 The Worldwide Boxing Magazine Site |
Got your free t-shirt yet? |
| articles from the magazine ... |
|
December 1999
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
|
 |
AS GOOD AS IT GETS
Finally Lennox Lewis has accomplished his mission. GRAHAM HOUSTON reports from ringside in Las Vegas on the night that a British fighter became undisputed world heavyweight champion |
|
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: after so long on the outside, Lewis has finally become The Man
- Photo John Gichigi
- Get Big Pic The
warrior was Evander Holyfield but the winner - and that, in
practical terms, is what truly counts - was Lennox Lewis in their
heavyweight title rematch at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas on 13
November.
And Lewis was, I believe, a thoroughly deserving victor even though
the decision could be called debatable, with some of the dissenters in
the media apparently believing that the verdict was as contentious as
the draw of the two fighters’ original meeting last March.
Lewis, to be sure, had to weather some rocky moments before thrusting
his arms aloft in the traditional winner’s posture as the final bell
ended a hard, tactical, but, I thought, engrossing 12 rounds of boxing.
He was sure in his own mind that he had won, and the three Las Vegas
judges agreed with him, awarding the London-born World Boxing Council
champion a unanimous decision. But the boos showed that there were many
in the crowd of 17, 916 who felt that Holyfield had fought well enough
to win this defence of his World Boxing Association and International
Boxing Federation titles.
But, while not everyone agreed, Lewis got the win that many feel was
unjustly denied him by the judges last March, even if it was not in the
overwhelming manner he had sought and predicted.
The British contingent estimated at 6,000, some holding aloft Union
flags, went ominously quiet at times during a fight in which Holyfield
seemed to do most of the damage even though Lewis scored more points.
Of the three judges, Jerry Roth had it the closest, 115-113. Chuck
Giampa saw it 116-112 while the 83-year-old Bill Graham made it seem
like a one-sided affair with his score of 117-111.
From my seat about 12 rows back but with good sight-lines, I had Lewis
winning by 116-112. But I did not keep a running total and must confess
that I was surprised, when adding up my score at the finish, that I had
it as clearly for Lewis as I did.
At times Lewis was barely eking out the rounds, stealing them with the
left jab but stealing them nevertheless, and the simple fact is that at
the conclusion of the contest he had won more rounds than had his
opponent.
But it was easy to see why so many people would favour Holyfield. The
37-year-old, giving away height, reach, 25lbs in weight and three years
in age, once more called on his seemingly inexhaustible wellspring of
courage, determination and resiliency as he doggedly took the fight to
the much bigger man.
He rocked Lewis in several rounds - the seventh in particular when a
left hook sent the big man with the Canadian upbringing and the reggae
roots tottering back to the ropes on unsteady legs, a sickly grin
supplying sure evidence that he had indeed been hurt.
And Lewis looked a bit the worse for wear, his features swollen, a cut
over the right eye (caused, it seemed, by a clash of heads), although
Holyfield was a little bruised and bumpy around the eyes.
There was no question that Holyfield, a 2-1 underdog, fought a better,
tougher fight than he had the first time - just as he had predicted he
would - but the physical advantages of Lewis were a little too much.
Lewis had promised to be more assertive than last time, but his truly
aggressive surges came only sporadically.
For most of the fight he looked to score points on the outside, and
the left jab - even when it was being used only as a defensive pole to
keep Holyfield from closing in - was what, in the end, won him the
fight.
But it was disconcerting to see Lewis, a man of 6ft 5ins and 242lbs
(17st 4lbs) being backed up and at times chased by an older opponent who
is so much smaller.
As in the first meeting, which I watched on television, I had the
definite impression that Holyfield was the puncher in the ring, the man
most likely to do something spectacular with one shot.
In the seventh, and in a couple of other rounds, it seemed that he
might do just that, but he was unable to follow up his most vivid
moments of ascendancy, largely due to Lewis’s defensive cleverness, plus
the fact that the British-born boxer is so huge, so difficult to reach
when he pulls his body back to avoid a blow.
