Lennox Lewis - Biography

Last Editor: pepperduck66				Lennox Lewis Biography -   Name : Lennox Lewis Birth name : Lennox Claudius Lewis Nickname : The Lion Date of birth : September 2, 1965 Place of birth : West Ham, London, England Nationality : British/Canadian Profession : Boxer Rated at : Heavyweight Stance : Orthodox Height : 6' 5" (1.96 m) Spouse : Violet Chang (15 July 2005 - present) 2 children

Lennox Lewis Trivia -

Awarded the M.B.E. (Member of The Order of The British Empire) in 1999 and the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2002 for his services to Boxing. After defeating Mike Tyson, he took a years leave from boxing, causing people to question whether he would totally retire. He made his return to the boxing ring on June 21st 2003 when he fought Vitali Klitschko. Lewis stopped Vitali in the 6th Round by way of TKO after the ringside doctor declared a cut to Vitali's left eye limited his vision. Vitali claims he was head-butted and is demanding a rematch. Slow Motion Video shows the cuts to Vitali's face were caused by right hands in rounds 3 and 6. Lewis now looks likely to have one last fight with Roy Jones Jr. before hanging up his gloves. First child, son Landon, born in June 2004. Second child, a daughter, born May 20th, 2006. Attended Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. He was awarded the C.M. (Member of the Order of Canada) on November 17, 1988 for his services to Boxing. Boxing record Total fights Wins Wins by KO Losses Draws No contests 44 41 32 2 1 0

