Following his career defining knockout of Mike Tyson in June of 2002, there were no more mountains for Lennox Lewis to climb. He did not fight for a year before he agreed to fight the less talented of the Klitschko brothers, Vitali, on June 21, 2003 in Los Angeles. Lewis was supposed to take on Kirk Johnson, but he got injured, and then he pushed for a rematch with Tyson, but Tyson declined. Thus this bout took place instead, and I tuned in to watch the action from the Staples Center that Saturday night in June.
It was obvious that the 37 year old Lennox was not motivated for this fight, and came in the heaviest of his career, tipping the scales at 256 1/2 lbs. Klitschko to me was a quitter, who cried like a baby that his shoulder hurt, and quit on the stool against the puny Chris Byrd in 2000. I watched this out of curiosity as much as anything, knowing that it would probably be the last time I ever saw Lennox box.
Klitschko started off well, and Lennox looked sluggish. The champ opened a huge cut over Vitali’s left eye in the third round, which changed everything. As the rounds progressed, it became his target and he landed on it repeatedly. Following the sixth round, the referee rightfully stopped the bout, and since the cut was caused by a legal punch, Lennox was awarded the TKO victory.
Despite all his whining, Klitschko had lost, and quite frankly I hoped I never saw him fight again. He was an average fighter to me, who came along at a time when the division was pathetically weak. On the other hand, I knew Lennox was done, and he pretty much retired after the bout. I was glad he went out with a win, and he today remains one of my all time favorite boxers in any division.
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