Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis
Statistics
Real name	Lennox Claudius Lewis
Nickname(s)	The Lion
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Reach	84 in (2.13 m)
Nationality	British, Canadian[1]
Birth date	September 2, 1965 (1965-09-02) (age 42)
Birth place	West Ham, London, England
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	41
Wins by KO	32
Losses	2
Draws	1
No contests	0

Lennox Claudius Lewis CBE, CM (born September 2, 1965 in West Ham, London, England) is a retired British/Canadian professional boxer. Despite representing Canada at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, he fought under the British flag as a professional. He is a former undisputed lineal heavyweight champion. Along with Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield, Lewis is one of three boxers in history to have won the heavyweight championship three times. Lewis is 195cm (6 ft 5 in) tall and has an 84-in reach, much longer than average for his height. During his boxing prime, he weighed 112kg (247lb). Lewis often referred to himself as "the pugilist specialist".

Professional boxing career

Lewis 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.

On October 31, 1992, Lewis knocked out Canada's hard-punching Donovan "Razor" Ruddock in two rounds 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 as he had vowed before the Holyfield bout, Bowe's WBC title was declared vacant. On January 14, 1993, the WBC declared Lewis its champion, making him the first world heavyweight titleholder from Britain in the 20th century.

Lewis successfully defended the belt three times, defeating Tony Tucker, who was decked for the first time in his career, Phil Jackson and Frank Bruno before he suffered a technical knockout loss at the hands of Oliver McCall on September 24, 1994. In the second round, McCall connected with a powerful right hand to the chin, putting Lewis down on his back. Lewis was up at the count of six, signaling that he wanted to continue, but the referee felt he was dazed and ended the fight. Lewis and others argued that the stoppage was premature and that a champion should be given the benefit of the doubt^[5].

He received a chance to fight for the mandatory challenger position within the WBC and won it by knocking out contender Lionel Butler in the U.S. However, the WBC chose to bypass him and give Tyson the first shot at the title that had recently been won by Frank Bruno. Bruno had previously lost to both Lewis and Tyson.

While he had the No. 1 contender's slot in the WBC rankings, he defeated Olympic gold medalist Ray Mercer and contender Tommy Morrison on the road, but agreed to stand aside in exchange for a multi-million dollar payoff by promoter Don King, who wanted his fighter, Mike Tyson, to unify the titles by taking Bruce Seldon's WBA version. After Tyson's win, however, he [Tyson] refused to defend against Lewis, and the WBC title was declared vacant. This set up a rematch between Lewis and McCall, who squared off on February 7, 1997 in Las Vegas. In one of the strangest fights ever, McCall refused to box in the fourth and fifth rounds and actually began to cry in the ring, 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 lineal champion Shannon Briggs in five rounds (Briggs had recently outpointed George Foreman to win the lineal title). Lewis also successfully defended against former WBO world champion Henry Akinwande, who was disqualified after five rounds for excessive clinching. Lewis then met Andrew Golota, whom he knocked out in the first round, and beat formerly-undefeated European champion Željko Mavrović in a 12-round unanimous decision. Lewis stated in 2006 that his fight with Mavrovic was the toughest of his career.

Gene Tunney

James Joseph "Gene" Tunney (May 25, 1897 – November 7, 1978) was the heavyweight boxing champion from 1926-28 who defeated Jack Dempsey twice, first in 1926 and then in 1927. Tunney's successful title defense against Dempsey is one of the most famous bouts in boxing history and is known as The Long Count Fight. Tunney retired as a heavyweight after his victory over Tom Heeney in 1928.

Tunney, who in World War I served in the U.S. Marines, had only one loss in his entire professional career — a 15 round unanimous decision to Harry Greb for the American Light Heavyweight title, a defeat that he later avenged in four more fights against Greb. He was regarded as an extremely skillful boxer who excelled in defense.

In addition to beating Dempsey, the most famous fighter of his era, Tunney defeated Tommy Loughran, Tommy Gibbons, Georges Carpentier, and many other fine boxers.

Tunney also had a brief acting career, starring in the movie The Fighting Marine in 1926. Unfortunately, no prints of this film are known to exist.

He was elected as Ring Magazine's first-ever Fighter of the Year in 1928 and later elected to the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1980, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990, and the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Tunney was of Irish descent, where the Tunney name is still alive. Gene Tunney was the father of John V. Tunney, who was a Senator and Representative from California from 1965 until 1977.

Upon his death in 1978, aged 81, Tunney was interred in the Long Ridge Union Cemetery in Stamford, Connecticut.

