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Lennox Lewis
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{{Infobox_Boxer
| name = Lennox Lewis
| nationality = British
| realname = Lennox Claudis Lewis
| image = LennoxLewisPromot.jpg
| nickname = Lion
| weight =
Heavyweight
| birth_date =
September 2,
1965
| birth_place =
West Ham,
London, England,
United Kingdom
| home =
London, England
| style = Orthodox
| total = 44
| wins = 41
| KO = 32
| losses = 2
| draws = 1
| no contests = 0
}}
'''Lennox Claudius Lewis''' (born
Spetember 2 1965 in
West Ham,
London,
England) is an
England English former boxer, who represented
Canada in the Olympics and is the former undisputed heavyweight champion. He is 6
foot ft 5
inches in or 196
Metre#SI multiples cm tall and at his boxing prime, weighed 247
pound (mass) lb, which is 112
Kilogram kg
Early Life
Lewis moved to
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1977 at the age of 12 and excelled in the sports of
football (soccer) football and
basketball in high school; he eventually decided that his favorite sport was boxing. Future events proved him right, as he became a dominant amateur boxer and won the world amateur junior title in 1982.
Two years later, Lewis represented Canada as a super-heavyweight in the
1984 Summer Olympics held in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles. He advanced to the quarterfinals, where he lost a controversial decision to
United States American Tyrell Biggs and settled for a fifth-place finish.
Surprisingly, 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 over those years, he traveled 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. This decision was also controversial because the referee stopped the fight after two standing eight counts, and Bowe showed no signs of being in trouble.
Having achieved one goal, Lewis now declared himself a professional boxer and moved back to England, having always considered himself a British national. The early part of his pro career was filled with knockouts of journeymen, and he quickly shot up the world rankings.
Professional Boxing Career
Lewis 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 Ruddock Donovan "Razor" Ruddock for the No. 1 contender's position in the
World Boxing Council WBC world rankings. But ultimately, the victory won Lewis even more than that. After Bowe, who had become world heavyweight champion by upsetting
Evander Holyfield, refused to fight Lewis, his WBC title was declared vacant. On
January 14 1993, the WBC declared Lewis its champion. He thus became the first world heavyweight titleholder from Britain in the
20th century.
Lewis successfully defended the belt three times before he suffered a knockout loss at the hands of
Oliver McCall on
September 24 1994. He eventually moved back to the No. 1 contender's slot in the WBC rankings, but agreed to give up the spot in exchange for a multi-million dollar payoff by promoter
Don King, who wanted his fighter,
Mike Tyson to receive a title shot.
Tyson later returned the favor and relinquished the WBC title, leaving it vacant for Lewis and McCall to square off on
February 7 1997 in
Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas. In one of the most bizarre fights ever seen, McCall refused to fight in the fourth and fifth rounds, beginning to cry and eventually forcing the referee to stop the fight and award Lewis the victory.
Image:Lennox_Lewis_11th_Feb_1990.jpg thumb|left||250px|''Lennox Lewis'' 1990
On
March 28 1998, Lewis retained the WBC world title when he knocked out
Shannon Briggs in five rounds. He had also retained the title this time against former WBO world champion
Henry Akinwande, who was disqualified after five rounds for constantly clinching Lewis. He then went up against
Andrew Golota, whom he knocked out in the first, and against
Zeljko Mavrovic Željko Mavrović, beaten by a twelve round unanimous decision.
On
March 13 1999, Lewis faced
World Boxing Association WBA and
International Boxing Federation IBF titlist Holyfield in
New York City in what was supposed to be a heavyweight unification bout. Although most observers believed Lewis had won the fight, the bout was declared a draw. Eight months later in Las Vegas, the two men fought again and Lewis won a close, but unanimous decision.
Lewis later dropped the WBA and IBF titles in disputes, (Lewis refused to fight the WBA's number 1 challenger,
John Ruiz). He successfully defended his title three times: knocking out
Michael Grant in two rounds, knocking out
Francois Botha in two, and winning a twelve round decision against
David Tua. However, on
April 21 2001, Lewis was knocked out again, this time by 14-to-1 underdog
Hasim Rahman in a bout in
South Africa. The loss, coupled with Lewis' earlier KO loss to McCall, lead many ringside observers to question Lewis' ability to take a punch. Lewis regained the title on November 17 by knocking out Rahman in the fourth round of their rematch. That same year, he had a role in the film
Ocean's Eleven (2001 film) Ocean's Eleven in which he boxed against
Wladimir Klitschko.
On
June 8 2002, Lewis defended his title against Tyson, winning on an eighth-round knockout.
In May of 2003, Lewis sued King for the amount of $385 million
US dollars dollars, 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
International Boxing Organization 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. Klitschko dominated the fight and Lewis was trailing on all three scorecards after six rounds. However, the ringside doctor stopped the fight before round seven due to a severe cut above Klitschko's left eye and Lewis was awarded the win by
TKO.
Because Klitschko had fought so well against Lewis, boxing fans soon began calling for a rematch. The WBC agreed, and kept the
Ukraine Ukrainian as its No. 1 contender. Lewis was evasive about fighting Klitschko a second time and ultimately decided to pursue other interests, including sports management and music promotion. On
February 6,
2004, in a press conference held in
London, Lewis became the first reigning lineal heavyweight titlist to relinquish the title since
Rocky Marciano in 1956. Lewis said he will not return to the ring. At his retirement, Lewis' record was 41 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, with 32 wins by knockout.
