Lewis clearly won the first fight even thiugh it was officially socred a draw. Holyfield wasn't at the races that night. However, the rematch, I thought Holyfield deserved to get the decision, but at the time I wasn't confident of this being the case because of the so-called robbery in the first bout!
I am in a huge minority, but I never had any problem with the draw. I had Lewis winning 7-5, so a draw seemed OK, when you take into account Lewis was fighting in Holyfield's home country, and that Lennox seemed to give Holyfield too much respect and was for long periods too cautious. If a Brit fought an Italian in Italy or a German in Germany, you know any benefit of the doubt is going to the hometown fighter, so fighting cautiously against an American in America, is not going to help your cause. And I will add that we, (The Brits) are just as bad, ask Sugar Boy Malinga, who was robbed blind in the first Benn fight, and only got the split nod in their rematch, and some felt he was a little unlucky not to get something out of the Eubank match up. To win a fight in someone else's home country, you need to dominate and ideally KO them, although sometimes even that does not always work!!!!(Gonzales/CoggiI) It may suck, but that is boxing, and at best, IMO, Lennox was unlucky against Holyfield, and at least he got his rematch, plenty others suffer at least as bad a decision and do not.
Lennox Lewis beat him down...end of. At the press conference after Evander Holyfield had to be held up. He was totally ****ed.
First fight i ever watched or knew why i was watching. When i saw the thread i instantly thought it was more than 10 years ago Anyways, i saw Lewis being Canadian regardless of all the bright lights i was acid starbursted with i presume, and he won.
I was at MSG that night, the result put a little dent in the trip but it was still a great experience. We shared a taxi back to the airport with James Pages (who defended his title on the undercard) bother and a snow blizzard grounded all the planes and we got put up in a hotel for a couple of night gratis.
Remember the replay on sky sports on the weekly Ringside show when McGuigan scored it & gave his reasons after each round. He had Lewis winning by one round.
lewis should have got it. but i remember that nagging feeling after the final bell went. darkey kept mentioning the "remember were away from home" line. :yep he was guilty of letting some rds slip by in that fight. he deserved that rematch as well.
I can't remember a single fight in British history that generated so much outrage and media coverage. It was plastered in the papers and on tv for months! Although Lewis should have got the decision, it was not that bad a decision compared to some I've seen, there have been far worse. I think the magnitude of it being for the undisputed heavyweight championship caused it to become ULTRA controversial rather than just the plain old norm we've become accustomed to in boxing - simply controversial.
It was a bad decison and the stakes were huge..so it was magnified. Scary it was 10 years ago.... Will there be another decade like the 90s again? Lewis, Bowe, Holyfield and Tyson made it a golden era. The only stand outs since have been Vitali and Wlad...
I didnt think the draw was so bad either,Holyfield did win rounds just not as convicingly as Lewis won his.I am a fan of Lennox but i did not feel he fought that well in the first Holyfield match it was the biggest night of his life in with a guy who had won the title 3 times and been undisputed cruiser champ.I didnt feel Lennox put in enough effort to win the fight.I can see why people thought Lennox won but all the screaming of robbery and calling it the worst desicion ever was over the top.
He totally beat down Evander Holyfield in the first fight........... Evander Holyfield won't admit it, but that was the worst technical beta down of his career. He was totally ****ed, after the fight.