But while Lewis rode out these perilous passages it has to be said,
that as in the first fight, he was a disappointment in his failure to
press home his advantages in a manner that might have given him the
opportunity to achieve a resounding triumph.
We saw in the rematch what we saw in the first fight and what we have
seen in other Lewis contests, which is a disinclination to put himself
at hazard.
Sure, he fought back strongly after getting rattled, and all credit to
him for this. But it suited him far more, it seemed, to stay away and
pick off the smaller man. This not a matter of lacking heart, I feel,
even though many of my American colleagues will disagree, but rather a
natural caution, an unwillingness to commit himself to an all-out
assault unless he is convinced that the other man is either at his mercy
or cannot hurt him. Or a combination of the two.
It appears that he will step right up to the imaginary door behind
which lies the possibility of pain or of powerful achievement but will
not take the chance to go through it. So he stays on the threshold,
using long-arm rather than strong-arm methods, or simply steps back from
the danger zone to find a safer position from which to employ his
talents.
In many cases - most cases, even - this would be all well and good.
What we would call smart boxing. But for a heavyweight of Lewis’s
physical dimensions and the impression of power he conveys, we tend to
expect more.
Yet Lewis showed character, I thought, in the way he rallied from
adversity. Holyfield’s lawyer and confidante, Jim Thomas, said
afterwards: "Lennox answered the questions about whether Lennox has a
heart. Lennox took some great shots from a great, great fighter and he
didn’t quit. And I don’t think a lot of people understand how hard that
is, and how much courage it takes to do that."
But it seemed that Lewis only opened up when it was a matter of having
either to punch his way clear of trouble or to slow down any momentum
that his opponent might have been building. Then it was back to the
rooftop sniping type of tactics that, while serving him well in the
matter of points scoring, did nothing to advance his reputation in the
eyes of his harshest critics, which means, mainly, the American press
and public.
It was disconcerting to see Lewis turning to the referee, Mitch
Halpern, in complaint when Holyfield bored in with his head down. This
was, after all a heavyweight title fight and rough stuff has to be
expected.
And in view of Holyfield’s aggression it was not surprising that the
decision was booed. Some American newspaper headlines the next day
contained the word "robbery", which it wasn’t but which captured the
essence of certain reporters’ feelings.
Lewis, sad to say, comes out of the fight with his reputation not much
more enhanced than when he went into it.
But here we should give some credit to Holyfield for creating the
problems and applying the pressure that not too many heavyweights, one
suspects, would have been able to handle.
Holyfield was crafty at ducking under punches and kept his head moving
so that Lewis was unable to land too many clean rights, although an
uppercut in the ninth clearly shook the older man. But Lewis had success
with quick, almost sneaky punches and also did some hefty thumping to
the body.
Generally, though, Holyfield was the one throwing the bombs, but in
some rounds he spent too long loading up for the next big delivery, and
it was in these rounds that Lewis was pulling ahead on the scorecards.
It was not as if Lewis was scared of Holyfield - he showed that by
dropping his arms defiantly even when calamity threatened. But neither
was he prepared to engage the three-time heavyweight champ from Atlanta,
Georgia, in the type of exchanges that would have left no doubt - one
way or the other.
Holyfield clearly felt he had won, though, at the post-fight
conference, he did not come right out and say it. "I wasn’t happy with
the decision but I have to live with it," he said. "God grants victory,
man grants decisions." (And women, Evander: remember Eugenia Williams?)
As to his future, he said he will go home, think about it and pray.
But, on the evidence of this fight, he still has a lot to offer.
Promoter Don King declined to disagree with the decision. "On March
13th I did not second guess the judges, and I’m not about to second
guess them on November 13th," he said.
"I’m happy that we had a great fight and I congratulate the undisputed
champion of the world, Lennox Lewis, for a magnificent performance in
winning all three belts."
Well, not quite all three, not at first. The IBF belt was not in
Lewis’s possession. The New Jersey-based body said that the Lewis camp
had not paid the $300,000 sanctioning fee. The Lewis camp’s position was
that the sanctioning fee was put into escrow due to the IBF’s legal
problems. But on the Monday after the Saturday night fight, agreement
was reached, the IBF got its fee and Lewis his belt.
