LAS VEGAS – When the year began, Lennox Lewis was considered the true heavyweight champion. Vitali Klitschko wasn?t even thought of as the best fighter in his family.
Six bloody rounds in Los Angeles helped change that, but Klitschko still ended the year the way he began it — on the outside looking in, hoping Lewis will fight him one more time for the heavyweight title he and his brother, Wladimir, so covet.
The question, though, may not be whether Lewis will fight Klitschko again. It?s whether he will ever fight again. At age 38, Lewis seems to be tiring of taking punches for a living — no matter how lucrative that living can be.
That adds an air of uncertainty to a heavyweight division full of pretenders but few real contenders. As heavyweights go, so goes boxing, and the sport is in need of new personalities like the Ukrainian brothers to bolster its sagging popularity.
?Everything depends on Lennox Lewis,? said Klitschko, who was beating Lewis on June 21 when the fight was stopped on cuts. ?I hope he will fight me again.?
