Vitali Still Wants Lennox
By Robert Ecksel February 2nd, 2007Vitali Klitschko eyeballs Oleg Maskaev and Lennox Lewis
Former heavyweight champion of the world Vitali Klitschko, who recently announced his return to active duty after a premature retirement, has told ITV that the fight he most wants is a rematch with Lennox Lewis.
Klitschko quit the game in November 2005 due to persistent knee and back problems. He was 34 at the time, and his exit from the scene left a void in the division, a void subsequently filled by his younger brother Wladimir.
There has been talk—the fight’s already being advertised in Eastern Europe—about Vitali squaring off against WBC world heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev in Moscow, but Klitschko the elder feels that he still has unfinished business from his 2003 slugfest in LA.
“Lennox Lewis is a gentleman and he promised me a rematch,” said Klitschko. “Everybody wants to see the second part of the story.
“I never lost the fight. The doctor allowed him to keep his title, I was ahead on points. I’ve never fought such a strong fighter but I know I beat Lennox.”
Klitschko may know he beat Lewis, but few others do, since the fight was stopped legitimately, within the rules, such as those rules are, and such as those rules are enforced.
“I have a vision for the future, a dream,” continued Klitschko. “And once I’ve beaten Maskaev I’ll tell you what it is.”
Bernd Boente, Klitschko’s manager, said that “Vitali retired because of the seriousness of his knee injury. He was told it would take between six and nine months to recover and he knew he’d lose his title.
“But now he feels fine again and he wants to dominate the heavyweight division along with his brother.
“He saw Lennox recently and said to him, ‘Lennox, Lennox when are you going to make a comeback,’ but Lennox said he’s too fat now.”
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:47 pm
lennox -vitali 2 …………?
i am there!!!
February 3rd, 2007 at 9:13 am
Lennox has a good thing going and it’s doubtful he’ll come out of retirement to fight Vitali. I wouldn’t blame him either. At 43 (or so), there comes a time when a man no longer has the fight in him. Lennox lost that hunger prior to the first Vitali fight. Make no mistake though, Lennox was a great champion and has nothing to prove.
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:20 am
Lewis was great, no doubt. He proved it time and time again. But, there is no way to say that he lost desire before the V. Klitschko fight. If he wasnt getting whipped, people wouldnt have said that. The fact of the matter is that he finally ran into somebody with the physical gifts to challenge him to the full brink of his skill , and he wasnt fairing too well at the time of the stoppage. Another thing is, that the cuts werent all due to punches. Some of the damages were started by headbutts and worstened by punches. I think if the fight had continued, Klitschko would have KO’d Lewis. But really, thats not too bad considering the fact that Vitali Ko’s 96% of his oposition. No matter what, I would love to see the second chapter badly.
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:21 am
I don’t think Klitschko has much to prove either. What is to gain from beating a 40 something champ well past his prime? I think what the Russian champions are seeking is name recognition. Since, suddenly the division was declared “in decline” once the Russian fighters legitimately ascended, they are looking for legitimacy by beating the American Champs (well black champs in any case) of the former era. They don’t need to do it.
Anyone who knows enough about boxing and is willing to do an honest appraisal of the heavyweights knows that the heavyweights of this era are even better than the heavyweights of the previous era (sure less flowery, extraneous movement in the ring but this is about it.) What they are lacking is that Mohammed Ali “charm” that promoters look for…yeah they’re white. Smacks of self loathing at best and racism against whites at worst. A little of both in my opinion.
Vitali, you’re Lewis’ worst nightmare, a white guy who can kick his ass (Shaq writes about the unique humiliation a black feels when a white guy dunks on him)-but in Lewis’ defense he’s old and really there is no good incentive for him to get back in shape only to abide his worst nightmare. Vitali, let the poor guy go. Those who know boxing know that YOU have nothing to prove. And that is the question, not what HE has to prove. Now is the time to simply take what is rightfully yours.
February 3rd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I do not believe Lennox wants to come out of retirement. He got all of the fight out of him before he retired which is the way to do it. He would come back only at 60% of what he was most likely, especially if the desire is gone. He would have to do it for himself and not for Vitali. Vitali had his chance and Lennox was fortunate enough to pull it out. That is the way it goes sometimes.
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:17 pm
DaveB…well said. Vitali had his ONE chance, and unfortunately, he came out with his eye looking like hamburger. But the fact of the matter is, Vitali came out of that fight far more popular than before. He had shed the Quits-ko label from the Chris Byrd fight and he convinced Lewis it was time to retire. Lennox was always cautious in his fight plans, and caution dictates he doesn’t come back as a 40 something former champ to fight someone much closer to their prime.
Lennox should enjoy his retirement because he earned it. Vitali needs to move and establish himself as “The Man” of today.
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:20 pm
If this is not printed, then am going to complain against the previous racist comment made to skynews , let not forget the racist comment made by jade against shilpa in big brother house destroy jade career or in some case destroyed jdanielle lloyds career too, my main point is that there is a comment made by Sigurd, saying stuff like a white man kick lennox lewis ass, we also know what colour lewis is, other stuff are said too.
I just don’t understand if these comment are moderated then how on earth you let his comment pass.
Don’t any of the people know that max schemelling who is a german as well as klitschko idol, actually gave joe louis money at the time when joe louis was in dept and guess what it was the usa army that put joe louis in depth
Anyway klitschko is my one of my favourite boxer as well as lennox lewis and the rematch would create more excitement to boxing
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Also wladimir klitschko gave money to africa from his last fight and hopefully will in his next fight give some more money to charity
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Sigurd, you turned a discussion about two great boxers into a race issue. Sad. It’s not about being black or white.
