What if Lennox Lewis had stayed on until sombody retired him

[janitor]

Lets say that Lewis chose to fight on to the bitter end ala Holyfield.

Who would his future oponents have been and when would time have caught up with him?

To retain the WBC title he would have to fight various mandatories for that belt starting with VK. Regardles of the outcome of this fight VK would be retired due to injuries taking him out of the field for a few years.

There would also have been a period between VK retiring and his brother rebuilding his career after the Brewster loss where the available competition would have been extremely weak.

[mr. magoo]

Truthfully Janitor, I think he would have had tremendous pressure placed on him to give VK a rematch, and not only do I think that it was something Lennox DIDN"T want, but also feel that it was a fight he very well could have lost. To his credit, Lewis was smart enough to know his limitations and hence that it was time to call it quits. I love Evander Holyfield, but admit that he hasn't a fraction of Lewis's brains.


Now, I DO FEEL that had he stuck around and put off the VK rematch, he likely would have had some payday opportunities against Chris Byrd, Wladimir Klitschko, and Corrie Sanders. While all would have been dangerous propositions for an aging Lewis, I do think he could have won all of the above fights, if he made a concerted effort to show up in the best possible condition that he could at age 38.

[janitor]

[quote=mr. magoo;3791942]Truthfully Janitor, I think he would have had tremendous pressure placed on him to give VK a rematch, and not only do I think that it was something Lennox DIDN"T want, but also feel that it was a fight he very well could have lost.

Of course if Lewis did get past Klitschko a second time then it could have been plain sailing for his next few fights. Future mandatory oponents could have included Kirk Johnson, Hasim Ramhan, Oleg Maskaev, and Sam Peter.

My hunch when this fight looked like it might materialise was that Lewis would do better in the rematch because he had figured out Klitschkos style and would have known he had to be 110 % for this fight.

[mr. magoo]

=janitor;3792077][QUOTE]

Of course if Lewis did get past Klitschko a second time then it could have been plain sailing for his next few fights. Future mandatory oponents could have included Kirk Johnson, Hasim Ramhan, Oleg Maskaev, and Sam Peter.

I wouldn't exactly call those fights " plain sailing ", especially at this late stage of Lewis's career. But, I agree that if he stayed sharp should have still won all of them.

My hunch when this fight looked like it might materialise was that Lewis would do better in the rematch because he had figured out Klitschkos style and would have known he had to be 110 % for this fight.


Its true that he did show up at a career high weight and was off for a year before facing Vitali. In addition, he found out that KLitschko was going to be his opponent only a few weeks prior, though for some reason this is commonly labeled by Vitali fans as a handicap for VK...Not sure why. Anyway, I think its reasonable to assume that a better prepared Lewis could have done better, but I don't think its a given either.

[janitor]

[quote=mr. magoo;3792099][quote]=janitor;3792077]
I wouldn't exactly call those fights " plain sailing ", especially at this late stage of Lewis's career. But, I agree that if he stayed sharp should have still won all of them.


Hmmmm

Ramhan put forth one of his better performances in his fight against Toney for the vacant WBC title. Lewis would have to take this Ramhan seriously.

I suspect that even a declining Lewis would spark Maskaev though the punchers chance is there.

Sam Peters fights against the Klitschko brothers make me think that even a declining Lewis would take him.

Its true that he did show up at a career high weight and was off for a year before facing Vitali. In addition, he found out that KLitschko was going to be his opponent only a few weeks prior, though for some reason this is commonly labeled by Vitali fans as a handicap for VK...Not sure why. Anyway, I think its reasonable to assume that a better prepared Lewis could have done better, but I don't think its a given either.

The fights that I drew paralels with at the time were the Louis Walcott series.

I thought that the fight that took place was Louis Walcott I and that Lewis could rise to the ocasion and give us a Louis Walcott II.

I thought that VK would then do a Walcott and help himself to the title after Lewis retired. I was almost right there.