SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Boxing
COLUMNS
CANADIAN PUNCH
UPPERCUTS
LOOKING BACK
GALLERIES
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Lewis officially forgets Canada
No Canadian flag will be carried. No reference will be made to where he is living or where he first learned to box.
And he calls Evander Holyfield a hypocrite.
Lewis, who spends most of his time in Brampton, first learned to fight in Kitchener and twice represented Canada at the Olympic Games, admitted reluctantly yesterday the "British flag will be carried into the ring'' and that will be the only flag.
Later, he seemed more upset with a Sun reporter for broaching the question at a news conference than he did with all of Holyfield's wild predictions of a winning inside three rounds.
Lewis, for the record, was born in England, grew up in Kitchener and won a world junior heavyweight championship before going on to win a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. His amateur training was subsidized by Canadian government funding.
Before turning professional, a Canadian syndicate attempted to sign Lewis but the deal was not lucrative enough. Instead, he signed on with a British promoter and not since a Mississauga fight in 1990 has there been any overt references to Canada.
"First time I saw him he was wearing Canada's colours,'' Holyfield said. "I'm from Atlanta, I always get introduced as being from Atlanta. I don't have to change the story of my life. He wants to change his story."