Roy Jones, Jr.

Roy Jones, Jr. (born January 16, 1969, in Pensacola) is an American boxer. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1990s by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

As a professional he captured IBF championships in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight. He also won the WBA heavyweight title in his only fight in this weight class.

He is also noted for holding the WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO, WBF, and IBA light heavyweight championships at the same time

Amateur career

Jones had a very successful career as an amateur boxer - he won the 1984 United States National Junior Olympics in the 119 lb (54 kg) weight division, the 1986 United States National Golden Gloves in the 139 lb (63 kg) weight division and the 1987 United States National Golden Gloves in the 156 lb (71 kg) weight division. As an amateur, Jones ended his career with a 121-13 record.

Jones represented the United States at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games where he won the silver medal. Jones dominated his opponents, never losing a single round on route to the final. His participation in the final proved to be hugely controversial when he lost a highly disputed 3-2 decision in the final. Jones lost to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun, despite pummeling Park for three rounds, landing 86 punches to Park's 32. Allegedly, Park himself apologized to Jones afterwards. One judge shortly thereafter admitted the decision was a mistake, and all three judges voting against Jones were eventually suspended. An official IOC investigation concluding in 1997 found that 3 of the judges were wined and dined by Korean officials, but the IOC still officially stands by the decision. Jones was awarded the Val Barker trophy as the best stylistic boxer of the 1988 games. The incident, along with another highly disputed decision against American Michael Carbajal in the same games, led Olympic organizers to establish a new scoring system for Olympic boxing.

After the 2002 Winter Olympics scandal where the Olympic committee decided to award gold medals to both Russia's and Canada's figure skating teams after finding that the French judge had been bribed, Jones had hoped that the committee would re-open his case and award him a gold medal, but no such action was taken.

Ray Charles Leonard

Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956) is a retired American professional boxer. He was one of the leading boxers in the world in the late 1970s and 1980s, winning world titles at multiple weights and engaging in contests with such celebrated opponents as Wilfred Benitez, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler. He was named after the singing legend Ray Charles. Leonard was given the nickname "Sugar" by one of his amateur coaches in his hometown of Palmer Park, Maryland.

Failed comebacks and post-boxing life

Leonard was inactive in 1990, but came back in February 1991 to fight world junior middleweight champion Terry Norris at Madison Square Garden. Norris knocked Leonard down twice and won a lopsided unanimous decision. After the verdict was announced, a battered Leonard took the microphone and once again announced his retirement.

Around this time, Leonard's job as a boxing commentator with HBO came to an end. His association with CBS had ended a few years earlier.

Ahead were very difficult times: after the fight, Leonard admitted to a stint with cocaine that lasted from 1982 to 1986. He fell victim to the drug, and reports surfaced of violence against his wife Juanita. Leonard admitted that his problems were caused by a need to be involved in the sport of boxing during the periods he was away from it, and immaturity.

He and Juanita divorced, and in 1993, he married Bernadette Robi, the daughter of Paul Robi, a member of the original Platters.

In 1997, at age 40, Leonard launched his final boxing comeback against former lightweight champion Hector 'Macho' Camacho. Years past his prime, Leonard was easily stopped by the smaller, usually light-hitting Camacho in 5 rounds. After this humiliating defeat, it was finally enough for Leonard, and he has not fought since. Later that year, Leonard was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

For a short time, Leonard headed a boxing promotion company that included world cruiserweight champion Vassiliy Jirov and rising heavyweight Joe Mesi.

He was a recurring cast member of the American action television series, L.A. Heat in the role of Det. Benny Lewis.

He is currently involved in the TV reality boxing series, The Contender and has served as host and boxing mentor to the aspiring fighters. His former co-host Sylvester Stallone was one of the executive producers, along with Mark Burnett.

Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson (born Walker Smith Jr., May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989) was a professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances at the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

Robinson was 85-0 as an amateur with 69 of those victories coming by way of knockout, 40 in the first round. He turned professional in 1940 at the age of 19 and by 1951 had a professional record of 128-1-2 with 84 knockouts. Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and won the world middleweight title in the latter year. He retired in 1952, only to come back two and a half years later and regain the middleweight title in 1955. He then became the first boxer in history to win a divisional world championship five times, a feat he accomplished by defeating Carmen Basilio in 1958 to regain the middleweight championship. Robinson was named "fighter of the year" twice: first for his performances in 1942, then nine years and over 90 fights later, for his efforts in 1951. He engaged in several multi-fight rivalries with other Hall of Fame fighters such as Jake LaMotta, Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer, and Carl 'Bobo' Olson. Robinson engaged in 200 pro bouts, and his professional career lasted nearly 26 years.

