The Boxer
Born in London, and fighting professionally under the British
Flag. Lennox moved to Canada at the age of twelve, and won
the Olympic gold medal for heavyweight boxing for Canada.
It led some people to question why he fought under the British
flag professionally. It was felt his move back was to further
his career, rather than any genuine home sickness. This question
mark never truly endeared him to the British public. His fights
in the UK rarely generated huge publicity or attendance's,
and it's maybe why most of his later fights were held outside
the UK. Lewis is one of just three heavyweights (Ali and Holyfield)
to win the title on three separate occasions. Though there
is controversy over how he won his first heavyweight title,
Riddick Bowe refused to fight him, the WBC stripped him of
the belt and gave it Lewis. Lewis only lost two fights, to
Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman. He avenged both of these defeats,
which makes him one of only three heavyweights champions with
no unavenged losses( Tunney and Marciano). Though Lewis's
heavyweight record is one of the best, certainly the best
UK heavyweight, he has rarely received the respect his boxing
record deserves from US boxing sportswriters and fans. His
critics state he was beaten by two very mediocre fighters,
never fought any truly great heavyweights, except when they
were far past their prime (Tyson and Holyfield). It's probably
true to say that lewis was rarely truly tested in any of his
fights. Perhaps excluding his last fight against Vitali Klitschko,
who was leading on the judges score cards before the fight
was stopped due to a cut above Klitschko's eye. Lewis retired
and never gave Klitschko a chance to avenge the defeat. One
of Lennox's favourite past times is chess, maybe he saw the
writing on the wall, and unlike most boxers retired at the
right time. Emmanuel Steward, Lennox's trainer, said: "Lennox
definitely belongs in the top six heavyweights of all-time".
Statistics
- Born - 02 / 09 / 1965
- Weight participated at - Heavyweight
- Born - West Ham, London, England
- Nationality - British
- Stance - Orthodox
- Reach - 84 inches
- Height - 6 foot and 5 inches
Boxing record
- Total fights - 44
- Losses - 2 = McCall, Rahman
- Wins - 41
- Wins by Knock Out - 32
- Draws - 1
- No contests - 0
Noted bouts
Debut
- Date - 27 / 06 / 1989
- Against - Al Malcolm
- Held - Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London
- Result - Won
- Round - Second, Technical Knock Out
First world defense
- Date - 08 / 05 / 1993
- Belt - WBC heavyweight title
- Against - Tony Tucker
- Held - Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
- Result - Won
- Round - Twelfth, Unanimous Decision
First defeat
- Date - 24 / 09 / 1994
- Belt - WBC heavyweight title
- Against - Oliver McCall
- Held - The Arena, Wembley, London
- Result - Lost
- Round - Second, Technical Knock Out
Recent News Headlines
- December 2008 - Lewis will headline the 2009 entries into
the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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