Lennox Lewis Detailed Biography -

September 2, 1965 Died Total Fights 44 Won 41 Lost 2 Drew 1 Knockouts 32 Titles Won Heavyweight (WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, IBC, British championship, Commonwealth championship, European championship, Olympic gold, Commonwealth gold) Lewis moved to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1977 at the age of 12 and excelled in the sports of football and basketball in high school; he eventually decided that his favorite sport was boxing. Future events proved him right, as he became a dominant amateur boxer and won the world amateur junior title in 1982. Two years later, Lewis represented Canada as a super-heavyweight in the Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. He advanced to the quarterfinals, where he lost a controversial decision to American Tyrell Biggs and settled for a fifth-place finish. Surprisingly, 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. After winning several more amateur titles over those years, he traveled to Seoul, South Korea for the 1988 Olympics and achieved his goal. In the gold medal match, Lewis defeated future world champion Riddick Bowe by a second-round technical knockout. This decision was also controversial because the referee stopped the fight after two standing eight counts, and Bowe showed no signs of being in trouble. Having achieved one goal, Lewis now declared himself a professional boxer and moved back to England, having always considered himself a British national. The early part of his pro career was filled with knockouts of journeymen, and he quickly shot up the world rankings. Lennox Lewis 1990 He captured the European heavyweight title late in 1990, added the British heavyweight title in March 1991 and the Commonwealth title in April 1992. By this time, Lewis was a consensus top-five heavyweight in the world. Outside the boxing ring, on August 29, 1992, Lewis participated in WWF SummerSlam 1992 at Wembley Stadium, London, hoisting the Union Jack to lead The British Bulldog to the ring for his Intercontinental Championship fight against his brother-in-law and then-current champ Bret "Hitman" Hart. British Bulldog, a native of Wigan, won the fight and the title in front of his homeland crowd. On October 31, 1992, Lewis knocked out Canada's Donovan "Razor" Ruddock for the No. 1 contender's position in the WBC world rankings. But ultimately, the victory won Lewis even more than that. After Bowe, who had become world heavyweight champion by upsetting Evander Holyfield, refused to fight Lewis, his WBC title was declared vacant. On January 14, 1993, the WBC declared Lewis its champion. He thus became the first world heavyweight titleholder from Britain in the 20th century. Lewis successfully defended the belt three times before he suffered a knockout loss at the hands of Oliver McCall on September 24, 1994. He eventually moved back to the No. 1 contender's slot in the WBC rankings, but agreed to give up the spot in exchange for a multi-million dollar payoff by promoter Don King, who wanted his fighter, Mike Tyson to receive a title shot. Tyson later returned the favor and relinquished the WBC title, leaving it vacant for Lewis and McCall to square off on February 7, 1997 in Las Vegas. In one of the most bizarre fights ever seen, McCall refused to fight in the fourth and fifth rounds, beginning to cry and eventually forcing the referee to stop the fight and award Lewis the victory. On March 28, 1998, Lewis retained the WBC world title when he knocked out Shannon Briggs in five rounds. He had also retained the title this time against former WBO world champion Henry Akinwande, who was disqualified after five rounds for constantly clinching Lewis. He then went up against Andrew Golota, whom he knocked out in the first, and against Željko Mavrović, beaten by a twelve round unanimous decision. On March 13, 1999, Lewis faced WBA and IBF titlist Holyfield in New York City in what was supposed to be a heavyweight unification bout. Although most observers believed Lewis had won the fight, the bout was declared a draw. Eight months later in Las Vegas, the two men fought again and Lewis won a close, but unanimous decision. Later in 1999, Lewis became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Lewis later dropped the WBA and IBF titles in disputes, (Lewis refused to fight the WBA's number 1 challenger, John Ruiz). He successfully defended his title three times: knocking out Michael Grant in two rounds, knocking out Francois Botha in two, and winning a twelve round decision against David Tua. However, on April 22, 2001, Lewis was knocked out again, this time by 14-to-1 underdog Hasim Rahman in a bout in South Africa. The loss, coupled with Lewis' earlier KO loss to McCall, lead many ringside observers to question Lewis' ability to take a punch. Lewis regained the title on November 17 by knocking out Rahman in the fourth round of their rematch. That same year, he had a role in the film Ocean's Eleven in which he boxed against Wladimir Klitschko. On June 8, 2002, Lewis defended his title against Tyson, winning on an eighth-round knockout. In May of 2003, Lewis sued King for the amount of $385 million dollars, claiming that King used threats to have Tyson pull out of a rematch scheduled with Lewis for a month later. Lewis then scheduled a fight with Kirk Johnson for the championship belt of the less-recognized IBO, but dropped it when Johnson suffered an injury in training. Instead, Lewis fought Vitali Klitschko, the WBC's No. 1 contender and former WBO titlist. Lewis had planned to fight him in December, but since Klitschko had been on the undercard of the Johnson fight anyway, they agreed to square off on June 21. Klitschko dominated the fight and Lewis was trailing on all three scorecards after six rounds. However, the ringside doctor stopped the fight before round seven due to a severe cut above Klitschko's left eye and Lewis was awarded the win by TKO. Because Klitschko had fought so well against Lewis, boxing fans soon began calling for a rematch. The WBC agreed, and kept the Ukrainian as its No. 1 contender. Lewis was evasive about fighting Klitschko a second time and ultimately decided to pursue other interests, including sports management and music promotion. On February 6, 2004, in a press conference held in London, Lewis became the first reigning lineal heavyweight titlist to relinquish the title since Rocky Marciano in 1956. Lewis said he will not return to the ring. At his retirement, Lewis' record was 41 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, with 32 wins by knockout. Lewis' boxing legacy is mixed. Despite having beaten the likes of Holyfield and Tyson, Lewis fought both when they were well past their primes (especially Tyson). He was also highly criticized during his career for having a 'glass jaw', as evidenced by his shocking knockout losses by single punches to McCall and Rahman, both lightly-regarded, journeymen fighters. Furthermore, Lewis' deliberate style in the ring did not endear him to many in the boxing community, who expected the heavyweight champ to force the action in the ring. As a result, Lewis was often labeled as 'boring.' Lewis married his longtime girlfriend, Violet Chang, in July of 2005. Preceded by: Mike Tyson Heavyweight boxing champion (WBC) 1997–2004 Succeeded by: Vitali Klitschko Preceded by: Evander Holyfield Heavyweight boxing champion (WBA) 1999–2000 Succeeded by: Evander Holyfield Heavyweight boxing champion (IBF) 1999–2002 Succeeded by: Chris Byrd Preceded by: Brian Nielsen Heavyweight boxing champion (IBO) 1999–2004 Succeeded by: (vacant) Preceded by: Michael Owen BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1999 Succeeded by: Steve Redgrave Previous champion: Gary Mason British Heavyweight 43rd champion March 6, 1991 - 1992 Next champion: Herbie Hide Previous champion: Jean Chanet EBU Heavyweight 63rd champion October 31, 1990 - 1992 Next champion: Henry Akinwande Previous champion: Derek Williams Commonwealth Heavyweight 34th champion April 30, 1992 - 1993 Next champion: Henry Akinwande Previous champion: Tommy Morrison IBC World Heavyweight champion October 7, 1995 - unknown Next champion: unknown Previous champion: Hasim Rahman IBO World Heavyweight 7th champion November 17, 2001 - 2003 Next champion: - Previous champion: Brian Nielsen IBO World Heavyweight 5th champion November 13, 1999 - April 22, 2001 Next champion: Hasim Rahman Previous champion: Hasim Rahman IBF World Heavyweight 10th champion November 17, 2001 - September 5, 2002 Next champion: Chris Byrd Previous champion: Evander Holyfield IBF World Heavyweight 14th champion November 13, 1999 - April 22, 2001 Next champion: Hasim Rahman Previous champion: Evander Holyfield WBA World Heavyweight champion November 13, 1999 - April 29, 2000 Next champion: Evander Holyfield Previous champion: Mike Tyson WBC World Heavyweight 20th champion February 7, 1997 - April 22, 2001 Next champion: Hasim Rahman Previous champion: Riddick Bowe WBC World Heavyweight 16th champion December 14, 1992 - September 24, 1994 Next champion: Oliver McCall Previous champion: Hasim Rahman WBC World Heavyweight 22nd champion November 17, 2001 - 2003 Next champion: Vitali Klitschko