I struggle to give Lewis too much credit for the Tyson win. Pretty sure Tyson had boxed less than twenty rounds in the previous five years, and some of those fights had been pretty farcical against hand picked opponents. The fact that he was the WBC mandatory in 2002 says much more about the money his name generated than it did about anything he'd done in the ring for years. The fight was too big not to happen, I guess, but making obscene amounts of money for all parties involved was the only purpose it served. For me, it doesn't really add anything to Lewis' legacy or standing, nor detract much from Tyson's.
Might I respectfully ask how old you are? I am not asking that to denigrate your opinions, which are mostly right in hindsight. I just want to know whether you were watching the sport at the time.
No worries. I was 22 at the time. My aunt had just died. I can remember the funeral clearly. At the wake, most of the congregation were talking about it. It was so huge. But most of them were casuals who’d not watched boxing for ages. One of my cousin’s friends had put £150 on Mike to win. I can’t remember what the odds were, but I told him he’d 100% lost his money. We had a laugh about it which brightened up a sad day. I was more interested in whether or not Roy was going to fight Hopkins. It was either just before or just after the Woods fight had been signed.
I agree. And that blurry print of them facing each other on the fight poster, almost like a charcoal drawing was the first of it's kind. Best logo by far.
Does anyone want to talk about the pre-fight brawl? Was it real? It honestly looked staged to me. This content is protected
When people talk about Tyson's diminished form and age they forget that Lewis had been in the ring for less than 4 full rounds since being knocked out. That's why Tyson had a chance to knock him out also. Lewis showed great mental strength despite his declining speed and heavier weight at age 36.
Seems unlikely that it was staged. It almost derailed the whole thing! Somebody at the time described it as "the two heavyweights, and the just plain overweight, going at it!"