The thing is that you do have a comparative measure when it comes to Vitali. He fought a genuine, top ten ATG HW in Lewis. And despite the fact that Lewis was at a career high weight, out of shape and completely unmotivated yet he still did plenty enough to stop a guy who has looked invincible since. I'm sure a few bodies will come here and give a ton of excuses about how and why that fight turned out the way it did, but you have to give credance to what happened and how it happened. Vitali acquitted himself well but didn't IMHO do enough to suggest that he is good enough to handle a genuine, prime, top ten HW in the only fight he had against anyone who might vaguely fall in that class. That was my interpretation anyway. MTF
I'm not quite sure this sentence is supposed to mean. Lewis did plenty to open up cuts on his face...whether that's something he could've done in a rematch, or other heavyweights could do to him in is another matter. The fight was close at the time it was stopped, Vitali leading narrowly on probably a majority of the scoring at home cards, but Lewis appeared to have hurt him late in what turned out to be last round of the fight with a right hand as they were in something of a clinch. Both looked tired when it was stopped. But both took each other as substitute opponents....and it's safe to say they were both huge steps up in size and class from Kirk Johnson and Cedric Boswell. The point about Lewis' preparation is certainly appropriate to point out, he'd been off for a year, and clearly enjoyed basking in the attention he received after knocking out Tyson - so much so, he wanted to do it again - but it should probably be mentioned that Lewis still looked very much like an elite heavyweight in that fight, and while not in his prime, still showed he had a lot let (though you never know how much a year off for a fighter in his late 30's will effect them)...and Lewis was the far more experinced of the two at the time....Vitali was a pro for less years than Lewis had been on the world class/championship level. So I'm not sure I agree with the 'take away' from the fight being as clear as you make it to be.
