SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Boxing
COLUMNS
CANADIAN PUNCH
UPPERCUTS
LOOKING BACK
GALLERIES
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Lewis seals the real deal
Wins bout by unanimous decision
LAS VEGAS -- On the night of his life after 12 gruelling and vicious rounds, Lennox Lewis lifted his arms in victory.
Barely.
It was all he could do to celebrate the most important triumph of his professional boxing career.
It was all he had left.
Last night at a frenzied Thomas and Mack Center, Lewis became many things he never has been before. He became the heavyweight boxing champion the world, the first Canadian to win the title in 91 years and the first Brit to hold the crown in 100 years.
But maybe as important as all the history is that after so many questions, so many doubts, and so much reluctance Lennox Lewis became a fighter, achieving the status of boxing warrior.
At the end, he was awarded a unanimous decision by the three ringside judges, who scored the fight 116-112, 117-111 and 115-113. As the decision was being announced, the crowd stood, not knowing at that moment who was going to be announced as the winner.
In a dirty fight full of low blows, head butts and anger in the ring, Lewis remained composed, especially in the early part of the fight. He won the first four rounds on two of the three scorecards and then won the later rounds to come away with a stunning and unpredictable victory.
"I realized that he wasn't doing anything with me in the beginning,'' Lewis said. "At times, I was playing with him because when I was jabbing, he was coming in with his head.''
Holyfield cut Lewis beside the right eye in the fifth and at the end of the round, the ringside physician, Dr. Flip Homansky, came in to check Lewis.
"I went through some trials and tribulations out there,'' said Lewis, who was up, hurt, involved, fighting inside, and then commanding in the final three rounds, which he won on two of three scorecards. "With all this on the line, I had to unify the belts.''
The odd part of the judges' decision was that this fight was far closer than the first Holyfield-Lewis bout in March, which was scored a draw. Some ringside observers had Holyfield winning last night, some had Lewis winning. The Sun scored the bout a draw.
Any of those decisions would have been acceptable.
"The rounds he won, he won big,'' said Lewis, who won no less than seven of 12 rounds of any of the judges' scorecards.
The victory for Lewis wasn't simply about scorecards, however. It was about showing another side of himself. It was about fighting a much better Holyfield than he fought the first time. It was about doing more than flicking jabs and staying on the outside.
Lewis had to fight all 12 rounds, something he rarely has done before. Something he could celebrate when it ended.
This was a Holyfield-style fight, with the former champion exhibiting his legendary reserve, only Lewis was every bit the equal of the legendary champion.
There were no knockdowns in the bout and there was no point at which either fighter looked ready to be knocked out.
It was a fight with strength shown by both men but not enough distinguishing moments.
The victor, if there was one other than Lewis last night, was boxing. For a change this was a real fight, two heavyweights on their game, trying to solve each other in the middle of the ring. There will be few cries of robbery after this bout.
Lewis came out early trying to jab his way to victory as he did in the first fight but quickly learned he was fighting a different Holyfield. Holyfield moved better, used his jab more effectively, fought with the conviction one has come to expect from him, only to be denied the championship he has held on three different occasions.
The round of the fight was the seventh and maybe it was the heavyweight round of the year. Holyfield stunned Lewis with a left hook and then pounded him with lefts and rights only to see the Kitchener-raised boxer, whose mother lives in Brampton, come back yet again.
Holyfield tried everything he could but couldn't hit Lewis enough or get inside enough to impress the judges.
If Holyfield doesn't retire after this fight, which is a distinct possibility, there is every reason why he would be granted a rematch and Lewis and Holyfield would fight for a third time.
The road to the heavyweight championship has been long and winding for Lewis, who won a gold medal for Canada at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. After holding meaningless titles up until now, this victory will change his life forever and he will end the century representing Canada, England and Jamaica, the country of his birth, with a championship so foreign to all those nations.
 Bert's back on blades Blue Jays boot game Bombers drop Peterson Felicien rebuilds race | Visit our Polls Archive |