By Dave Wilcox

Since the current crop of heavyweights are significantly below average, let’s play my favorite game, “talk about the old guys”.  In particular, let’s talk about former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.  The heavyweight journey of Lewis is an interesting story to me.  He won Olympic gold in 1988 by stopping another former champion, Riddick Bowe.  Lewis turned pro in June of 1989 and put together twenty-one straight wins, which earned him a high profile fight with Donovan “Razor” Ruddock on Halloween night in 1992.  Ruddock was just about everybody’s pick to be the next champ due to his outstanding showings against Mike Tyson.  On this Hallow’s eve, Lennox Lewis had a trick up his sleeve and it was no treat for Donovan Ruddock.  Lewis came out quickly and landed his famous right hand early in the first round.  Ruddock never had a chance. Lewis put Ruddock on the canvas three times in the bout, once in the first round and twice in the second. The referee mercifully stopped the fight in round two.  The bout with Ruddock was a WBC eliminator for the right to face undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

Two weeks after Lewis defeated Ruddock, rising star Riddick Bowe defeated Holyfield to become the heavyweight champion in a thrilling bout. A rematch from the 1988 Olympics for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world between Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis was the obvious next step.  In a move that haunted Lennox Lewis for the rest of his career, he was awarded the WBC version of the heavyweight title without throwing a single punch. Riddick Bowe tossed the WBC title in a garbage can in an ill-advised publicity stunt.  Lewis was champ, but like Kenny Norton before him, he didn’t earn it in the ring.  The stigma of not earning the title seemed to stay with him and his detractors would always bring up the subject.  In reality, Lewis beat a top contender in Ruddock and lobbied for a fight with Bowe.  It is my humble opinion, Bowe might have remembered the beating he took from Lewis in the Olympics and decided to look elsewhere for a fight.  The fight we needed to make us forget about the Tyson era would never materialize.  Riddick Bowe would have a couple of rematches with Holyfield, losing one and winning the rubber match.  He was not able to stay in physical or mental shape and quickly faded away. 

For Lennox Lewis, he continued on and won a few fights against Tony Tucker, Phil Jackson and fellow countryman Frank Bruno.  In 1994 in the Wembley Arena, Lewis would get devastated in a huge upset when McCall knocked out Lewis in two rounds to win the WBC title.  After 25 straight wins, Lewis finally got a taste of defeat.  Rather then cry about the loss, Lewis got right back in mix. He strung together a few victories including a close decision win over Ray Mercer and a TKO victory over Tommy Morrison.  In February of 1997, he would get his revenge in a rematch with Oliver McCall.  In a bizarre evening Oliver McCall had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the fight, the referee stopped the action in the 5th and Lewis was once again the WBC heavyweight champion. 

After beating McCall, Lennox Lewis was finally back on track and fought on to try and secure his legacy of heavyweight supremacy.  In March of 1999, Lewis would get his chance at greatness when he took on WBA/IBF champion Evander Holyfield to unify the heavyweight championship.  Lewis controlled the fight but in the end it was declared a draw. Most experts believed Lewis won handily, as did this here scribe.  A rematch happened eight months later with the meaningless IBO title added to the mix.  With four titles on the line, Lennox Lewis dominated Holyfield to win a decision and become the undisputed heavyweight champ.  Lewis would defend his title three times before being knocked out again in another upset loss, this time by Hasim Rahman in South Africa.  A circumstances leading to the loss plagued Lewis throughout the later part of his career was apparent against Rahman.

Lewis was grossly out of shape and obviously did not come prepared. After months of negotiations and legal battles, Lewis would get a rematch with Rahman and become the heavyweight champion for a third time when he stopped Rahman in four rounds. During the Lewis era, it was every heavyweight’s dream to fight Mike Tyson and Lewis was able to make his dream a reality. By the time Tyson and Lewis met in the ring, Mike was a shot fighter and brought nothing to the table except a lot of money and an easy night for Lewis. After Lewis stopped Tyson, he was hitting his peak of superstardom and starting to get the recognition that I thought he always deserved.

