OnThEGRiND BoXiNG

Wednesday, June 17th 2009
By Alex McIntyre - OnThEGRiND BoXiNG Scotland

This past weekend the last of the great Heavyweight Champions was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y. as Lennox Lewis was inducted in his first year of eligibility. That Lewis was such a shoe in is not in question in 2009 but it is a remarkable feat considering it is only in the past few years that Lewis has garnered the full respect from the boxing community for his great career.

The last Lineal and Undisputed Heavyweight Champion gave a humble and gracious speech at his induction ceremony, mentioning the influence of his mother on his boxing career and how she threw fight party’s when Lennox was a child. “I didn’t really understand them at first. People would come over the house for the big fight. She would be really excited about it. I remember sitting in front of the television watching all the great fights.”

These party’s planted the seeds into the young lion and he grew up wanting to emulate the great champions such as Ali, Johnson and Louis, “One wouldn’t think a 14-year-old boy who did shadow boxing in front of the mirror imitating the Muhammad Ali shuffle would actually be on this stage. I am really humble,this is a great honor.”

Standing at 6′5″ and weighing in around the 245lb mark during his prime, he dominated his era, beat every man he ever faced and although he suffered two defeats he avenged them both with stunning efficiency. He will be remembered as one of the greatest Heavyweights of all time and also one of the more endearing. He is the quintessential gentle giant and enjoys the reputation of being an English gentleman outside the ring.

A three time Heavyweight Champion, and Olympic gold medalist, Lewis was the first man from Britain to win the Undisputed Heavyweight Title in 102 years. He delivered to the world his own brand of the Sweet Science for as well as being quite nimble for such a big man, Lewis possessed an 84″ reach, one of the best jabs in the history of the sport, and a right cross from hell. Combining all these assets with the ring intelligence that he developed over the years Lennox was a formidable opponent and would match up well with nearly any of the great Champions.

If there was any slight on Lewis then perhaps the failure to face Riddick Bowe and a prime Mike Tyson could be leveled, although it was clear from “Big Daddy’s” belt trashing escapades where the blame Lie’s with that non event and as for Tyson, it took a long time for the fight to be made, so long in fact that Tyson had significantly deteriorated and Lewis destroyed the former baddest man on the planet in a dominant beat down, although it has to be said many pundit’s and fans believed Tyson would win that particular match up owing to the fact that Lewis had been previously knocked out by the lesser lights of Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman.

I would like to finish off by offering my personal gratitude to Lennox Lewis for many years of great nights and for everything he brought to boxing. He’s been a great ambassador for the sport and i wish him all the best in his future endeavors.