The whole matter of the IBF belt was merely a loose end. Lewis is the
champion, in the eyes of the boxing world.
Wearing dark glasses to the post-fight conference, as is his custom,
he said: "It’s a great feeling, because a lot of people don’t realise
that it’s taken me 10 years I’ve been trying to get the undisputed
heavyweight championship of the world and I’ve been through a lot of
trials and tribulations. I’ve always said that Lennox Lewis is on a
mission, and I’ve finally succeeded in that mission today. I’m going to
sit back and relish the moment right now, but I’m willing to take on
all-comers."
He said his main objective is to meet all the top heavyweights of his
era, which definitely includes Mike Tyson "if the fight can be made". He
added: "You have to remember, Tyson gave up the [WBC] belt and went
after Evander Holyfield - he didn’t want to fight me."
Lewis confirmed that this fight had been tougher for him than the last
one.
"This time around it was more difficult," he said. "He was trying to
steal the rounds. I was staying closer to him than last time, to get my
power punches off, but his defence was very good."
Holyfield said: "I had to do something different [from the first
fight], and so the things I did different kinda messed him up and at
times I could catch him with some shots. I couldn’t go out there and
commit myself to start off the round, because he was looking for it.
"Victory is doing the very best that I can do, and I did that
tonight."
Lewis said he felt he had been more aggressive than last time, saying:
"In some moments in the fight I did show my aggressiveness and I did
push Evander Holyfield back to the ropes." He said he wanted to thank
the British fans who had supported him through the years and the ones
who had travelled to Las Vegas to see him in his most important victory.
"You’re welcome, luv," came a woman’s voice in a cockney accent from
somewhere in the crowded assembly.
Emanuel Steward, Lewis’s trainer, said: "It was a much better fight
[than the last one] because Evander was more intense, more determined,
this fight. He kept his - I call it the Holyfield Jig - his rhythm all
the way through. In the first part of the fight I thought Lennox got off
early because of dominating with his jab, and in the late rounds I think
Lennox’s physical strength was a big factor." But Steward thanked
Holyfield for "giving us some of the greatest fights in the past 15
years - regardless of what you decide to do, brother, you’ve been a true
warrior and a very exciting fighter for a long period of time".
These sentiments were echoed by Lewis, who said: "I want to thank
Evander. He’s a true warrior and he gave me a great fight."
And so the last heavyweight championship fight of the millennium ended
on a note of mutual respect all round.
It had been a fight and, I believe, a decision that restored some
credibility to a sport that lately has been buffeted by controversy,
scandal and big-bout disappointments.
Lewis did not get the knockout, the absolutely-no-arguments triumph,
that his camp had forecast, but when all is said and done he did win, he
showed he can come back from a crisis and, while not the most dramatic
fighter the heavyweight division has ever seen, he is without doubt an
able and intelligent boxer.
Perhaps, and I write this two days after the fight, after having had
the chance to give due consideration to all that happened in the contest
itself and all that went before it, we should appreciate Lewis for what
he is, rather than criticise him for what he isn’t. U.S. PRESS REACTION
WALLACE MATTHEWS (New York Post): Maybe this is boxing’s way of telling
Holyfield it is time to quit, or maybe the message is coming from an
even higher authority. But if Holyfield can’t win a decision after the
way he fought last night, perhaps he just can’t win anymore . . . The
Post had Holyfield a 116-112 winner.
STEVE SPRINGER, who scored it 116-113 in favour of Lewis (Los Angeles
Times): Holyfield had all his weapons working, and indeed hurt Lewis on
several occasions. But in the end, he couldn’t break through to do the
kind of damage he had done in the past to win the heavyweight title
three times.
DOUG KRIKORIAN, who had it 117-114 in Holyfield’s favour (Long Beach
Press-Telegram): . . . for a large portion of a fierce brawl marked by
dramatic ebbs and flows, Holyfield out-hustled, out-slugged and
out-thought his plodding opponent . . . Indeed, in a performance that
defied his age and wealth, the 37-year-old multimillionaire Holyfield
seemed to be the dominant fighter in the lively proceedings with his
harder punches and more aggressive tactics.
