Ring Observer Boxing by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
The opinion of the so-called experts is often proven to be quite wrong. History has taught us that the Titanic was indeed not unsinkable. The earth is not flat. And in boxing, Tyson could not beat Holyfield. Liston was no match for Ali. And Trinidad did not have enough to subdue Hopkins. I believe the pundits have it all wrong again, in asserting that Lennox Lewis is “just a good champion in a weak era.” To the contrary, Lewis may actually be the greatest heavyweight champion of all time, or at the very least, among the elite pantheon of masters such as Ali, Louis, Holmes, Marciano, Dempsey and Johnson. George Foreman agreed with this idea. “Lennox is beyond doubt the greatest heavyweight of all time,” Foreman said. “He is not second any more. He is there at the top of the tree. He reminded me of a young George Foreman and an elusive Muhammad Ali. He has everything you want in a fighter.
Even ‘The Greatest’, Muhammad Ali recently paid tribute to Lewis’ excellence. Ali was with Lewis at a Canadian Football League ceremony to celebrate Lewis’ KO of Tyson. “I’m here because I was the greatest,” he told an ecstatic crowd in Toronto. “I’m now no longer the greatest. He’s the greatest, he’s the champ,” he said, pointing to Lennox Lewis.
It is time to closely examine the misunderstood and under-appreciated career of Lennox Claudius Lewis. Lewis first burst on the world boxing scene with his two-round demolition of Riddick Bowe in Seoul, Korea in 1988, to become the first Canadian to win boxing Olympic gold since bantamweight Horace ‘Lefty’ Gwynne in 1932. Lewis decided to turn pro in the country where he was born, England, in June of 1989. He went unbeaten in 21 fights mostly held in England. This earned an invitation to participate in American television network HBO’s heavyweight elimination tournament in 1992, where he was matched with the most feared heavyweight of the time, Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock. With the winner set to face the survivor of the Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe encounter.
In his first high-stakes test as a pro, Lewis showed why he was the best British heavyweight prospect in almost a century, with a spectacular bludgeoning of Ruddock inside of two rounds. Lou Duva was asked what Holyfield would have to bring to the ring to deal with Lennox. Duva, the champ’s trainer back then, answered, “How about a shotgun? And maybe a machine gun for luck. I always thought Lennox would win. But never did I think he would wipe out Ruddock like that. It may have taken you Brits nearly 100 years to come up with this guy, but I’ve got to say he fought a super fight. Lennox Lewis has got everything it takes.”
HBO’s commentator Larry Merchant was uncharacteristically high-pitched as he announced his praise. “We have a great new heavyweight on the scene,” Merchant declared on the air, moments after the knockout. Lennox Lewis may turn out to be – not only the greatest heavyweight in British history – but the greatest fighter in European history.” His broadcast partner, George Foreman, concurred emphatically. “I agree, I agree. There’s nothing in the world that can stop this young man but himself if he keeps his feet on the ground. He can become a great champion. He had a good left, more than we expected tonight. A good overhand right, but also a left hook that really dropped him the last time.”
But the vast majority of the American boxing media would prove to be far more reserved in their praise of Lewis. They thought he was a fraud, too tentative, too timid, too awkward. Two weeks later, Bowe would decision Holyfield in their epic Las Vegas match, to win the undisputed championship. But Bowe and his manager Rock Newman reneged on their letter of intent to battle Lewis. In fact, Bowe seemed quite unnerved by the presence of Lewis at the post-fight press conference. After his shining moment of conquest, Bowe defiled himself and his grand moment as he called Lewis a faggot, adding “I’ve got sisters who could whup you” and “I’m not afraid of you.” But to the contrary, Bowe and Newman evidently were indeed fearful of the risks involved in a title defense against Lewis. Instead, Bowe opted to defend against aged longshots Michael Dokes and Jesse Ferguson. And in possibly the most disrespectful act ever against the richest prize in all of sport, Bowe and Newman staged a press conference in London of dumping the WBC belt into a rubbish bin. Meanwhile, a van-load of men dressed as chickens paraded the pavement outside the hotel. They were hired by Lewis’ former manager Frank Maloney. As a result, Lewis became heavyweight champion of the world while on holiday in Jamaica.
