Lennox Lewis retires

[Anonymous20]

I heard a rumor today that Lennox is going to announce his retirement. I guess he does not want to give Wvladimir Klitskov a rematch becasue that last fight might has ended differnently if Lewis did not bust his eye open.

[Q]

yea he would have lost

[indyjrt]

He already did lose (IMO)..........

That first fight was a joke..........

[stateraised2000]

this article came outta EAST SIDE BOXING... i visit that site daily... if you a follower of "the sweet science" then this is a pretty good site. heres the link:

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/



05.02.04 - World Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is set to announce his retirement from boxing on Friday. After months of uncertainty, Lewis will be holding a press conference in London where he is expected to take his mother’s advice an announce his retirement rather then face Vitali Klitschko again. According to BBC Radio Five Live, the 38-year-old Lewis plans to call it quits after a 15-year career that has seen him spend almost 10 years as champion. A news conference is expected here Friday.

The WBC on Jan. 28 ordered Lewis to defend the title against Klitschko or be stripped. It gave him 30 days from Feb. 1 to work out a deal with Klitschko and said that if terms could not be reached, a purse bid would be held March 15. However, the WBC also ruled that if Lewis declined the fight, he would lose the title, and Klitschko would then have to fight the highest available contender.

Lewis’s trainer Manny Stewart has insisted that Lewis would have gone on to knock out Klitschko if the fight had not been halted, and was actively encouraging him to take the rematch, which he believed Lewis would win. But most people in the boxing community believe that if Klitschko hadn‘t been cut up, he would have knocked out Lewis later in the fight.

Lewis, 38, is 41-2-1 in his career, including 15-2-1 in championship fights. His only losses were knockouts by Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, both of which Lewis avenged. The draw came in a bout for the undisputed title with Evander Holyfield on March 13, 1999, in New York.

Assuming Lewis does end his 14-year career, he will become the first reigning heavyweight champion to quit since Rocky Marciano in 1956

[wcrockets]

All props to Lennox Lewis. He may be getting older and thinking retirement but he has proven that he has the heart of a champion.

[deeznuttz]

All props to Lennox Lewis. He may be getting older and thinking retirement but he has proven that he has the heart of a champion.

But..... I think that Lennox would not have been champ if there were better fighters in his era. Hell, even with a healthy Evander or a healthy minded Tyson. But you got to give it up 2 him, he handled his bizz. I just don't like him.

[XXTRA MANNISH]

YEA HE WAS TIGHT I JUST DIDNT LIKE THE NI99A

[Past]

Lewis was one hell of a fighter and i think he could of took on a young Evander Hollyfeild or a young Mike Tyson , except since he won Mike Tyson he has not been in the best shape of his life and I think he made a good disicion to retire.

[bgcasper]

A YOUNG MIKE TYSON WOULD BEAT EVERYBOYS ASS IN FEW SECOND ...

[wcrockets]

lolol for sure. It would be a rerun of the first time around. Mike was unbelievable when he broke onto the boxing scene.

[Anonymous20]

Lennox was a good fighter, not a great fighter, he beat most of his competition just based on his size and strength. Any man that can get knooked out by one punch cannot not be considered among the greatest.

One thing that I will give him is that he eventually beat every man he faced (through rematches) and he destroyed Razor Ruddock when he was in his prime.

What other impressive fight has Lennox had? I can not think of many, and he did not win his belt in the ring. But i put him in the top 20 for sure, not 10.

[Panik]

I would have liked to see him fight Riddick Bowe in his prime. I don't think he coulda handled him. And for sure that big klitcko or whatever his name is. He was gettin in lewis's ass. He don't wanna rematch with him.

[BIG DUSTY LOCO]

Klitchko would have knocked him out decisively if that cut didn't get in the way. Lewis' knows it, he can't beat that guy.

A YOUNG TYSON, as cultured by CUS D'AMATO, would have torn down Lewis within a few seconds. Young Tyson destroyed several like-built opponents in his early pro-career. Everyone was taller, bigger than Tyson.

[Q]

tru

[wcrockets]

Yeah well, he's got class and talent. I wouldn't say he was one of the greatest of all time either but I would say he banged hard enough in the ring to get more than honorable mention.

And Mike's coming back into the ring, the crazy guy, he spent all his money and kfi said today he's down to $5k and some change.

[blkjopker]

Lennox really have not had any one to fight in the heavy weights not really any big names left. Come on most the people he fought was about over the hill or not in there prime. Not to take any thing from lewis he did what he could with what was left. But for some reason to me he was not all that good. Every since mike went to don king thats when the problems started. When the dude that took tyson in died tyson shoud have still stayed with the trainers. If he would have he would still be champ right now. But being a true hustler that Don King is, he new he could get at Mike, and from then on Mike was after the money.

