Lennox Claudius Lewis was born on 2 September 1965 and is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003.
86 Facts About Lennox Lewis
2.
Lennox Lewis is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed championship.
3.
Lennox Lewis was declared WBC heavyweight champion later that year after Riddick Bowe gave up the title to avoid defending it against Lewis.
4.
Lennox Lewis defended the title three times before an upset knockout loss to Oliver McCall in 1994.
5.
Lennox Lewis avenged the loss in a 1997 rematch to win back the vacant WBC title.
6.
Two fights against Evander Holyfield in 1999 saw Lennox Lewis become undisputed heavyweight champion by unifying his WBC title with Holyfield's WBA and IBF titles, as well as the vacant IBO title.
7.
Lennox Lewis was knocked out by Hasim Rahman in an upset in 2001, but this defeat was avenged later in the year.
8.
In 2002, Lennox Lewis defeated Mike Tyson in one of the most highly anticipated fights in boxing history.
9.
In what would be his final fight, Lennox Lewis defeated Vitali Klitschko in a brutal and bloody encounter in 2003.
10.
Lennox Lewis vacated his remaining titles and retired from boxing in 2004.
11.
Lennox Lewis is regarded by many as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, and one of the greatest British fighters of all time.
12.
Lennox Lewis was born on 2 September 1965 in West Ham, London, to Jamaican parents and according to his mother, he would often fight with other children growing up.
13.
Lennox Lewis attended Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute for high school, where he excelled in Canadian football, soccer, and basketball.
14.
Lennox Lewis became a dominant amateur boxer and won the gold medal at the Junior World Championships in 1983.
15.
At age 18, Lennox Lewis represented Canada in the super-heavyweight division at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
16.
Lennox Lewis chose not to turn professional after the Olympics, and instead fought four more years as an amateur, hoping for a second chance to win a gold medal.
17.
Later that year, Lennox Lewis won gold at the Commonwealth Games.
18.
Lennox Lewis avenged the loss shortly thereafter, boxing for the North American amateur title eight days later.
19.
Lennox Lewis became the first super-heavyweight gold medallist to become world heavyweight champion as a professional.
20.
Lennox Lewis became the first Canadian to win boxing gold in 56 years.
21.
Lennox Lewis signed with boxing promoter Frank Maloney and his early professional career was filled with knockouts of journeymen, as well as fighters such as Osvaldo Ocasio.
22.
Lennox Lewis was a top-five world heavyweight, and during this period he defeated former WBA heavyweight champion Mike Weaver, 1984 Olympic Gold medalist Tyrell Biggs, former world cruiserweight title holders Glenn McCrory and trial horses Levi Billups and Mike Dixon.
23.
On 31 October 1992, Lennox Lewis knocked out Canadian Donovan "Razor" Ruddock in two rounds for the number one contender's position in the WBC rankings.
24.
Lennox Lewis defended the belt three times, defeating Tony Tucker, whom he knocked down for the first time in Tucker's career, and Frank Bruno and Phil Jackson by knockout.
25.
The Lennox Lewis vs Frank Bruno fight was the first time two British-born boxers fought for a version of the world heavyweight title in the modern era.
26.
Lennox Lewis lost his WBC title to Oliver McCall on 24 September 1994 in a huge upset at the Wembley Arena in London.
27.
Lennox Lewis returned to his feet at the count of six, but stumbled forward into the referee in a daze.
28.
Referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia felt Lennox Lewis was unable to continue and ended the fight, giving McCall the title by technical knockout.
29.
Lennox Lewis corrected several of Lewis's technical flaws, which included maintaining a more balanced stance, less reliance on his cross, and a focus on using a strong, authoritative jab; the latter of which would become a hallmark of Lewis's style throughout the rest of his career.
30.
Lennox Lewis had the number 1 contender's slot in the WBC rankings when he knocked out Australian Justin Fortune, then defeated former WBO Champion Tommy Morrison in October 1995, winning the minor IBC title.
31.
Lennox Lewis successfully sued to force Tyson to make a mandatory defence of the WBC title against him.
32.
Lennox Lewis was offered a $13.5 million guarantee to fight Tyson to settle the lawsuit, but turned it down.
33.
Lennox Lewis accepted $4 million from Don King to step aside and allow Tyson to fight Bruce Seldon instead, with a guarantee that if Tyson defeated Seldon, he would fight Lennox Lewis next.
34.
Lennox Lewis then began crying in the ring, forcing the referee to stop the fight and award Lewis the victory and the title.
35.
Lennox Lewis then met Poland's Andrew Golota, whom he knocked out in the first round.
36.
Lennox Lewis retained the WBC world title in 1998 when he knocked out lineal champion Shannon Briggs, who had recently outpointed George Foreman in a controversial fight to win the lineal title in five rounds, and beat formerly undefeated European champion Zeljko Mavrovic from Croatia in a 12-round unanimous decision.
37.
Lennox Lewis stated in 2006 that his fight with Mavrovic was the most awkward win of his career.
38.
On 13 March 1999, Lennox Lewis faced WBA and IBF title holder Evander Holyfield in New York City in what was supposed to be a heavyweight unification bout.
39.
Lennox Lewis fought a tactical fight, keeping Holyfield off balance with a long jab and peppering him with combinations almost at will.
40.
The raw statistics of the fight suggested the bout belonged to Lennox Lewis, who landed 348 punches compared to Holyfield's 130.
41.
The punch stats however still clearly favoured Lennox Lewis, who landed 195 punches to Holyfield's 137, although Lennox Lewis landed 119 power shots and 76 jabs, showing a definite shift in his tactics from the first fight, when he focused more on the jab.
