Back in 1997, in what turned out to be the final fight in a living legend’s career, Shannon Briggs was awarded a most controversial 12 round decision, and with the win came recognition for him as the lineal heavyweight champion of the world. All these years later, and heavyweight great Lennox Lewis has revealed how he didn’t even know Briggs, who he fought in a memorable slugfest in 1998, was ever the lineal champ.
Briggs ended the astonishing career of George Foreman, this in November of 1997, with the New Yorker then going into his fight with Lennox, who was the reigning WBC heavyweight champ, as the lineal ruler. Speaking with The Ring this week, Lewis was asked if he would have fought Foreman instead of Briggs if the judges had done their job right and had scored the Foreman-Briggs fight the right way (the decision in favour of Briggs was so bad a full investigation was launched).
But Lewis, who stopped Briggs in five entertaining rounds in March of 1998 to become the lineal heavyweight champ, says he would never have fought “Big George.”
“Oh, is that where the lineal thing came from?” Lewis asked his interview when informed that Briggs had taken the lineal title from Foreman. “No. I never wanted to fight George. It is a lose-lose situation. If you beat him, like I would have, then you beat an old guy and everybody hates you, because they loved George. And if he beats you, you got beaten by an old guy and you are rubbish.”
So, who would have won if Lewis HAD fought Foreman in early 1998? Foreman as we know hung up the gloves after being robbed in the Briggs fight – Foreman, ever-classy, saying on air, “how can I have been robbed when I’ve got $5 million in my pocket?” – but the amazing 48 year old later had the urge to box one more time. There was some talk of Foreman wanting to fight David Tua, but his wife talked George out of it. Had Foreman fought Lewis in either 1997 or 1998, chances are Lewis would have been too much for him. Then again, we saw a complacent Lewis get taken out by Hasim Rahman in 2001, and maybe Lennox would have made the mistake of taking Foreman lightly, with him falling into a trap and paying the price big time? We will never know.
But as Lewis said, it would have been a lose-lose situation for himself. Lewis instead went in with Evander Holyfield (who of course won a tough 12 round decision over Foreman back in 1991), and after an even more controversial decision in the first fight, the infamous draw topping Briggs’ decision win over Foreman in the disgrace stakes, Lewis was finally the undisputed heavyweight king, with him decisioning Evander in the rematch.
Today, Lewis says Holyfield is the best he fought:
“He had everything,” Lewis said of Holyfield. “He had the defense; he had the offense.”
Lewis is ranked by some, Foreman included, as one of the top 5 greatest heavyweight champions ever.
