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Lennox Lewis, CM, CBE

Statistics
Real name	Lennox Claudius Lewis
Nickname(s)	The Lion
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Reach	84 in (2.13 m)
Nationality	British/Canadian1
Birth date	September 2, 1965 (1965-09-02) (age 44)
Birth place	West Ham, London, England
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	41
Wins by KO	32
Losses	2
Draws	1
No contests	0

Medal record
Competitor for  Canada
Olympic Games
Gold	1988 Seoul	Super Heavyweight
Commonwealth Games
Gold	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, Vitali Klitschko and Michael Moorer, Lewis is one of only five boxers in history to have won the heavyweight championship three times.

Lewis is 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) in height and has an 84-inch (213 cm) reach, much longer than average for his height. During his boxing prime, he weighed about 250 pounds (113 kg). Lewis often referred to himself as "the pugilist specialist".

Throughout his professional career, Lewis suffered only two losses, both of which he avenged in rematches. Upon retirement in 2003, he had defeated every opponent he had faced.

Biography

Early life

Lewis was born on September 2, 1965, in West Ham, London, England to Jamaican-born parents.² At birth he weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces (4.8 kg), and was given the name Lennox by the doctor, who said he looked like a Lennox.³ Lewis 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.⁴ He eventually decided that his favourite sport was boxing. He became a dominant amateur boxer and won the world amateur junior title in 1983.⁵

At the age of 18, Lewis represented Canada as a super heavyweight at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He advanced to the quarter-finals, where he lost a decision to American Tyrell Biggs, the eventual gold medalist.

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", as he had only trained in Canada and the United States and already lived 1/2 his life in North America. ⁶

Professional boxing career

Once Lennox had won the Gold at the Summer Olympics, every promoter wanted to sign him. He first signed with the boxing promoter, Frank Maloney. Although Frank was based in London, England, He flew out there anyway. He was very new to the surroundings, despite being born in West Ham. Frank's wife, Jackie, and his close friend looked after him.

The early part of his pro career was filled with knockouts of journeymen, and after he signed with American promoter Main Event^{citation needed} 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 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. The Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno fight was the first time that two British-born boxers had fought for the world heavyweight title.⁷ 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.⁸

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^{citation needed} 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 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.⁹

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 raw statistics of the fight suggested the bout belonged to Lewis, who landed 348 punches compared to Holyfield's 130. Lewis also out-jabbed Holyfield 137 to 52.¹⁰ Judge Eugenia Williams, who scored the fight in Holyfield's favour, said she saw Lewis land fewer punches than the champion.¹¹

The sanctioning bodies ordered a rematch.¹² Eight months later in Las Vegas (November 13, 1999), the two men fought again and Lewis won by 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 was given permission by the WBA to fight a voluntary defence next as long he then fought Ruiz, that decision was challenged in court by Ruiz's camp on the basis of a clause in the Lewis Holyfield rematch contract causing Lewis to relinquish the WBA belt). 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.^{citation needed}

While promoting the rematch with Rahman on ESPN's Up Close, the fighters got into a brawl¹³ 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

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

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 2007.¹⁴

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.¹⁵ Lewis was dominated in the early rounds and was wobbled in round two by solid Klitschko punches. Lewis opened a cut above Klitschko's eye with a right cross in the third round and gave a better showing in the fifth and sixth rounds. Before the start of round seven the doctor advised that the fight should be stopped due to a severe cut above Klitschko's left eye, awarding Lewis victory by TKO.

Interviewed about the fight by HBO, doctor Paul Wallace explained his decision: "When he raised his head up, his upper eyelid covered his field of vision. 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."^{citation needed}

Klitschko was leading 58-56 on all three judges' scorecards when the fight was stopped.

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^{citation needed}. 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." ¹⁶

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.¹⁷ In 2009, in his first year of eligibility, Lewis was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.¹⁸

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.¹⁹

Amateur highlights

• Record: 75–7 (58 KOs)²⁰
• 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.

