British boxing legend Lewis has wise words for Chisora and Haye
British heavyweight boxing legend Lennox Lewis was in London this week at the Laureus World Sports Awards where he presented Serbia's Novak Djokovic - the ATP's no.1 ranked player and winner of three Grand Slam events in 2011 - the award for Sportsman of the year.
Afterward, the former three-time titleholder and undisputed champion had wise words for ex-WBA champ David Haye, and upcoming WBC title challenger Derek Chisora. Despite retiring from boxing last year on his 31st birthday, speculation continues that Haye could soon return to the ring. Chisora gets his chance of world title glory against 40-year-old Vitali Klitschko [43-2, 40 KOs] in Munich on February 18.
48-year-old Lewis [41-2-1, 32 KOs], winner of the super heavyweight gold medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea [defeating future heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe in the final], where he represented Canada, was born in London, and returned to the country of his birth when he turned professional in 1989.
Lewis' breakthrough victory came two years later over fellow top 10 contender, the late Gary Mason, whom he TKO'd in seven rounds. That victory was the launching pad for a phenomenally successful spell for Lewis, who became the dominant heavyweight of the 90s and early 2000's.
During his career, Lewis defeated such heavyweight luminaries as Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Vitali Klitschko, plus a whole host of top fighters like Donovan ''Razor'' Ruddock, Andrew Golota, David Tua, Shannon Briggs, Michael Grant and Franz Botha, to name but a few. He became undisputed champion in 1999 with a points win over Holyfield.
Lewis lost for the first time in 1994, when Oliver McCall knocked him out in the second round to take his WBC heavyweight title in a huge upset. Lewis had to wait almost two years for another crack at the title, but gained a semblance of revenge over the temperamental American and regained the WBC title when McCall's bizarre behavior - including weeping openly in the ring - led to Lewis being awarded a fifth round TKO.
His second defeat came seven years later in April 2001 when he was knocked out in the fifth round by Hasim Rahman of the US, but once again Lewis got his revenge in the rematch, kayoing Rahman in four rounds seven months later.
Lewis fought just twice more after the Rahman rematch, knocking out Mike Tyson in eight rounds in 2002, and then defeating Vitali Klitschko on a sixth round TKO in 2003 due to a cut eye, when trailing on all three scorecards.
Lewis announced his retirement the following year, and since then the heavyweight division has for the most part been dominated by Vitali and his brother Wladimir Klitschko, who defeated David Haye in Germany last July to grab the WBA version of the title to add to his IBF and WBO belts.
On the subject of his friend Haye - who was hinted that he is ready to make a comeback but only against one of the Klitschko brothers - Lewis insisted that he should have at least one tuneup fight and preferably more:
''David should come out of retirement. He should come back, but he should not to think about the Klitschko's right now. He should beat a couple of other people, so people actually think: ´yeah, you know, he can do it this time, he can beat a Klitschko`.''
''There is a lot of money for him on the table and that is important for any fighter. All he has to do is jump in there against one of the Klitschko's and take it, but he should have a couple of different fights first. If he beat a couple of other fighters first, he could build himself up a backup.''
There was much speculation over the Christmas period that Haye [25-2, 23 KOs] would return and fight WBC champ Vitali in the spring, but that honor has since fallen into the hands of Derek Chisora, currently ranked 15th by the WBC, with the possibility of Haye meeting the winner in Germany in the summer.
27-year-old Chisora [15-2, 9 KOs] may have lost his last two fights, but he looked to have done enough to beat WBO no.1 contender Robert Helenius in a recent European title fight in Finland although he was adjudged to have lost a split decision. At 6'1" and a bulky 245 lbs, with a bustling, high-volume aggressive style, Chisora should present a different kind of challenge to Klitschko, and Lewis himself gives the Zimbabwe born Londoner an outstanding chance of causing an upset.
''Vitali is very good but Chisora has a chance. All it takes is one punch on the chin to win.'' said Lewis. ''I always say if you walk into the ring, you have to get wet. If he [Klitschko] is in the fight, in the ring, he gets punched, there is a chance that he might get hurt or knocked out. It will be an interesting fight.''
Lewis' best years were during what boxing historians now consider to be the second Golden Era of the sport. Most experts regards the1970s, when the likes of Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Joe Bugner, Ron Lyle and Larry Holmes were competing was the greatest era ever for the big men of boxing.
However, the 1990s featured Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe and Lewis plus a whole host of quality heavyweights that made it arguably heavyweight boxing's second most competitive era.
Lewis laments the passing of that time, and claims that today's heavyweight division, which is dominated by the Klitschko brothers plus a host of giant, robotic Eastern Europeans, is the worst it's been for a while.
''You could say that the division is in a poor state now.'' Said Lewis. ''We are waiting for that new eruption of a great superstar out there to really take up the pace of boxing and put it right back up there.''
