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Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September, 1965 in
West Ham, London, England) is a United
Kingdom|British former boxer, who represented
Canada in the Olympics and was a former
heavyweight champion.

Lewis moved to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1977
at the age of 12 and excelled in the sports of
football (soccer)|football and basketball in high
school; he eventually decided that his favorite
sport was boxing. Future events proved him right,
as he became a dominant amateur boxer and won the
world amateur junior title in 1982.

Two years later, Lewis represented Canada as a
super-heavyweight in the Olympic Games held in Los
Angeles, California|Los Angeles. He advanced to
the quarterfinals, where he lost a controversial
decision to United States|American Tyrell Biggs
and settled for a fifth-place finish.

Surprisingly, Lewis chose not to turn professional
after the Olympics, and instead fought four more
years as an amateur, hoping for a second chance to
win a gold medal. After winning several more
amateur titles over those years, he traveled to
Seoul, South Korea for the 1988 Olympics and
achieved his goal. In the gold medal match, Lewis
defeated future world champion Riddick Bowe by a
second-round technical knockout. This decision was
also controversial because the referee stopped the
fight after two standing eight counts, and Bowe
showed no signs of being in trouble.

Having achieved one goal, Lewis now declared
himself a professional boxer and moved back to
England, having always considered himself a
British national. The early part of his pro career
was filled with knockouts of journeymen, and he
quickly shot up the world rankings.

He captured the European heavyweight title late in
1990, added the British heavyweight title in March
1991 and the Commonwealth title in April 1992. By
this time, Lewis was a consensus top-five
heavyweight in the world.

Outside the boxing ring, on August 29, 1992, Lewis
participated in SummerSlam#1992|WWF SummerSlam
1992 at Wembley Stadium, London, hoisting the
Union Jack to lead David Smith (wrestler)|The
British Bulldog to the ring for his WWE
Intercontinental Championship|Intercontinental
Championship fight against his brother-in-law and
then-current champ Bret Hart|Bret "Hitman" Hart. 
British Bulldog, a native of Wigan, won the fight
and the title in front of his homeland crowd.

On October 31, 1992, Lewis knocked out Canada's
Donovan Ruddock for the No. 1 contender's position
in the World Boxing Council|WBC world rankings.
But ultimately, the victory won Lewis even more
than that. After Bowe, who had become world
heavyweight champion by upsetting Evander
Holyfield, refused to fight Lewis, his WBC title
was declared vacant. On January 14, 1993, the WBC
declared Lewis its champion. He thus became the
first world heavyweight titleholder from Britain
in the 20th century.

Lewis successfully defended the belt three times
before he suffered a knockout loss at the hands of
Oliver McCall on September 24, 1994. He eventually
moved back to the No. 1 contender's slot in the
WBC rankings, but agreed to give up the spot in
exchange for a multi-million dollar payoff by
promoter Don King, who wanted his fighter, Mike
Tyson to receive a title shot. 

Tyson later returned the favor and relinquished
the WBC title, leaving it vacant for Lewis and
McCall to square off on February 7, 1997 in Las
Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas. In one of the most
bizarre fights ever seen, McCall refused to fight
in the fourth and fifth rounds, beginning to cry
and eventually forcing the referee to stop the
fight and award Lewis the victory.

On March 28, 1998, Lewis retained the WBC world
title when he knocked out Shannon Briggs in five
rounds. He had also retained the title this time
against former WBO world champion Henry Akinwande,
who was disqualified after five rounds for
constantly clinching Lewis. He then went up
against Andrew Golota, whom he knocked out in the
first, and against Zeljko Mavrovic|Željko
Mavrović, beaten by a twelve round unanimous
decision.

On March 13, 1999, Lewis faced World Boxing
Association|WBA and International Boxing
Federation|IBF titlist Holyfield in New York City
in what was supposed to be a heavyweight
unification bout.  Although most observers
believed Lewis had won the fight, the bout was
declared a draw. Eight months later in Las Vegas,
the two men fought again and Lewis won a close,
but unanimous decision.

Later in 1999, Lewis became the BBC Sports
Personality of the Year.

