fight stank, I’m not going to have a high opinion of the bout. I thought killswitch had seen the bout–I don’t get Showtime and I wanted a Doper opinion–and was going to weigh in on that.
What I did see of the fight was that Lewis was moving slow and that V. Klitschko, never before known to be a fast fighter, was beating him to the punch. The fight stats showed that Klitschko threw–and landed–almost twice as many punches! Even though Lewis has always been a fighter who picked his punches, that’s a wide margin. All accounts I’ve seen say that Lewis wasn’t ready, and it showed.
This is going to be a good rematch, assuming Lewis trains properly. I’m looking forward to it–maybe I can get to Vegas or somewhere else with a sports book by then.
Duke, sorry I wasn’t clued in with the Bert Sugar thing, but I did enjoy the fight (on HBO) until its abrupt end.
Rematch! I am with you on that.
No offense to anyone who thinks the fight shouldn’t have been stopped, but you’re absolutely wrong. I watch a lot of boxing. I’ve seen hundreds of fights in the last few years alone, pros, amateurs, big-time championship fights, nobodies in local gyms, and that’s the worst cut I’ve ever seen. If that had been anything but a multi-million dollar championship fight, it would have been stopped much sooner.
And I agree with Bert Sugar that the fight was pretty sad. Sure they were landing punches, but that was due to sluggish or non-existent defense, not clean punching. Both men were slow and awkward, and Lewis already looked tired in the first round. I’ve never seen him fight that poorly, and I’d guess he’ll choose to retire pretty soon. If not, someone will do it for him. If he’d been fighting Vitaly’s little brother, who’s a much better fighter, he’d have gone out on his back.