42.
Lennox Lewis did not view either bout with Evander Holyfield as among his most difficult, but conceded Holyfield tested his limits more than any other boxer.
43.
The WBA gave permission for Lennox Lewis to fight his WBC mandatory Michael Grant first if he would fight Ruiz next, to which Lennox Lewis agreed.
44.
Lennox Lewis was therefore to be stripped of his WBA belt if he fought Grant first.
45.
Lennox Lewis successfully defended his WBC, IBO and IBF titles against Grant with a second-round knockout victory in Madison Square Garden in April 2000.
46.
Later that same year, Lennox Lewis knocked out South African Francois Botha in two rounds in London, before winning a 12-round decision against New Zealander and IBF mandatory opponent, David Tua in Las Vegas.
47.
On 21 April 2001, Lennox Lewis was knocked out by 20-to-1 underdog Hasim Rahman in a bout at Carnival City Casino in South Africa.
48.
Lennox Lewis immediately sought a rematch with the new champion; Rahman now being promoted by Don King, tried to secure another opponent for his inaugural title defence.
49.
Lennox Lewis took Rahman to court to honour the rematch clause in their contract.
50.
On 8 June 2002, Lennox Lewis defended his title against Mike Tyson.
51.
Lennox Lewis was knocked out in the eighth by a right cross.
52.
Lennox Lewis was forced to vacate the IBF title in 2002 after refusing to face mandatory challenger Chris Byrd.
53.
Lennox Lewis was dominated in the early rounds and was wobbled in round two by solid Klitschko punches.
54.
Lennox Lewis opened a cut above Klitschko's eye with a right cross in the third round and gave a better showing from the fourth round onwards.
55.
Negotiations for the rematch followed but Lennox Lewis changed his mind.
56.
Lennox Lewis announced his retirement shortly thereafter in February 2004, to pursue other interests, including sports management and music promotion, and vacated the title.
57.
At his retirement, Lennox Lewis's record was 41 wins, two losses and one draw, with 32 wins by knockout.
58.
Lennox Lewis worked as a boxing analyst for HBO on Boxing After Dark from 2006 until 2010.
59.
Under Steward, Lennox Lewis became less reliant on his right hand and displayed a more complete skill-set.
60.
Lennox Lewis eventually developed into one of the most complete heavyweights in history: able to box at range or fight aggressively when necessary, as well as being considered one of the hardest punchers of all time.
61.
Lennox Lewis was the seventh Olympic gold medallist to become world heavyweight champion after Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, and Michael Spinks.
62.
Lennox Lewis holds the distinction of being the first professional heavyweight champion to win a gold medal in the super-heavyweight category, which was not created until the 1984 Summer Olympics.
63.
Lennox Lewis is the only boxer to represent Canada at the Summer Olympics and subsequently win a professional world title.
64.
Lennox Lewis was the first boxer to hold the British heavyweight title and subsequently win a world title.
65.
Lennox Lewis became one of only two boxers in history, and the first since Ken Norton in 1978, to have been awarded the heavyweight championship without actually winning a championship bout when the WBC awarded him their title in 1992.
66.
In 2001, Lennox Lewis became the fourth boxer to have held the world heavyweight championship on three occasions.
67.
Lennox Lewis defeated 15 boxers for the world heavyweight title, the fifth-most in history.
68.
Lennox Lewis's combined three reigns tally 3,086 days, which ranks as the fourth-longest cumulative time spent as world heavyweight champion.
69.
At four years, two months and fifteen days, Lennox Lewis has the twelfth-longest reign in heavyweight championship history.
70.
Thomas Hauser stated that the idea of Lennox Lewis having no chin was a myth, citing his rising from the powerful punch from Oliver McCall which floored Lennox Lewis for the first knockdown of his career, and suggesting that he was perhaps stopped prematurely.
71.
Lennox Lewis contended that the knockout punch from Hasim Rahman in their first fight would have knocked out anyone.
72.
Unlike Johansson, who lost twice to Floyd Patterson after winning their first bout, Lennox Lewis is the only heavyweight to have avenged all his in-ring defeats.
73.
Lennox Lewis is, along with Gene Tunney, Marciano and Vitali Klitschko, one of four heavyweight champions to have ended his career as world champion, and with a world title fight victory in his final fight.
74.
In 2008, Lennox Lewis was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
75.
In 2009, in his first year of eligibility, Lennox Lewis was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
76.
Lennox Lewis was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
77.
In 2001, Lennox Lewis had a role in the film Ocean's Eleven in which he "boxed" against Wladimir Klitschko.
78.
Lennox Lewis's camp held discussions over a possible match with Brock Lesnar in February 2003, at the No Way Out pay-per-view event.
79.
In 2002, Lennox Lewis played himself on an episode of The Jersey called "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Jersey".
80.
In 2003, Lennox Lewis made a brief cameo appearance in the Jennifer Lopez and LL Cool J video "All I Have".
81.
Lennox Lewis played in the World Series of Poker in both 2006 and 2007, and was knocked out without winning any money.
82.
Lennox Lewis made a public service announcement against domestic violence for Do Something.
83.
Lennox Lewis has his own charitable foundation called the Lennox Lewis foundation which helps disadvantaged children in Canada, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
84.
Lennox Lewis is a supporter of his home town football club, West Ham United.
85.
On 24 May 2018, Lennox Lewis was part of an Oval Office ceremony to announce the pardon of boxer Jack Johnson.
86.
Lennox Lewis is an avid amateur chess player, and funded an after-school chess programme for disadvantaged youths, one of whom earned a university chess scholarship at Tennessee Tech.