Robinson was named the greatest fighter of the 20th century by the Associated Press, and the greatest boxer in history by ESPN.com in 2007. The Ring magazine rated him the best pound for pound boxer of all-time in 1997, and its "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1950s. Muhammad Ali, who repeatedly called himself "The Greatest" throughout his career, ranked Robinson as the greatest pound for pound boxer of all time. Other Hall of Fame boxers such as Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Leonard have said the same.

Renowned for his flamboyant lifestyle outside the ring, Robinson is credited with being the originator of the modern sports "entourage". After his boxing career ended, Robinson attempted a career as an entertainer, but struggled, and lived in poverty until his death in 1989. In 2006, he was featured on a commemorative stamp by the United States Postal Service.

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942) is a retired American boxer and former three-time World Heavyweight Champion and winner of an Olympic Light-heavyweight gold medal. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and the BBC.

Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He was named after his father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., who was named for the 19th century abolitionist and politician Cassius Clay. Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964 and subsequently converted to Islam in 1975.

Early professional career

After his Olympic triumph, Ali returned to Louisville to begin his professional career. There, on October 29, 1960, he won his first professional fight, a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Standing tall, at 6-ft, 3-in (1.91 m), Ali had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. Rather than the normal style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on foot speed and quickness to avoid punches and carried his hands low.

From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19-0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated boxers such as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones and Henry Cooper.

Ali built a reputation by correctly predicting the round in which he would "finish" several opponents, and by boasting before his triumphs. Ali admitted he adopted the latter practice from "Gorgeous" George Wagner, a popular professional wrestling champion in the Los Angeles area who drew thousands of fans. Often referred to as "the man you loved to hate," George could incite the crowd with a few heated remarks, and Ali followed suit.

Among Ali's victims were Sonny Banks (who knocked him down during the bout), Alejandro Lavorante, and the aged Archie Moore (a boxing legend who had fought over 200 previous fights, and who had been Ali's trainer prior to Angelo Dundee). Ali had considered continuing using Moore as a trainer following the bout, but Moore had insisted that the cocky "Louisville Lip" perform training camp chores such as sweeping and dishwashing. He also considered having his idol, Sugar Ray Robinson, as a manager, but instead hired Dundee.

Ali first met Dundee when the latter was in Louisville with light heavyweight champ Willie Pastrano. The teenaged Golden Glove winner traveled downtown to the fighter's hotel, called Dundee from the house phone, and was asked up to their room. He took advantage of the opportunity to query Dundee (who was working with, or had, champions Sugar Ramos and Carmen Basilio) about what his fighters ate, how long they slept, how much roadwork (jogging) they did, and how long they sparred.

Following his bout with Moore, Ali won a disputed 10-round decision over Doug Jones in a matchup that was named "Fight of the Year" for 1963. Ali's next fight was against Henry Cooper, who knocked Ali down with a left hook near the end of the fourth round. The fight was stopped in the fifth due to a deep cut on Cooper's face.

Despite these close calls, Ali became the top contender for Sonny Liston's title. Despite his impressive record, however, he was not widely expected to defeat the champ. The fight was scheduled for February 25, 1964 in Miami, Florida, but was nearly canceled when the promoter, Bill Faversham, heard that Ali had been seen around Miami and in other cities with the controversial Malcolm X. The Nation of Islam, considered a "hate group" by most media and Americans in 1964, was perceived as a gate-killer to a bout where, given Liston's overwhelming status as the favorite to win (7-1 odds^[4]), had Ali's colorful persona as its sole appeal.

Faversham confronted Ali about his association with Malcolm X (who, at the time, was actually under suspension by the Nation as a result of controversial comments made in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination, which he called a case of "the chickens coming home to roost"). While stopping short of admitting he was a member of the Nation, Ali protested the suggested cancellation of the fight. As a compromise, Faversham asked the fighter to delay his announcement about his conversion to Islam until after the fight. The incident is described in the 1975 book "The Greatest: My Own Story" by Ali (with Richard Durham).

During the weigh-in on the day before the bout, the ever-boastful Ali, who frequently taunted Liston during the buildup by dubbing him "the big ugly bear" (among other things), declared that he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," and, summarizing his strategy for avoiding Liston's assaults, said, "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see."