Enter Vitali Klitschko.  Lewis was scheduled to fight Kirk Johnson in June of 2003, but Johnson suffered an injury a few short weeks before the fight. Vitali Klitschko was accepted as the replacement with only two weeks notice and the battle of giants was set for the Staples Center in Los Angeles.  In the bout, Klitschko surprised a lot of people with his boxing ability.  Vitali stunned Lewis several times in the early rounds and the bout appeared to be heading for an all out war.  Lewis would gain his composure and start to find the range with the right, but Klitschko seemed to be in control.  An ugly cut opened over Klitschko’s eye and bout was stopped after the sixth round. Lewis was awarded the TKO victory, but many felt he was quite lucky to escape LosAngeles with his belt still strapped.  A rematch seemed to be the natural next step for Lewis.  In a surprise decision, at the age of 38, Lewis did what most past champions could not do, he retired on top.  Lewis felt that at 38, it was time to walk away. The surprise retirement left us wanting more of Lewis in the ring.

This of course begs the original question.  Is Lennox Lewis an all-time great or an average fighter?  He was a three time heavyweight champion who at one point unified the division.  Lewis fought tough competition for the most part and I thought he carried himself well as the champion.  His physical attributes were incredible.  At 6’5” and weight ranging from 230-250, he was an intimidating force in the ring.  Another intangible that Lewis possessed was his ability to get people talking.  You either love him or hate him. Even though a lot of his fights were not the most exciting affairs, every Lewis fight was an event that very few missed.  I always looked forward to his bouts because he was a thinking man’s fighter.  He used his head in the ring and was not going to take unnecessary punishment.  That in itself is probably a big reason for his retirement. Thirty-eight years old in the real world is young.  Being 38 years old in boxing and you’re an old-timer.  I’m sure he decided he didn’t need to take anymore shots to the head.

On the flip side, there are some who say that Lewis was a pretender to the throne.  Some say the chin of Lennox was too weak for him to be considered a great champion.  There are those that say he ducked tough bouts with Chris Byrd, John Ruiz and of course Lewis detractors will say that it was Lewis who “ducked” Riddick Bowe, not the other way around.  The other knock is that he waited until Holyfield and Tyson got old before he fought them, thus he never had a career defining fight.  Many people dislike Lewis for his inability to figure out his own nationality. Let me see if I can remember.  Lewis fought for Canada in the Olympics, he claimed to be from Jamaica after the Olympics and then suddenly became British.

As you have probably figured out, I am not in agreement with most of the negatives that surround Lewis.  We were all disappointed with the fact that Lewis-Bowe never happened.  The truth is that Riddick Bowe chose to throw the belt away in order to avoid the mandatory number one contender.  Bowe instead decided to fight easy match-ups against Michael Dokes and Jesse Ferguson.  I actually don’t fault Bowe for fighting Holyfield instead of Lewis because that was a no-brainer.  The truth is that a fight could have happened later on, but Riddick couldn’t stay straight and faded out of the picture, as Lewis seemed to grow stronger.  Anyone who believes Lewis ducked Byrd and Ruiz is out of their minds.  When they were viable contenders, they were both minimal risk, but amore importantly, minimal dollars for Lewis. As far as waiting for Tyson and Holyfield to get old, I’ll give you Tyson, but at the time the Tyson fanatics were sure Tyson would win. As far as Holyfield goes, he got old after Lewis.  Holyfield was coming off his two stunning victories over Mike Tyson and his rematch blow out of Michael Moorer.  That is hardly the resume of a shot fighter.  I will admit Lewis has shown a questionable chin at times, but he avenged both KO losses to McCall and Rahman in grand fashion.

I guess to summarize, I think Lennox Lewis was a damn good fighter with tremendous physical ability.  Lewis’ tendency to be lazy in the gym and his knack of coming into the ring out of shape at times turned many off.  It is for that reason I don’t consider him a top ten all time great.  I would place him somewhere between ten and fifteen on my all-time list.  He does however deserve respect as a former undisputed and three time heavyweight champion of the world. I will look back fondly on Lennox Lewis’ career and miss the excitement he brought to the division.  Don’t anyone try and tell me they can’t wait for the next title defenses of Chris Byrd, John Ruiz and Vitali Klitschko.   Even as a Lennox Lewis supporter, I am one of the many that wish he would get in the ring one last time and give Klitschko his much deserved rematch. 

If he were to beat Klitschko and win, nobody could question his ability, even though you shouldn’t question his ability as it is.  Even if he loses a rematch with Klitschko, he can help the division by legitimizing Vitali. Lewis’ skills are unquestionable and those very same skills are what make him an all-time great.