Lennox Lewis is a retired British boxer, born on Sept. 2, 1965. Born in London, he moved to Canada as a child, representing Canada at the Olympic games as an amateur boxer, where he took gold at the 1998 Olympics after beating Riddick Bowe in the final. He is the most recent man to have held all the major heavyweight belts and been the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Amateur Record
As an amateur boxer, Lewis had a record of 75 wins, with 58 coming by way of knock out, with only seven defeats. He was the Junior World super heavyweight champion in 1983 and a gold medalist at the Commonwealth games in 1986. He twice represented Canada in the Olympic games, first in 1984 in Los Angeles where he lost on points, before winning gold at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, after which he turned professional.
Professional Record
Lewis retired after 44 professional fights. He had a professional record of 41 wins, 32 of which came by way of knock out. He lost only twice in his career, to Oliver McCall in 1994 and to Hasim Rahman in 2001, both times by way of knockout, before avenging both defeats, again by knock out and reclaiming the world titles he had lost in the process. He also drew against Evander Holyfield in 1999, before winning the rematch later in the year to become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, as well as ensuring that he beat every opponent he ever fought.
Major Fights
Lewis holds major wins against the likes of Frank Bruno, Ray Mercer, Evander Holyfield, Vitali Klitschko and Mike Tyson. However, his first world title, the WBC belt, was won without a fight as champion Bowe, whom he had defeated in the final of the Seoul Olympics, refused to fight him. His pair of fights with Holyfield were to unite the heavyweight belts, the first ending in a draw despite observers and fight statistics indicating that Lewis had landed more shots. He won the rematch by unanimous decision. He later fought Tyson in a career defining fight, outclassing the former champion and knocking him out in the eight round.
Other Achievements
Lewis was also awarded the Rings Magazine Championship belt in 2002, an unofficial belt awarded by the magazine for the best fighter in any given weight class across all the organizations. He is one of only three heavyweight world champions to have avenged all his career defeats, the others being Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano. He holds the distinction of being one of five boxers to have won a heavyweight world championship on three separate occasions, putting him in the company of Muhammad Ali and Holyfield. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the year in 1999.
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