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Lewis fighting for more than title
LAS VEGAS -- Nothing says more about the tortured career of Lennox Lewis than this: The greatest victory of his professional boxing life was scored a draw.
That is Lewis, heavyweight champion of one-third of the world, a talented sporting contradiction fraught with personal and professional inconsistencies.
He is the hardest-punching heavyweight in the world and perhaps the most cautious and maybe the most afraid.
He will walk into the ring Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center to fight Evander Holyfield once again. Lewis will have more than 6,000 screaming Britons backing him, even though he fought for Canada in two Olympic Games and still lives with his mother in Brampton.
He beat Holyfield in their first fight in the minds of everyone but the ringside judges, who scored it a draw, yet too many say he didn't win convincingly. Among those critics is the man he will fight for the undisputed championship in two nights' time.
"Lennox had the perfect opportunity of a lifetime (in the first fight),'' Holyfield said yesterday. "But he didn't take that chance. He thought, 'I might get caught.' He had me. Some people just don't have the fortitude.
"At least I know the man for who he is.''
Another contradiction of Lewis: For all the doubts that remain about him, it is almost a certainty he will beat Holyfield on Saturday. He will win because he is bigger, stronger, has a longer reach, and won't open up to give Holyfield the kind of opportunity he requires to counter. He will win because there may not be that much left in Holyfield and he will win without exciting anyone, which has been too much of his professional story.
That is why there are still questions about Lewis after all these years. That is why his manager and promoter, Panos Eliades, described Lewis' career yesterday as "quite tortured'' when normally managers sing only in hyperbolic tones of their fighters.
And for all his victories and all the years he has been on the scene, Lewis still remains mostly undefined.
Some of that changed after the first fight with Holyfield. Now, when he walks the streets of America, people recognize him and tell him he beat Holyfield. It could change even more with an impressive victory this weekend.
The dilemma for Lewis -- and there always is a dilemma -- is if he wins a decision, he is expected to win. If he beats Holyfield, he is beating an old man. That is why he needs to do more than simply win on points. This fight isn't only for the heavyweight championship: Holyfield's career already has been defined, the public still is searching for context on Lewis.
In this fight, even with the championship on the line, this isn't about Holyfield as much as it about Lewis. This is Lewis' make-it or break-it fight, his reputation bout.
"He has a lot to win,'' promoter Don King said, "and an awful lot to lose.''
But for all the doubts and the questions, Lennox Lewis will not change. He will not be what others want him to be or even sometimes what he says he is. Another for the contradiction list: Yesterday, in one interview he said he would fight Holyfield cautiously, in another interview he said he would come in the first round looking for the knockout.
What you see with Lewis, sometimes, isn't what you get. He has everything a heavyweight should have -- size, power, conditioning, hand speed, footwork, agility, all that plus a deliberate sense that belies that talents.
"You can't go in there without strategy,'' Lewis said. " You can't throw caution to the wind.
"Boy, it's better to be cautious than be sorry. They (critics) are not the ones in there. I don't want to take any chances. I'm not afraid of his one punch, he doesn't knock anybody out with one punch. But I know what he can do when he puts his punches together. A lot of people from the media want me to be more aggressive. I have to do what I have to do, I'm not looking for a knockout.
"I'm a boxer puncher. I err on the side of caution. I'm not like Mike Tyson. I'm a different type of fighter. I'm Lennox Lewis.''
Soon to be undisputed champion of the world. Still with doubters.
"I look at him and a see a very simple-looking fighter,'' Holyfield said. "What he did that night (last March) worked. He used that jab, used it well. That was a great performance.
"Is he as good as he fought that night? How good is he?''
This time the judges won't be at ringside, they'll be all over the world.
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