fightnews.com has a story saying Lewis is going to announce his retirement tommorrow
"The BBC Radio Five Live is reporting that WBC heavywieght champion Lennox Lewis is poised to announce his retirement at a press conference in London tomorrow morning. Lewis has reportedly called his entire team to London for the Friday morning media event. The 38-year-old champion had been given 30 days by the WBC to arrange a rematch with #1 rated Vitali Klitschko. If no deal is reached, a March 15 purse bid was scheduled."
I respect his exit, its time to get some new blood in this game
For a guy who had MANY critics while he was active, he will be attacked without mercy in retirement for not fighting Vitali again.
For the record, I am neither a Lewis or Vitali fan so don't flame me.
i'm not a lewis fan myself but its good to see the man retire with most everything intact. is him not fighting vitali again a dissapointment? sure it is. but if the man has lost the fire to compete, why should he step in there with a man who's fire is burning as strong as ever.
Lewis keeps talking about his "legacy" but no one tarnished it more than him.
I'm a Lewis fan but he should've at least fought Klitshco (sp?) one more time. With him retiring now it makes him look like a coward regardless if its true or not.
He was an excellent champion but we need someone else to reignite the public intrest. Hopefully Vitali can be the man.
GO RUIZ!!! (just joking, no one sane, drunk or high enough could shout that)
Portuguese2002- you are very right about him tarnishinghis own legacy...
I think he did the right thing, he bows out a legend.
Good. Riddance.
The man's not a legend. The man's never been tested. Now that he's being tested, he runs.
Klitschko is Lewis's nemesis: the man who has presented the most viable threat not only to his championship but also to his legacy.
To retire without fighting him again is ridiculous. He'll go down as the most overrated champion ever, if he doesn't fight Vitali.
I agree Lennox is the most over rated champion ever. He never fought anyone that offered him any challenge at all without cheating. He even cheated when he didn't need to. I have 43 of his fights, and I don't remember ever seeing one that went past a round where he didn't start breaking rules
IMO Lewis was the most dominant Heavyweight of this past decade....
Even if the caliber of heavyweight was light during this time, he was still the best of the tens if not hundreds of of thousands of Heavyweights that fought during this era...
He'll always get slack, but he was still the best of my era...
I have never been a Lewis fan but these idiots who say he is a coward for not fighting Klitsko "again" make me want to vomit. In case you missed it, they already fought and lennox peeled his face and lip almost off of his body. It was Klitsko who could not hold up and got TKO'd and that is a fact. I have no dog in that fight so it means little to me but to bash a guy after he TKO's a guy for not fighting that guy again is a joke. For the record, I think a prime Lewis is at least 2 levels above Klitsko as a fighter.
Lewis is definitely the better fighter but the victory was unsatisfactory. This is NOT like Ali against Cooper where Muhammad was hurt early but then got up off the canvas to mount an attack and shred Henry's face to shreds. In fact, even though Ali won in an dominant fashion (more dominant than Lewis was against Vitali at least), he STILL gave Cooper a rematch to destroy any thought that Cooper was half the fighter he was.
On the other hand, Lewis was in constant trouble throughout his fight, and even at the time of stoppage looked utterly EXHAUSTED. What kind of champion wants that to be the public's final memory of him? If he is smart, he will fight Vitali now. Ten years down the line, his refusal to have done so is going to haunt him.
"at the time of stoppage looked utterly EXHAUSTED."
At the end of that last round, Klit was rocked.....it was evident....if the round had gone on a little longer, LL may have Ko'd him there...
Lewis retiring is making me ill. I believe in Lewis and believe he can beat Klitscko (sp?) with the proper focus and training in a re-match. I never called him a coward but regardless if he is one or not, it sure does look bad on him to retire now and not settle this BS feud.
He won the 1st fight but looked "REAL' bad doing it, he keeps opening his mouth about how he's a legend and has this "great" legacy but keeps tarnishing it at the same time. Get training, get in shape, kick his ass and then retire. It would shut up Klitschko(sp?) and piss off his worst critics. By retiring now he just adds more fuel to their fire!
10 years from now all most people will remember is that a poorly trained 38 year old Lennox Lewis TKO'd Klitsko in 6 rounds and what I will rtemember most about that fight is that uppercut that almost decapitated klitsko and basically ripped his lip off.
Damn, I hate todays heavyweight boxers.
I'm only 26, but long for the days of Ali, Marciano, Louis, Dempsey & Johnson. Todays boxers aren't fighters...they're business men who only care about the $$$, not the sport and definitley not the fans!
If I was a pro HW boxer, I would care for the dough too (don't get me wrong) but whatever happened to personal pride? or the heart and desire to prove you're the best? Talking about it, does NOTHING! You must PROVE IT!
He won an Olympic gold medal, won multiple world titles, and beat Holy twice, KO'd Mike tyson and KO'd the leader of the new generation of HW's in Klitsko. He KO'd Riddick Bowe to win the gold and other than being caught twice by huge shots, basically dominated the HW division for years. He is almost 40 and has been boxing since he was in his early teens. If he now wants to retire at nearly 40 and healthy, I say more power to him. I doubt that there is anything that Lennox could do at this point to change what people think of him. He brutally smashed Klitsko's face but he stioll gets no credit for it. It is a shame really.
give the man a break, he's almost 40. anyone who rips him for wanting to retire after a long, illustrious career is a fucking idiot. what's next? if he beats vitali, will he be criticized for 'ducking' vladimir? after getting 'tested' by mc call & rahman, i didn't see him running from them. there's no fault in not overstaying your welcome.