Lewis’ first defense as champion was against a Don King-promoted WBC mandatory challenger Tony Tucker, who once went the distance with Mike Tyson. Though Lewis knocked down Tucker twice – the first two times Tucker had ever been floored – the American media was blatantly and bitterly biased and critical of Lewis’ victory. They wrote that he looked “amateurish” and “tentative” and “lacked killer instinct.” Some even went so far as to write the former Olympic champion and junior world champion lacked fighting heart. This was the beginning of a long campaign of resentful negativity by such media heavyweights as Wallace Matthews of the New York Post, Dave Anderson of the New York Times, Ron Borges of the Boston Globe, Jon Saraceno of USA Today and many others. Their continuous disrespect surely had an influence in creating a negative stigma against Lewis. But Lewis just kept on winning. Over legit contenders like Frank Bruno and Phil Jackson. In the meantime, Team Lewis was still trying to get Bowe in the ring. One of Newman’s dubious ideas was a winner-take-all of the estimated $32 million-dollar gross. The loser would get nothing but training expenses. Maloney consulted with Lewis. “Lennox was eager to go ahead with it,” said Maloney. “The next day, I faxed an acceptance to Newman’s office. I never heard a word back from him.”
“Without an adversary prowess shrivels.” -Seneca
Lewis was again forced to fight another Don King-promoted WBC mandatory named Oliver McCall. But Lewis wasn’t highly motivated to face and defeat another challenger that would prove nothing to the boxing world or his critics. Lewis pined for the most threatening contenders to test his skills and threaten his status – like Holyfield, Tyson or Bowe. Perhaps he was complacent, bored or under-motivated, as McCall connected with a devastating right to Lewis’ jaw. Lewis got up before the ‘ten count’ but the Mexican referee – Lupe Garcia – controversially waved it over. Later a photo of the winning punch showed the blow landing on Lewis’ chin – even though McCall’s eyes were closed! With the setback, Lewis’ career went, as he said, “into the wilderness.” But changes were made and he hired Emanuel Steward as his new trainer. Lewis would come back stronger than ever.
“Look at man in the midst of doubt and danger and you will learn in his hour of adversity what he really is. It is then that true utterances are wrung from the recesses of his heart.”
-Lucretius
Steward was one of the astute few who detected the extraordinary reserves that existed in Lewis. “My idea is to make him into a large version of Sugar Ray Robinson, not Muhammad Ali,” he said. “Because I truly believe Lennox can be better than him. He can do things Ali couldn’t do. Lennox can box. But he still has that raw-boned punch power.” Inspired by Steward’s colossal respect, Lewis rebounded from the adversity of losing his title. He exhibited brilliance in beating Lionel Butler, Tommy Morrison and Justin Fortune. Then came the rematch with McCall for the vacant title which was stripped from Tyson, who seemed hesitant to mix it up with Lewis.
Lewis defeated McCall, but the victory was overshadowed by McCall’s troubled behavior. He was crying in the ring, refused to go to his corner between rounds and was eventually disqualified for “refusing to fight.” So, again Lewis won the title under dodgy circumstances. The next win came against another Don King-promoted WBC mandatory, Henry Akinwande. It sure seemed Don King wanted that WBC belt! But Akinwande would fail and, like McCall, was disqualified for failing to fight. He quickly realize he was out of his league and bearhugged Lewis for five rounds. It was another disappointing Don King heavyweight title fight, though by no fault from Lewis. Lewis, now almost 32, was in his prime years and so far his career was more defined by bizarre opponents, media bias, deceptive Don King “politricks”, lawsuits, court injunctions to force the sanctioning bodies like the WBC to uphold their own rules, Bowe and Tyson’s shameful ducking and Tyson’s record $4 million dollar step-aside payment to Lewis.
“Things are not always as they seem Outward form deceives many. Rare is the mind that discerns what is carefully concealed within.” -Phaedrus
Now with his world title back in hand, Lewis began to show his remarkable powers. He was monstrously impressive in destroying Andrew Golota in one round. Golota was fresh off the two Bowe fights where he punished Bowe so savagely that Bowe has never stepped into a boxing ring since. Now Lewis set his sights on Holyfield, who had dethroned Tyson of the WBA title. But even the mighty warrior revealed an uncharacteristic lack of eagerness to fight Lewis. Though Holyfield often publically stated a desire to unify the belts against Lennox, he instead went ahead and chose to set up fights with Vaughn Bean, Michael Moorer and even Henry Akinwande. Lewis put the pressure on Holyfield and issued challenges to the great warrior. To fight Lewis, Holyfield demanded $15 million and months later when that amount was offered, Holyfield suddenly changed his tune and raised his demands to $20 million! He claimed the fight was “bigger now.” Finally, after all the bluffs and curveballs of negotiations with Holyfield and King, Lewis got Holyfield in the ring. Lewis dominated and tamed Holyfield so thoroughly that Lennox threw and landed three times as many punches. But the judges absurdly called it a draw! Was the Don King fix in? Then, in the rematch, though Lewis was cautious – and justifiably so – with King involved in the promotion – he did outpoint Holyfield again. And Lewis finally had achieved his dream – proving he was the best heavyweight on the planet.
