Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis, CM, CBE
Born	Lennox Claudius Lewis (1965-09-02) September 2, 1965 West Ham, London, England
Nationality	British/Canadian
Other names	The Lion
Statistics
Weight(s)	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Reach	84 in (2.13 m)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	41
Wins by KO	32
Losses	2
Draws	1
No contests	0

Lennox Lewis

Medal record
Representing Canada
Olympic Games
	1988 Seoul	Super Heavyweight
Commonwealth Games
	1986 Edinburgh	Super Heavyweight

Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE (born September 2, 1965) is a retired boxer and former undisputed World heavyweight champion. He won gold for Canada at the 1988 Olympic Games as an amateur.

Along with Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Vitali Klitschko, Lewis is one of four boxers in history to have won the heavyweight championship three times.

Lewis is 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) in height and has an 84 in reach, much longer than average for his height. During his boxing prime, he weighed 113 kg (250 lb). Lewis often referred to himself as "the pugilist specialist".

Biography

Early life

Lewis was born in West Ham, London, England in 1965 to Jamaican-born parents, and moved to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1977 at the age of 12. He attended Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute for high school, where he excelled in the sports of Canadian football, soccer and basketball. He eventually decided that his favourite sport was boxing. He became a dominant amateur boxer and won the world amateur junior title in 1983.

The next year, Lewis represented Canada as a Super Heavyweight in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. He advanced to the quarter-finals, where he lost a controversial decision to American Tyrell Biggs and settled for a fifth-place finish.

Lewis chose not to turn professional after the Olympics, and instead fought four more years as an amateur, hoping for a second chance to win a gold medal. After winning several more amateur titles during those years, he travelled to Seoul, South Korea for the 1988 Summer Olympics and achieved his goal. In the gold medal match, Lewis defeated future world champion Riddick Bowe by a second round technical knockout.

Having achieved that goal, Lewis declared himself a professional boxer and moved back to his native England. He claimed he'd always considered himself British, but many British fans "regard him as a Canadian at heart and a Briton for convenience."

Professional boxing career

The early part of his pro career was filled with knockouts of journeymen, and after he signed with American promoter Main Event he captured the European heavyweight title late in 1990, added the British heavyweight title in March 1991 and the Commonwealth title in April 1992. By this time, Lewis was a consensus top-five heavyweight in the world.

On October 31, 1992, Lewis knocked out Canada's hard-punching Donovan "Razor" Ruddock in two rounds for the No. 1 contender's position in the WBC world rankings. But ultimately, the victory won Lewis even more than that. Undisputed heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe refused to fight Lewis and Bowe's WBC title was declared vacant. On January 14, 1993, the WBC declared Lewis its champion, making him the first world heavyweight titleholder from Britain in the 20th century.

Lewis successfully defended the belt three times, defeating Tony Tucker, who was decked for the first time in his career, Phil Jackson and Frank Bruno before he suffered a technical knock-out loss at the hands of Oliver McCall on September 24, 1994. In the second round, McCall connected with a powerful right hand to the chin, putting Lewis down on his back. Lewis was up at the count of six, signalling that he wanted to continue, but the referee felt he was dazed and ended the fight. Lewis and others argued that the stoppage was premature and that a champion should be given the benefit of the doubt.

He received a chance to fight for the mandatory challenger position within the WBC and won it by knocking out contender Lionel Butler in the U.S. However, at the behest of promoter Don King the WBC chose to bypass him and give Mike Tyson the first shot at the title that had recently been won by Frank Bruno. Bruno had previously lost to both Lewis and Tyson.

While Lewis had the No. 1 contender's slot in the WBC rankings, he defeated Olympic gold medallist Ray Mercer by a close majority decision and contender Tommy Morrison. Lewis successfully sued to try and force Tyson to make a mandatory defense of the WBC title against him or force Tyson to give up the title, winning a a four million dollar settlement from promoter Don King. Rather than fight Lewis, Tyson relinquished the WBC belt to fight Evander Holyfield, and the title was declared vacant. This set up a rematch between Lewis and McCall, who squared off on February 7, 1997 in Las Vegas for the WBC title. In one of the strangest fights in boxing history, McCall refused to box in the fourth and fifth rounds and actually began to cry in the ring, forcing the referee to stop the fight and award Lewis the victory.