BILL PLASCHKE, who had it 115-113 in favour of Lewis (Los Angeles
Times): A heavyweight can win a fight by simply fighting smart. So Lewis
did just that.
STEVE SIMMONS (Toronto Sun): 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.
BOB KRAVITZ (Scripps Howard News Service): Of course, a draw would have
been an invitation to riot. They had to give it to somebody. The
question is, why Lewis? What did he do to win the fight? . . . This was
supposed to be the night Lewis was revealed. Instead, it was the night
he was exposed.
STEPHEN BRUNT, who had Lewis winning, 115-113 (Toronto Globe and Mail):
During the early rounds and in the late rounds, Lewis outboxed Holyfield
with relative ease, just as he did the first time they fought in March
at Madison Square Garden. Though Holyfield was a whole lot better in the
rematch, and especially a whole lot more focused, Lewis still controlled
him with the jab, frustrating most of his advances.
BILL LYON (Philadelphia Inquirer): Although the same decision was
reached by all three judges, the verdict was far from unanimous among
ringsiders. You could find almost as many people who thought Holyfield
had won. Included in this group is your humble clerk-typist, who scored
it 117-114 for Holyfield. Lest you think this was less than objective
assaying, your humble clerk-typist had picked Lewis to win.
RON BORGES (Boston Globe): For 12 rounds, Evander Holyfield appeared to
get the better of Lennox Lewis . . . but the three judges saw it
differently . . . This time, instead of investigating just one judge [a
reference to Eugenia Williams, who had Holyfield beating Lewis in their
first bout], the federal government should haul all three up on charges,
especially 83-year-old Bill Graham, whose scorecard was an advertisement
for mandatory retirement.
GEORGE KIMBALL (Boston Herald): While some fans and media ringsiders
scored the fight for Holyfield, they were almost invariably those who
either picked Holyfield or bet on him . . . The Herald card had Lewis
winning 115-113 although a draw would have been less outrageous in this
one than in their first fight.
BERNARD FERNANDEZ, who had Lewis winning, 115-114 (Philadelphia Daily
News): Lewis . . . again came across as a technically proficient but
passionless automaton who lacks the charisma to get the crowd involved .
. . In the battle for most fans’ hearts and minds, Holyfield wins every
time.
MICHAEL KATZ (New York Daily News): . . . any attempt to paint the
rematch with the same dirt as the original must be based on prejudice
against the cocky Briton or for Holyfield. No, Lewis deserved the
triumph.
JERRY IZENBERG (Newark Star-Ledger): Lewis was never in serious danger
although he often looked exhausted and sporadically fought as though he
were. He won it close but he won it fair.
DEAN JUIPE, who had it 114-114, a draw (Las Vegas Sun): That Lewis, by
virtue of his three championships, is now the focal center of the sport
merely reflects its mediocre condition. Technically he’s the undisputed
champion yet there’s considerable dispute whether he truly deserved this
victory, and there’s little dispute he is hardly among the all-time
greats.
CHRIS JONES, who had Holyfield winning, 115-113 (The National Post,
Canada): Lewis seemed more relieved than ecstatic. He raised his arms
after the fight, as he had eight months ago, but the joy didn’t seem
genuine this time around. It seemed forced.
MICHAEL ROSENTHAL (Los Angeles Daily News): Holyfield was better than he
was when he and Lennox Lewis fought to a controversial draw in March,
much better. Better against a behemoth like Lewis, who has almost every
physical advantage, just wasn’t good enough.
KEVIN KIERNAN (New York Post): The boxing world desperately wanted a
knockout and instead got another lukewarm fight.
WILLIAM C. RHODEN (New York Times): Saturday night, boxing got the shot
of adrenaline it needed. Lennox Lewis and Holyfield, who fought to a
draw eight months ago, gave the sort of epic performance for which
boxing at its highest level is known. |
|
Also available to read from issue:
|
|
On sale on the last Thursday of every month Ensure you never miss a copy . . . buy your subscription or back issues here. |