The new undisputed champion intended to prove his greatness, at age 34. So he refused to fight another Don King-promoted WBA mandatory, the unworthy John Ruiz. Ruiz was once knocked out in 19 seconds by David Tua. Lewis wanted to defend against the more deserving contender, unbeaten giant Michael Grant. Lewis stopped Grant convincingly, inside two rounds. Next up was a return to his birthplace, London, against Frans Botha. In this fight, Lewis displayed a ferocity of greatness perhaps as spectacular as Ali was against Cleveland Williams. Lewis thrashed Botha with a devastatingly accurate four-punch combination in round two. Botha was vaulted into the ropes by the blows. One rope strand prevented him from nosediving into the ringside concrete. Botha had never been so utterly destroyed by such a show of force before, not even against Tyson or Moorer.
“How often does it happen that the greatest talents are shrouded in obscurity?” -Plautus
David Tua, the heavy-hitting Samoan, was the next defense for Lewis. But Lewis completely outclassed Tua, exhibiting pugilistic abilities of the highest order. George Foreman marveled at Lewis’ performance. “Lennox Lewis is the best boxer,” Foreman said on the pay-per-view telecast, “that I have ever seen.” But the reviews by the American media were nowhere near as glowing. They thought Lewis should have been more aggressive and tried for the knockout. So the snide negativity of the media would still curiously perpetuate against Lewis. Why the American media would hold Lewis to such an impossibly high standard is misleading and frustratingly unfair. And the shock upset loss to Hasim Rahman in South Africa certainly fueled their skepticism. Again, Lewis would reveal his Achilles’ heel of complacence – even filming a movie called ‘Ocean’s 11’ during his training camp. However, Lewis avenged that setback with defining and astounding vehemence, as he knocked Rahman out with a single right hand – one of the most aesthetically memorable knockouts in heavyweight history. Then came perhaps the grand finale – the spectacular one-sided destruction of Mike Tyson. Again, the critics wonder if Lewis would have fared as well against the Tyson of the 1980’s. But considering how Tyson struggled to impress with his big challengers like ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith, Mitch Green, Tucker and James ‘Quick’ Tillis, you would have to think that even the prime version of Tyson would have had his hands full with Lewis, who is far superior to anyone Tyson has ever beat. Tyson even admitted himself, “I could never beat this guy, he’s just too big and too strong. Lennox is a masterful boxer.”
In the final analysis, Lewis’ career is a study of near perfection. At his highly-motivated best, Lewis seems unbeatable. He was the dominant champion of a colorful era of challengers. A champion so formidable that he frightened away his leading contenders Bowe and, for a while, Tyson. Has any champion so discouraged his top contenders as has Lewis? Remember when Tyson beat Lou Savarese and then boasted of how he’d “eat (Lewis’) children.” Then, three weeks later, after stopping Botha, Lewis answered Tyson’s challenge and ordered Mike to “sign the contract tomorrow. Put up or shut up!” What did Tyson do? He disappeared for months and his advisors said he was even contemplating retirement.
Lewis’ success is the result of his original and multi-dimensional boxing style. He is the ultimate hybrid fighter…master scientific boxer blessed with knockout power in both fists. This smart style has prevented against ever having to suffer a prolonged beating. Even the great Muhammad Ali endured many regrettable punishments. Lewis was so superior that he was able to avoid that. And despite the brutal nature of the sport and the underhanded obstacles put in his way, Lewis has been nothing but a class act through it all. He has never been arrested. Never lowered himself to having to call his opponents any derogatory slurs. Lewis brought a dignified respect to the noble art and sweet science. In many ways, he is the personification of the quintessential boxing champion. And now Lewis is on the verge of achieving something else that the other greats (except Rocky Marciano) could not…retiring from the sport he ruled and the supreme height of his greatness. With his health, wealth and legacy intact.
Surely this notion of Lennox Lewis as one of the greatest heavyweight champions, if not indeed the greatest of all time, will arouse some passionate dispute. But that is to be expected. It is only human nature that the visionary, non-conventional idea should at first be met with cynicism and not embrace.
Artwork by John Murawski.