On March 28, 1998, Lewis retained the WBC world title when he knocked out lineal champion Shannon Briggs in five rounds (Briggs had recently outpointed George Foreman in a controversial fight, to win the lineal title). Lewis also successfully defended against former WBO world champion Henry Akinwande, who was disqualified after five rounds for excessive clinching. Lewis then met Andrew Golota, whom he knocked out in the first round, and beat formerly-undefeated European champion Željko Mavrović in a 12-round unanimous decision. Lewis stated in 2006 that his fight with Mavrovic was the most awkward win of his career.

On March 13, 1999, Lewis faced WBA and IBF title holder Evander Holyfield in New York City in what was supposed to be a heavyweight unification bout. Lewis fought a brilliant tactical fight, keeping Holyfield off balance with a long jab and peppering him with combinations almost at will. Although most observers believed Lewis had won the fight, the bout was declared a draw, to much controversy.

The sanctioning bodies ordered a rematch. Eight months later in Las Vegas (November 13, 1999), the two men fought again and Lewis won a close, but unanimous decision, in doing so becoming Undisputed Heavyweight champion of the World

In 1999, Lewis was given one of the most prestigious sports awards in Britain, being voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Lewis later dropped the WBA and IBF titles (Lewis refused to fight the WBA's number 1 challenger, John Ruiz). Instead he successfully defended his title three times: knocking out Michael Grant in two rounds, knocking out Francois Botha in two, and winning a 12-round decision against David Tua. However, on April 21, 2001, Lewis was knocked out by 15-to-1 underdog Hasim Rahman in a bout in South Africa. The loss, coupled with Lewis' earlier TKO loss to McCall, led many ringside observers to question Lewis' heart and chin. Prior to the bout, Lewis had a role in the film Ocean's Eleven in which he "boxed" against Wladimir Klitschko, and many feel that the distraction and disrupted training schedule contributed significantly to his loss.

While promoting the rematch with Rahman on ESPN's Up Close, the fighters got into a brawl similar to the one between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in front of Howard Cosell on Wide World of Sports. Many felt the brawl was staged to promote the fight, so the reality of the episode is still a matter of debate. Lewis regained the title on November 17 by knocking out Hasim Rahman in the fourth round of their rematch.

Lewis vs. Tyson

Main article: Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson

File:Lewis-Tyson.jpg

The Lewis-Tyson fight was one of the most anticipated heavyweight fights in years.

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This file may be deleted at any time.

On June 8, 2002, Lewis defended his title against Mike Tyson. A fight many had hoped would be a classic turned out to be one-sided as Lennox used his jab and superior reach to score a dominant knockout victory over "Iron Mike." By the end of the seventh round Tyson was tired and sluggish, his face swollen and his eyes cut. Tyson was knocked out in the eighth by a right hook from Lewis.

This fight was the highest-grossing event in pay-per-view history, generating $106.9 million from 1.95 million buys in the USA, until it was surpassed by De La Hoya-Mayweather in 2007.

Ticket sales were slow because they were priced as high as $2,400, but a crowd of 15,327 turned up to see the biggest sporting event ever in the city of Memphis, Tennessee. Tyson also had to pay Lewis $335,000 out of his purse for biting him at the news conference to announce the fight, which was originally scheduled for April 6 2002 in Las Vegas. Las Vegas, however, rejected the fight because of Tyson's licensing problems and several other states refused Tyson a license before Memphis finally bid $12 million to land it.

Lewis vs. Klitschko

In May 2003, Lewis sued boxing promoter Don King for $385 million, claiming that King used threats to have Tyson pull out of a rematch scheduled with Lewis for a month later. Lewis then scheduled a fight with Kirk Johnson for the championship belt of the less-recognized IBO, but dropped it when Johnson suffered an injury in training. Instead, Lewis fought Vitali Klitschko, the WBC's No. 1 contender and former WBO titlist. Lewis had planned to fight him in December, but since Klitschko had been on the undercard of the Johnson fight anyway, they agreed to square off on June 21. Lewis entered the ring at a career high 256 1/2 pounds. Lewis was dominated in the early rounds and was wobbled in round two by solid Klitschko punches. However, Lewis gave a better showing in the fifth and sixth rounds. Before the start of round seven, with Klitschko ahead on all three ringside scorecards, the doctor advised that the fight should be stopped due to a severe cut above Klitschko's left eye.

Interviewed about the fight by HBO doctor explained his decision: "When he raised his head up, his upper eyelid covered his field of vision," doctor Paul Wallace said. "At that point I had no other option but to stop the fight. If he had to move his head to see me, there was no way he could defend his way against a punch."

Hanging up the gloves

Because Klitschko had fought so well against Lewis, boxing fans soon began calling for a rematch. The WBC agreed, and kept the Ukrainian as its No. 1 contender. Lewis decided to pursue other interests, including sports management and music promotion. Lewis said he would not return to the ring. At his retirement, Lewis' record was 41 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, with 32 wins by knockout. Though it was rumoured in an article published by the Daily Mail on the February 24 that he would return to fight Klitschko once again, Lewis quickly shot down those rumours on his personal website. He announced once again, on March 4, 2007 (after the Edison Miranda vs. Allen Green fight), that he was not coming out of retirement. In 2008 Lewis commented on a possible match up with Riddick Bowe. "He waits until I am in retirement to call out my name," said Lewis. "I will come out of retirement to beat up that guy. I'll beat him up for free."

Along with Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano he is one of three world heavyweight champions to have retired after defeating every opponent he had faced, in doing so Lewis avenged his only two defeats.

Lewis is now a boxing commentator on HBO. He also appeared in the film Johnny Was as the DJ of a pirate radio station, alongside actors such as Vinnie Jones and Eriq La Salle.

In 2002, Lewis was reportedly offered £5m by WWE chairman Vince McMahon to take up wrestling with WWE. His camp held discussions over a possible match with former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar in February 2003, at the No Mercy pay-per-view event. [1]

Lennox played at the World Series of Poker in both 2006 and 2007, and was knocked out without winning any money.

Lewis appeared on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. He came in fourth place (out of 14).

In 2008, Lewis was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. In 2009, in his first year of eligibility, Lewis was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Upon retiring from boxing, Lewis moved to Miami Beach with his wife, Violet Chang, a former Miss Jamaica runner-up. The couple have a daughter named Ling, and a son, Landon. Lewis told AventuraUSA.com in 2007 that he is contemplating opening an "international boxing academy" and perhaps one day starting a record label, but contrary to rumours, he has yet to embark on either endeavour.

Lewis has also done a public service announcement against domestic violence for Do Something.

Amateur highlights

• Record: 75–7(58 KO's)
• 1983 Junior World Super Heavyweight Champion
• Represented Canada as a Super Heavyweight at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Results were:
  • Defeated Mohammad Youssuf (Pakistan) TKO 3
  • Lost to Tyrell Biggs (United States) points
• 1985 Silver Medalist at World Cup competition.
• 1986 Super Heavyweight Gold Medalist at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland
• 1987 Super Heavyweight Silver Medalist at Pan American Games in Indianapolis. Lost to Jorge Luis Gonzalez of Cuba in the final.
• 1987 Won the North American Super Heavyweight championship competition, defeating Jorge Luis Gonzalez
• Won the Super Heavyweight Gold medal for Canada at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
  • Defeated Chris Odera (Kenya) TKO 2
  • Defeated Ulli Kaden (East Germany) TKO 1
  • Defeated Janusz Zarenkiewicz (Poland) forfeit
  • Defeated Riddick Bowe (United States) TKO 2.

Styles from birth

• Lennox Lewis, Esq (1965–1988)
• Lennox Lewis, CM (1988–1999)
• Lennox Lewis, CM, MBE (1999–2002)
• Lennox Lewis, CM, CBE (2002–present)

See also

• List of heavyweight boxing champions
• List of WBC world champions
• List of Canadian sports personalities
• List of British heavyweight boxing champions

External links

• Official Site
• BBC Sports-Lewis' career in photos
• Lennox Lewis Profile at AventuraUSA.com
• Boxing record for Lennox Lewis from BoxRec (registration required)
• Lennox Lewis at IMDb
• Boxing-Encyclopedia

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