[omack]

You all made some valid points.

[TheReal]

I heard a rumor today that Lennox is going to announce his retirement. I guess he does not want to give Wvladimir Klitskov a rematch becasue that last fight might has ended differnently if Lewis did not bust his eye open.

*I have to disagree. From my vantage point, Klitschko was landing a lot of blows, whereas the blows that Lewis was landing on him, was causing Klitschko much more damage. Just look at the end of the round-the round before the folks stopped the fight-and you'll see that Klitschko was hanging on to Lewis for dear life.

I felt that if the fight had of continued, Lewis was going to eventually get to Klitchsko, thus knocking him out. It only appeared, from where I was sitting, that Lewis was going to eventually lose the fight, if the fight had continued because: 1) Despite the fact that Lewis has lost previously, to where folks were use to seeing him getting hit, we were still not used to seeing him get tagged as consistently, as was the case with Klitchsko; 2) Lewis was greatly out of shape, and it told; 3) Many folks felt that Lewis-including Lewis himself-was just going to steamroll over Klitchsko, and drop him within a couple of rounds, however, when Klitchsko began to fight back, and showed a little heart-it surprised many folks, to where they just felt that Lewis was going to eventually succumb to ol' boy's punches and wilt away.

However, as I said before, I theorized that Klitchsko was on his way out, and that the punches of Lewis were beginning to have a negative effect upon Klitchsko, which ultimately it did: THAT'S WHY THEY STOPPED THE FIGHT!

[TheReal]

I would have liked to see him fight Riddick Bowe in his prime. I don't think he coulda handled him. And for sure that big klitcko or whatever his name is. He was gettin in lewis's ass. He don't wanna rematch with him.

*Even though Lewis never fought Riddick Bowe (Riddick Bowe was the one who didn't want to fight Lewis, not the other way around) professionally, he did fight him for the super-heavyweight gold medal, during the 88' olympics in Seoul: LEWIS KNOCKED BOWE ON AZZ!

On another note: I figured that Lewis didn't want no more of Klitchsko, not because Klitchsko could beat him, because I feel that an in shape Lewis, would destroy a Klitchsko, but because he was old, and had about enough of training, and psychologically preparing himself for the fight, was no longer apart of his make-up.

Just look at it this way-despite how you think about Lewis's legacy as a heavyweight champion, we can all agree that Klitschko is definitely one of the fighters throughout the heavyweight division, who's the possible heir apparent to the throne (i.e. title). With that being said, one can argue that Lewis fought the next future heavyweight champion, of the twenty-first century, and left his azz busted up, to where all the ref and the doc could do, was-stop the fight.

Some folks will look at a glass half empty, whereas others will look at it half filled! All I can say is, that from a half-filled perspective: LEWIS WENT OUT A TRUE CHAMPION, CAUSING MUCH DAMAGE, AND WRECKAGE, ON THE FACE OF THE POTENTIALLY NEW KING OF THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION, AND LEFT THAT FOOL FOR THE NEW BREED TO CONTEND WITH, WHICH WAS A MESS!

[wcrockets]

I like Lewis's legacy. It's a good one. Remember when Riddick and Hollyfield went at it? That was some boxing right there.

[deeznuttz]

Yeah the very first fight was a classic

[kiCKer]

Tyson and Lewis used to train and spar together back in the days. they said that it was pretty much even. Lewis would get the upper hand and then Tyson would win the next. this was back in the 80's...

anyway...Lewis is a very "technical" fighter. he knows what to do and when...y'all remember him fightin' David Tua? all he did the whole fight was stick Tua with a jab not lettin' him get inside cuz he knew that Tua would whoop him on the inside...Lewis has the ring smarts and that's what made him a champion

Tyson on the other hand was just a beast...he had power AND speed. he had combos and all that...crazy fighter...he was what Roy Jones is now, except with more power...

[wcrockets]

That's not what he said when they interviewed him last year. He said that Tyson beat everyone when Tyson was in his prime and was way dominant when they sparred. He said exactly that and furthermore said that was Tyson's "time" back then. Then Lewis said Tyson's time passed and he grew into his own and his time (eg Lewis).

[Mraka]

Lennox announced to fight Vitali Klitschko this year in november.
He lives in Montego Bay/Jamaica says the offer of 21 mio.pounds is too good.

[PREACH]

lennox lewis is a boxing legend hands down.