Professional record

41 Wins (32 knockouts, 7 decisions, 2 disqualifications), 2 Losses (2 knockouts), 1 Draw21
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	41–2–1	Vitali Klitschko	TKO	6 (12), 3:00	21 June 2003	Los Angeles, CA, USA	Retained IBO/WBC Heavyweight titles. The fight was stopped after the 6th round, on the advice of the ringside doctor, due to a large cut over Klitschko's left eye. Klitschko was leading 58-56 on all three judges scorecards.
Win	40–2–1	Mike Tyson	KO	8 (12), 2:25	8 June 2002	Memphis, TN, USA	Retained IBF/IBO/WBC Heavyweight titles.
Win	39–2–1	Hasim Rahman	KO	4 (12), 1:29	17 November 2001	Las Vegas, NV, USA	Won IBF/IBO/WBC Heavyweight titles.
Loss	38–2–1	Hasim Rahman	KO	5(12)	22 April 2001	Brakpan, South Africa	Lost IBF/IBO/WBC Heavyweight titles.
Win	38–1–1	David Tua	Unan. decision	12	11 November 2000	Las Vegas, NV, USA	Retained IBF/IBO/WBC Heavyweight titles.
Win	37–1–1	Francois Botha	TKO	2 (12), 2:39	15 July 2000	London, England	Retained IBF/IBO/WBC Heavyweight titles.
Win	36–1–1	Michael Grant	KO	2 (12), 2:53	29 April 2000	New York City, NY, USA	Retained IBF/IBO/WBC Heavyweight titles.
Win	35–1–1	Evander Holyfield	Unan. decision	12	13 November 1999	Las Vegas, NV, USA	Retained WBC, and won IBF, WBA, and vacant IBO Heavyweight titles. The WBA title was later stripped due to refusal to fight John Ruiz.
Draw	34–1–1	Evander Holyfield	Decision	12	13 March 1999	New York City, NY, USA	Lewis' WBC and Holyfield's IBF and WBA Heavyweight titles were at stake.
Win	34–1	Željko Mavrović	Unan. decision	12	26 September 1998	Uncasville, CT, USA	Retained WBC Heavyweight title.
Win	33–1	Shannon Briggs	TKO	5 (12), 1:45	28 March 1998	Atlantic City, NJ, USA	Retained WBC Heavyweight title.
Win	32–1	Andrew Golota	TKO	1 (12), 1:35	4 October 1997	Atlantic City, NJ, USA	Retained WBC Heavyweight title.
Win	31–1	Henry Akinwande	Disqualification	5 (12), 2:34	12 July 1997	Stateline, NV, USA	Retained WBC Heavyweight title. Akinwande was disqualified for repeated holding.
Win	30–1	Oliver McCall	TKO	5 (12), 0:55	7 February 1997	Las Vegas, NV, USA	Won vacant WBC Heavyweight title.
Win	29–1	Ray Mercer	Maj. decision	10	10 May 1996	New York City, NY, USA
Win	28–1	Tommy Morrison	TKO	6 (12), 1:22	7 October 1995	Atlantic City, NJ, USA	Won IBC Heavyweight title.
Win	27–1	Justin Fortune	TKO	4 (10)	2 July 1995	Dublin, Ireland
Win	26–1	Lionel Butler	TKO	5 (12), 2:55	13 May 1995	Sacramento, CA, USA
Loss	25–1	Oliver McCall	TKO	2 (12), 0:31	24 September 1994	London, England	Lost WBC Heavyweight title.
Win	25–0	Phil Jackson	TKO	8 (12), 1:35	6 May 1994	Atlantic City, NJ, USA	Retained WBC Heavyweight title.
Win	24–0	Frank Bruno	TKO	7 (12), 1:12	1 October 1993	Cardiff, Wales	Retained WBC Heavyweight title.
Win	23–0	Tony Tucker	Unan. decision	12	8 May 1993	Las Vegas, NV, USA	Retained WBC Heavyweight title.
Lewis was declared the WBC Heavyweight Champion on 14 January 1993, after then-champion Riddick Bowe refused to defend against him.
Win	22–0	Donovan Ruddock	TKO	2 (12), 0:46	31 October 1992	London, England	Retained Commonwealth Heavyweight title.
Win	21–0	Mike Dixon	TKO	4 (10), 1:03	11 August 1992	Atlantic City, NJ, USA
Win	20–0	Derek Williams	TKO	3 (12)	30 April 1992	London, England	Retained EBU European Heavyweight and BBBofC British Heavyweight titles, won Commonwealth Heavyweight title and won outright Lonsdale Belt.
Win	19–0	Levi Billups	Unan. decision	10	1 February 1992	Las Vegas, NV, USA
Win	18–0	Tyrell Biggs	TKO	3 (10), 2:47	23 November 1991	Atlanta, GA, USA
Win	17–0	Glenn McCrory	TKO	2 (12)	30 September 1991	London, England	Retained EBU European Heavyweight and BBBofC British Heavyweight titles.
Win	16–0	Mike Weaver	TKO	6 (10)	12 July 1991	Stateline, NV, USA
Win	15–0	Gary Mason	TKO	7 (12), 0:44	6 March 1991	London, England	Retained EBU European Heavyweight title and won BBBofC British Heavyweight title.
Win	14–0	Jean Chanet	TKO	6 (12), 0:16	31 October 1990	London, England	Won EBU Heavyweight title.
Win	13–0	Mike Acey	TKO	2 (8), 1:34	11 July 1990	Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Win	12–0	Ossie Ocasio	Decision	8	27 June 1990	London, England
Win	11–0	Dan Murphy	TKO	6 (8)	20 May 1990	Sheffield, England
Win	10–0	Jorgé Dascola	KO	1 (8)	9 May 1990	London, England
Win	9–0	Michael Simuwelu	TKO	1 (8), 0:58	14 April 1990	London, England
Win	8–0	Calvin Jones	KO	1, 2:34	22 March 1990	Gateshead, England
Win	7–0	Noel Quarless	TKO	2 (6)	31 January 1990	London, England
Win	6–0	Greg Gorrell	TKO	5 (8), 0:51	18 December 1989	Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Win	5–0	Melvin Epps	Disqualification	2 (6)	5 November 1989	London, England
Win	4–0	Steve Garber	KO	1	10 October 1989	Hull, England
Win	3–0	Andrew Gerrard	TKO	4 (6)	25 September 1989	London, England
Win	2–0	Bruce Johnson	TKO	2	21 July 1989	Atlantic City, NJ, USA
Win	1–0	Al Malcolm	TKO	2 (6)	27 June 1989	London, England

Styles from birth

• 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

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lennox Lewis

• Official Site
• BBC Sports-Lewis' career in photos
• Lennox Lewis Profile at AventuraUSA.com
• Professional boxing record for Lennox Lewis from Boxrec
• Lennox Lewis at the Internet Movie Database
• Boxing-Encyclopedia

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