DISAPPOINTING DOESN'T COVER IT.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

For any boxing neophytes among the 16,000 fans at Staples Center on Saturday who went home a little hazy about exactly what happened in the first world-class fight to be held in Los Angeles' sparkling downtown arena, let me try to help.

What happened is that Game 7 of the NBA Finals was called off right before halftime.

It was called off with the Lakers leading after some of the greatest fast-break basketball you ever saw. With Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal playing on sprained ankles but having the night of their lives. With a Kobe-to-Shaq lob in midair.

A doctor looked at those swollen ankles, decided Shaq and Kobe couldn't go on and awarded the rings to the New Jersey Nets.

What happened in Lennox Lewis' heavyweight world championship defense against Vitali Klitschko was that disappointing.

Lewis, a 1-5 favorite, got caught unprepared for a tough fight and was a punch away from getting knocked out a few times in the early rounds. Klitschko suffered an ugly cut on his left eyelid in the third round but continued to extend his lead on the scorecards. The judges had Klitschko ahead, possibly on his way to the title, as the sixth of the scheduled 12 rounds ended.

Then, as Klitschko's corner men worked on the eye, the ring doctor stepped in. Within seconds, Dr. Paul Wallace was sending a recommendation to referee Lou Moret. Before the crowd knew what hit them, Moret was waving his arms and pointing to Lewis' corner. Announcer Michael Buffer was shooing the fans into the streets, their emotions very high and very mixed after the best half of a championship fight a lot of them will ever see.

Disappointing?

It was that and more for the fans, who had a different word for it, beginning with ``b'' and ending with ``t'' and echoing through Staples Center ever since Lakers-Spurs series.

Disappointing?

It was that and more for Klitschko.

``I am so disappointed, I am destroyed by this decision,'' the challenger said through his Ukrainian accent. ``I prepared so long for this fight. ... I don't know why the doctor stopped the fight.''

Disappointing?

It was that and more for everybody except the promoters of the rematch that absolutely must happen.

This fight that went into the record books as a sixth-round TKO for Lewis will be remembered by those in attendance for what might have been.

I guess the argument about what would have happened if the fight had gone on will last longer than the fight itself.

``I still feel he (Klitschko) cannot go the distance,'' Lewis said after the third successful defense of his second term as world heavyweight champion. ``As you can see, he was deteriorating. ... If it had gone on, he definitely would have been knocked out.''

Said Klitschko: ``I would have won the fight on points. (Despite the cut) I saw every punch.''

All three judges gave Klitschko a 4-2 edge in rounds. I scored it the same way, giving Lewis only the third round, when his straight right opened Klitschko's cut, and the sixth.

Given Lewis' subpar conditioning, reflected in his career-high 256 1/2 pounds, and the severity of Klitschko's cut, it's impossible to know how much longer either could have fought effectively.

But wouldn't it have been fun to find out?

Nobody is to blame for the sour ending. The doctor determined the cut had so damaged Klitschko's eyelid that his vision was being impaired, leaving him more vulnerable to Lewis' left-handed punches. The referee took the doctor's advice, because that's the way it always goes in boxing, because only a fool errs on the side of risk.

Klitschko came into the ring having to vindicate himself on questions of heart, his only defeat having come when he quit because of a shoulder injury.

By the finish, he had the crowd on his side, with the possible exception of the dozens of Lewis supporters wearing English soccer jerseys and waving Union Jacks.

After expressing his anger about the stoppage, Klitschko took an unofficial victory lap around the ring, drawing huge cheers when he thrust his right glove in the air.

Lewis held up his championship belts and was booed.

What a way for it to end.

It wasn't a black eye for boxing.

But a bloody eye was disappointing enough.

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Photo:

Vitali Klitschko is surprised at the fight being stopped after the sixth round Saturday night.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer