Rewind to 1994, and Lennox Lewis had ended the drought Britain had endured for so long when it came to having a world heavyweight champion. Lewis, who was born in London but had moved to Canada at the age of 12, had won a version of the crown, in doing so becoming the first British fighter to hold a world heavyweight title since the great Bob Fitzsimmons.
Though plenty of people argued Lewis was a Canadian, Lennox maintained he was a true Brit. And, in 1993, with a win over Tony Tucker, Lewis became the first Brit to win a world heavyweight title since the great Bob Fitzsimmons had won the real thing in the previous century. Lewis picked up a version, the one Riddick Bowe had dumped in the trash, yet he had made history all the same. And some people, not just the British fans who now “claimed” Lennox as one of their own, felt this 6’5”, athletically gifted boxer-puncher just might be the best in the world at the weight. In time, such thinking would be proven correct. But first came a big bump in the road in the form of Oliver McCall and his ace trainer, Emanuel Steward.
Making the third defence of the WBC belt he had won by beating Tony Tucker via decision, Lewis met the tough and already grizzled Oliver McCall. Steward had armed “The Atomic Bull” with a simple yet at the same time quite brilliant game plan: throw a right hand at the chin as hard as you can as soon as Lewis throws his, and then drops his hands having done so.
In round two that night in London, it worked like a treat. Lewis, with the far less cerebral if far noisier Pepe Correa in his corner, duly slung out a right and then allowed his hands to drop having done so; just as Emanuel had noticed. McCall didn’t miss a beat, firing back with a right counter, with his eyes closed, and decking Lewis in a flash. Lewis stumbled up, then stumbled some more, before the ref called a halt. Lewis never saw what hit him, while McCall never saw what he’d hit Lewis with! But McCall ‘felt’ the shot, just as he had seen the opening.
Lewis’ career was changed drastically, yet the good news wound up outweighing the bad. Steward had always said Lewis was the better, more naturally talented fighter, and soon after the McCall disaster, Lewis was being trained, educated and bettered by the Kronk genius. The rest is history.
We saw another British fighter take an even nastier fall on Saturday night, this as Anthony Joshua (who, we must say, is nowhere near as great as Lewis was), and we must wait and see if AJ can bounce back. Lewis did it, though he took far less punishment than Joshua did in his loss to Daniel Dubois, and the loss to McCall was of course Lennox’ first loss, with him only ever losing twice during his great career. At one point in time, some people were comparing Joshua to Lewis. Not any more.
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