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:32 pm
That race rant was pretty damn funny. Even funnier when you consider that Vitali is STILL 0-1 against Lennox - in fact, both of his losses to Black fighters - and went 0-4 in attempting to drag his limp a** into a ring to fight Hasim friggn’ Rahman.
But I guess dominating Herbie Hide, Kirk Johnson and Danny Williams makes up for that (never minding the fact that none of them are American).
February 4th, 2007 at 3:48 am
Vitali may have been ahead in the scorecards but what he dosent understand
is that the scorecards decide the fight only if it goes past the 12 rounds.
I dont know about you guys but Vitali was pretty messed up and Lewis DID
WIN THAT FIGHT fair and square. And as for the fight Against Maskaev I think
I think he should be the one to wait in line not Peter.
February 4th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Reply to jake
We all know the situation of lewis and byrd fight against vitali
but put i mind what the weaker younger smaller of vitali brother done to chris byrd and don’t mention hasim who was knocked out by oleg twice but manage to knock lennox lewis out in 1 of the fight
Vitali Has won all of his fight by knock out except for 1
The person was a german who managed to last the distance with vitali
but all other fighter were destroyed and now here a list of al the usa fighter destroyed by vitali
Tony Bradham
Brian Sargent
Mike Acklie
Calvin Jones
Derrick Roddy
Cleveland Woods
Jimmy Haynes
Will Hinton
Gilberto Williamson
Herman Delgado
Anthony Willis
Marcus Rhode
Louis Monaco
Levi Billups
Dicky Ryan
ed mahone
Obed sullivan
And come on if vitali never ripped his should who on earth believe he would last the distance
The same with lewis but lewis is british and we proud of out british fighter but 1 german who lasted the distance proved he toughter than all usa fighter combine
Do you wana count the score now
February 4th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
correction
If vitali never ripped his shoulder against chris byrd, no way chris byrd would last the distance against vitali
February 8th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
SIN is correct. Lewis won the 6th round on the scorecards. Klitschko was fading. Did you see the right uppercut from Lewis? That’s why he won the 6th round. I have to agree with the judges.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
The Lewis Klitscho fight had to be stopped due to the injury to Vitali, this is just common sense and for safetys sake. This was a shame as Vitali was clearly ahead in the fight and had rocked Lewis with some good shots. Vitali has always kept in good shape and would have lasted the distance if required but more likely would have stopped Lewis. Lewis was a great champion and apart from a couple of slip ups boxed sensibly, he was a smart boxer. Lewis realised he had a lucky escape and retired as a champion, why would he come out of retirement to get knocked out? Vitali needs to move on regain his title as champion.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Most people don’t even know when vitaly really decided to come back,
Lennox actually said to wladimir, that he want to fight him, this was on the day of wladimir vs calvin brock and you can hear wladimir saying that lennox asked him for a fight on boxingscene.com
Suddenly there were rumours that vitali is making a comeback, which vitali denied back then and suddenly vitali annoucced a week ago.
Everybody know that vitali and wlad want to carry world title at same time but that not the only reason why vitali made a comeback.
Anyway my main point is that lewis only retired because of vitali or why else did he offer to fight wladimir few months ago, and if lennox was joking the I dare him to say that joke to vitali
March 24th, 2007 at 12:50 am
I remember the Vitali and Lennox fight clear as day. And I remember being disapointed when the fight was stopped. Because right from that moment I knew that Vitali and Vitali fan’s would used that fight in which he had Lennox in trouble as a way to make that lost into a win as much as possible. He had Lennox in trouble and for a moment I thought about both
fights in which Lennox got knocked out, one with Oliver MCcall and Hasim Rockman. Then Lennox recovered and held on and unlike Oliver and Rockman, Vitali didn’t seized the opportunity. I remember Lennox giving him a right cross (hbo did show this in slow motion) to inflict damage to his left eye in which it was bleeding very badly. While Vitali dominated a good proportion of the fight I would like to note that there was a momental change in the fight if you were not watching. Lennox did look like he was on the way out during the earlier rounds but it certainly didn’t look that way towards the end of the fight. He obviously recovered from the assault from Vitali and inflicted damage of his own. If you were watching the 6th round Lennox was well recovered and had Vitali against the ropes hitting him multiples times with some good shots while Vitali was doing nothing and he appeared to be hurt or out of gas. And after that round that is when the fight was stopped. As for the eye many are crying that it was Lennox’s saving grace or if it was’nt for the eye gobble de gook. Point blank! Vitali should have covered his face, duck or provided some type of defense to try and avoid that right cross that did damage to his left eye. As mentioned before towards the end of the fight he was taking some good shots with a badly damaged eye. I noticed Vitali is using the moments in which he was dominate in the fight heal his bruised ego. But the fact of the matter is he lost. Sure he had his moments but he had a badly bruised eye which was bleeding heavily and it would have gotten worse.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
i can’t understand y people hate lewis?he didn’t bite anybody,he didn’t buy a match etc.vitali lost the match at the beginning of the 3rd round.then he fell later and tried to kick lennox(indeed he threw himself on the floor due to the fear of the fierce of the coming punch-shame on vitali!!!!)and in the sixth round vitali was so petrified and shocked , he had lost his balance.he pushed lewis to the other side’s rope but stubbornly lewis didn’t fall.is this noisy,naughty and childish vitali ,great???he had looked like the ducks.Ofcourse only left side:-))the dogs are laughing
November 25th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Americans always thought the title belonged to us, and along comes Lennox Lewis. He was always a gentleman and a great champion, he represented better than the American Mike Tyson. And I’m glad to say, I’m ashamed to not have been cheering for this class act from the beginning.
And in that fight with Vitali, Lennox was going to get him in the latter rounds.