Lewis' boxing legacy is mixed. Despite having beaten the likes of Holyfield and Tyson, Lewis fought both when they were well past their primes (especially Tyson). He was also highly criticized during his career for having a 'glass jaw', as evidenced by his shocking knockout losses by single punches to McCall and Rahman, both lightly-regarded, journeymen fighters. Furthermore, Lewis' deliberate style in the ring did not endear him to many in the boxing community, who expected the heavyweight champ to force the action in the ring. As a result, Lewis was often labeled as 'boring.'
Life Outside the Ring
Outside the boxing ring, on
August 29 1992, Lewis participated in
SummerSlam#1992 WWF SummerSlam 1992 at
Wembley Stadium,
London, hoisting the
Union Jack to lead
David Smith (wrestler) The British Bulldog to the ring for his
WWE Intercontinental Championship Intercontinental Championship fight against his brother-in-law and then-current champ
Bret Hart Bret "Hitman" Hart. British Bulldog, a native of
Wigan, won the fight and the title in front of his homeland crowd.
In 1999, Lewis became the
BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
In 2001, Lennox was featured in the film
Ocean's Eleven (2001 film) Ocean's Eleven boxing against
Wladimir Klitschko.
Lewis married his longtime girlfriend, Violet Chang, in July of 2005.
External links
-
Official Site
-
BBC Sports-Lewis' career in photo's
-
Lennox Lewis's Career Record
{{start box}}
{{succession box |
before=
Riddick Bowe |
title=
List of heavyweight boxing champions Heavyweight boxing champion (WBC) |
years= 1997–2004 |
after=
Vitali Klitschko
}}
{{succession box one to two|
before=
Evander Holyfield |
title1=
List of heavyweight boxing champions Heavyweight boxing champion (WBA) |
years1= 1999–2000 |
after1=
Evander Holyfield |
title2=
List of heavyweight boxing champions Heavyweight boxing champion (IBF) |
years2= 1999–2002 |
after2=
Chris Byrd
}}
{{succession box |
before=
Brian Nielsen |
title=
List of heavyweight boxing champions Heavyweight boxing champion (IBO) |
years= 1999–2004 |
after= ''(vacant)''
}}
{{succession box|title=
BBC Sports Personality of the Year.html">Michael Owen
after=Steve Redgrave|years=1999}}
{{end box}}
{| border="2" align="center"
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Gary Mason
|width="30%" align="center"|British Heavyweight 43rd champion
March 6, 1991 - 1992
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Herbie Hide
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Jean Chanet
|width="30%" align="center"|EBU Heavyweight 63rd champion
October 31, 1990 - 1992
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Henry Akinwande
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Derek Williams
|width="30%" align="center"|Commonwealth Heavyweight 34th champion
April 30, 1992 - 1993
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Henry Akinwande
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Tommy Morrison
|width="30%" align="center"|'''IBC World Heavyweight champion'''
October 7, 1995 - unknown
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
unknown
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Hasim Rahman
|width="30%" align="center"|'''IBO World Heavyweight 7th champion'''
November 17, 2001 - 2003
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
-
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Brian Nielsen
|width="30%" align="center"|'''IBO World Heavyweight 5th champion'''
November 13, 1999 - April 22, 2001
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Hasim Rahman
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
'''
Hasim Rahman'''
|width="40%" align="center"|'''IBF World Heavyweight 10th champion'''
November 17, 2001 - September 5, 2002
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
'''
Chris Byrd'''
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Evander Holyfield
|width="30%" align="center"|'''IBF World Heavyweight 14th champion'''
November 13, 1999 - April 22, 2001
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Hasim Rahman
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Evander Holyfield
|width="30%" align="center"|'''WBA World Heavyweight champion'''
November 13, 1999 - April 29, 2000
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Evander Holyfield
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Mike Tyson
|width="30%" align="center"|'''WBC World Heavyweight 20th champion'''
February 7, 1997 - April 22, 2001
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Hasim Rahman
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
Riddick Bowe
|width="30%" align="center"|'''WBC World Heavyweight 16th champion'''
December 14, 1992 - September 24, 1994
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
Oliver McCall
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous champion:
'''
Hasim Rahman'''
|width="40%" align="center"|'''WBC World Heavyweight 22nd champion'''
November 17, 2001 - 2003
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
'''
Vitali Klitschko'''
|}
Category:1965 births Lewis, Lennox
Category:Living people Lewis, Lennox
Category:Canadian athletes at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Category:English boxers Lewis, Lennox
Category:Canadian boxers Lewis, Lennox
Category:Olympic competitors for Canada Lewis, Lennox
Category:Heavyweights Lewis, Lennox
Category:Professional wrestling managers and valets Lewis, Lennox
Category:Ontario sportspeople Lewis, Lennox
Category:Kitchenerites Lewis, Lennox
Category:Canadian Olympic Gold Medalists Lewis, Lennox
Category:People of Jamaican heritage Lewis, Lennox
Category:Londoners Lewis, Lennox
Category:Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Lewis, Lennox
de:Lennox Lewis
nl:Lennox Lewis
ja:レノックス・ルイス
pl:Lennox Lewis
fi:Lennox Lewis
sv:Lennox Lewis
ru:ЛьюиÑ?, ЛеннокÑ?
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