Lennox Lewis

WBC Heavyweight Champion 1992-1994
WBC Heavyweight Champion 1997-1999
WBC,WBA,IBF Heavyweight Champion 1999-2000
WBC,IBF Heavyweight Champion 2000-2001
WBC,IBF Heavyweight Champion 2001-2003

Pro Record 41-2-1 (31 )

Born Lennox Claudius; (September 2, 1965) Lewis had Jamaican parents and spent his early childhood in England before moving to Toronto, Canada with his Mother Violte at the age of twelve.   Lewis represented Canada at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.   By the late eighties he was back in England and fast making a name for himself, after only his fifteenth professional fight Lewis had secured the British Heavyweight title after a demolition of Gary Mason inside seven rounds in March 1991.   A year later Lewis was awarded the WBC title by default, (without throwing a punch) much the same as Ernie Terrell in the 1960s John Tate in the 1970s. Lewis had been one of three top contenders for the strap held by Evander Holyfield; the others included Donovan “Razor” Ruddock and Riddick Bowe.   A deal was done Lewis would fight Ruddock, with the winner to fight whoever came out on top in the Bowe – Holyfield bout.    On Oct 31st, 1992 Lewis Knocked out Ruddock in the second round, he would now sit back and wait for the winner of the Holyfield - Bowe clash due to take place in two weeks. Bowe won a unanimous decision but refused to sign a meeting with Lewis; the WBC stripped the title form Bowe and awarded the title to Lewis.

Lewis successfully defended his title three times against Tony tucker, Frank Bruno and Phil Jackson before losing to American Oliver McCall on September, 1994.   For the next few years Lewis won all his fights and worked to secure another championship fight. In 1997 American boxer Mike Tyson held the WBC heavyweight title but was unwilling to face the much taller Lewis. When a court order demanded that Tyson defend his crown against Lewis, he surrendered the title.   On February 7, 1997, Lewis again faced McCall for the vacant WBC crown and won by technical knockout in the fifth round after McCall refused to fight.   A unification bout in March 1999 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden against American Evander Holyfield, who held the heavyweight titles of the WBA and the IBF ended in a controversial draw. The November rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada, was another closely scored fight, but Lewis landed more punches and emerged, finally, as the undisputed champion of the heavyweight division.

In April 2000 Lewis was stripped of the WBA portion of his title after a legal dispute with the promoter Don King. The same year Lewis went on to defeat Michael Grant, Franz Botha, and David Tua to retain his IBF and WBC heavyweight titles. The Boxing world was shaken in April 2002 when underdog Hasim Rahman produced a sensational in a fifth-round knockout of Lewis in South Africa.   A rematch was agreed upon immediately and the two met seven months later in Las Vegas, Lewis reclaimed his title from Rahman, knocking him out in the fourth round. After much legal and business wrangling, a bout with Tyson was finally set for June 8, 2002, in Memphis, Tennessee.   This fight was the highest-grossing Heavyweight event in pay-per-view history, generating $106.9 million from 1.95 million buys in the USA.   Lewis knocked Tyson out in the eighth round of a one sided fight. In the fall of 2002, Lewis relinquished the IBF portion of his heavyweight title. While still recognized as the legitimate heavyweight world champion, Lewis announced his retirement in 2004 with a record of 41 wins (32 by knockout), 2 losses, and 1 draw.

Lewis fought Vitali Klitschko, the WBC's No. 1 contender and former WBO titlist. They agreed to square off on June 21, 2003. Lewis entered the ring at a career high 256 pounds.   Lewis was dominated in the early rounds and was wobbled in round two by solid Klitschko punches. Lewis opened a cut above Klitschko's eye with a right cross in the third round and gave a better showing in the fifth and sixth rounds. Before the start of round seven the doctor advised that the fight should be stopped due to a severe cut above Klitschko's left eye, awarding Lewis victory by TKO. Klitschko was leading 58-56 on all three judges’ scorecards when the fight was stopped.

Along with Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano he is one of three world heavyweight champions to have retired after defeating every opponent he had faced, in doing so Lewis avenged his only two defeats.