London, the Royal Albert Hall, June 27th, 1989. Lennox Lewis, a Canadian/British heavyweight who had won Olympic gold as a super-heavyweight at the Seoul Olympics, went pro. Facing a decent journeyman in Al Malcolm, 23-year-old Lewis scored a second-round stoppage win. It would be some fantastic ride Lennox would take us all on.
A fine amateur who competed at two Olympics—Lennox losing to Tyrell Biggs in ’84 and sticking around at amateur level to try again to get his hands on the gold in ”88—Lewis finished with an 85-9 amateur record; he was stopped only by Valeriy Abadzhyan of the Soviet Union.
Taking his time choosing a promoter, Lewis was hunted by big names and promotional groups. But Lewis wanted to go pro in the UK – for two main reasons. One, he said he always “felt British” (Lennox was born in London but moved to Canada at the age of 12), and two, Lewis stated how “there wasn’t the infrastructure to develop boxers in Canada” at that time. It sure took time for so many fans to accept Lewis as a “true Brit.”
Lewis surprised many by signing with Frank Maloney. Gifted, athletic, big, and powerful, Lewis was instantly seen as a future world heavyweight champion. Lewis would become the first Britisher to hold the world crown since Bob Fitzsimmons if he could do it.
Early wins over Jean-Maurice Chanet (for the European title), Gary Mason (for the British title), and Glenn McCrory showed Lewis’ ability. In November 1991, on the Evander Holyfield-Bert Cooper card in Atlanta, Lewis avenged his earlier amateur loss to Biggs. In April 1992, Lewis stopped Derek Williams to add the Commonwealth belt to his British and European titles.
The world awaited.
Lewis shocked the world by crushing the feared Donovan “Razor” Ruddock in October of ’92, and now Lewis was seen by many as the heir apparent to the throne. But Riddick Bowe, who Lewis had stopped in Seoul, wanted no part of a pro rematch, with Bowe famously dumping the WBC belt in the bin. This left Lewis to fight Tony Tucker for the vacant strap. Lewis won a fairly wide decision in May of 1993 and made history. After decades of drought, the UK finally had another world heavyweight champion. Sort of. Lewis would have to do a whole lot more to win over the world’s fans. And this Lennox did in time. After suffering a stunning upset TKO at the hands of Oliver McCall in September of 1994, Lewis fired trainer Pepe Correa, and he hired Emanuel Steward (who had masterminded McCall’s big win).
Now, after five years as a pro, the world would see the real Lennox Lewis.
With the great Kronk guru guiding him, Lewis beat them all: Tommy Morrison, Ray Mercer, and McCall in return, with Lewis regaining the WBC title, Andrew Golota Shannon Briggs. And then Lewis boxed ‘that’ draw with Holyfield. The world was up in arms over the latest ‘worst robbery in boxing,’ and the rematch duly came. Lewis won a tougher fight this time, and he was, at last, the undisputed world heavyweight king.
Now 35-1-1, Lewis was pretty much at his peak. Big wins followed over Michael Grant, Frans Botha, and the lethal David Tua. Before monster upset number two came calling. Ill-prepared in South Africa, Lewis was leveled by Hasim Rahman and the boxing world was again sent into real shock. Lewis craved revenge and he really wanted to put Rahman in his place quicker than Rahman had beaten him. Lewis made good, scoring a brutal fourth-round KO seven months after the first fight.
Now closing in on retirement, Lennox still wanted one man’s name on his record: Mike Tyson. The fight that would have been a classic had it taken earlier when Tyson was still Tyson came, amid much controversy, in June of 2002. The two had brawled at a pre-fight presser, but now it was for real. Lewis crushed Tyson in a one-sided fight, stopping the man he had sparred with in The Catskills so many years before.
Now all done, with nothing left to prove, Lewis had one final fight. Vitali Klitschko, a late sub, gave a past his best, somewhat overweight Lewis hell, but the 37-year-old dug deep and, having busted Klitschko’s face up badly, he got the TKO win after six of the toughest rounds he ever endured in his career.
But what a great career it was for Lewis. 35 years ago, it began, and now, revered by all as a true great, Lennox knows he defeated every single man he ever faced. That adds a lot to a legacy, and Lewis knows it.