Lewis later dropped the WBA and IBF titles in
disputes, (Lewis refused to fight the WBA's number
1 challenger, John Ruiz). He successfully defended
his title three times: knocking out Michael Grant
in two rounds, knocking out Frans Botha in two,
and winning a twelve round decision against David
Tua.  However, on April 22, 2001, Lewis was
knocked out again, this time by 14-to-1 underdog
Hasim Rahman in a bout in South Africa.  The loss,
coupled with Lewis' earlier KO loss to McCall,
lead many ringside observers to question Lewis'
ability to take a punch.  Lewis regained the title
on November 17 by knocking out Rahman in the
fourth round of their rematch.

On June 8, 2002, Lewis defended his title against
Tyson, winning on an eighth-round knockout.

In May of 2003, Lewis sued King for the amount of
$385 million US dollars|dollars, claiming that
King used threats to have Tyson pull out of a
rematch scheduled Lewis for a month later. Lewis
then scheduled a fight with Kirk Johnson for the
championship belt of the less-recognized
International Boxing Organization|IBO, but dropped
it when Johnson suffered an injury in training.
Instead, Lewis fought Vitali Klitschko, the WBC's
No. 1 contender and former WBO titlist. Lewis had
planned to fight him in December, but since
Klitschko had been on the undercard of the Johnson
fight anyway, they agreed to square off on June
21. Klitschko dominated the fight and Lewis was
trailing on all three scorecards after six rounds.
However, the ringside doctor stopped the fight
before round seven due to a severe cut above
Klitschko's left eye and Lewis was awarded the win
by technical knockout|TKO.

Because Klitschko had fought so well against
Lewis, boxing fans soon began calling for a
rematch. The WBC agreed, and kept the
Ukraine|Ukrainian as its No. 1 contender. Lewis
was evasive about fighting Klitschko a second time
and ultimately decided to pursue other interests,
including sports management and music promotion.
On February 6, 2004, in a press conference held in
London, Lewis became the first reigning lineal
heavyweight titlist to relinquish the title since
Rocky Marciano in 1956.  Lewis said he will not
return to the ring. At his retirement, Lewis'
record was 41 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, with 32
wins by knockout.

Lewis' boxing legacy is mixed.  Despite having
beaten the likes of Holyfield and Tyson, Lewis
fought both when they were well past their primes.
 He was also highly criticized during his career
for having a 'glass jaw', as evidenced by his
shocking knockout losses by single punches to
McCall and Rahman, both lightly-regarded,
journeymen fighters.  Furthermore, Lewis'
deliberate style in the ring did not endear him to
many in the boxing community, who expected the
heavyweight champ to force the action in the ring.
 As a result, Lewis was often labeled as 'boring.'

Lewis reportedly lives with his mother in London
and owns a poodle.
http://archive.salon.com/people/col/reit/2000/07/1
0/npmon/

start box
succession box |
  before= Mike Tyson |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (WBC) |
  years= 1997–2004 |
  after= Vitali Klitschko

succession box one to two|
  before= Evander Holyfield |
  title1= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (WBA) |
  years1= 1999–2000 |
  after1= Evander Holyfield |
  title2= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (IBF) |
  years2= 1999–2002 |
  after2= Chris Byrd

succession box |
  before= Brian Nielsen |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (IBO) |
  years= 1999–2004 |
  after= (vacant)

succession box|title=BBC Sports Personality of the
Year|before=Michael Owen |after=Steve
Redgrave|years=1999
end box

{| border="2" align="center"
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Gary Mason
|width="30%" align="center"|British Heavyweight
43rd champion
March 6,1991 - 1992
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Herbie Hide
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Jean Chanet
|width="30%" align="center"|EBU Heavyweight 63rd
champion
October 31,1990  - 1992
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Henry Akinwande
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Derek Williams
|width="30%" align="center"|Commonwealth
Heavyweight 34th champion
April 30,1992 - 1993
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Henry Akinwande
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Tommy Morrison
|width="30%" align="center"|IBC World Heavyweight
champion
October 7,1995 - unknown
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
unknown
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Hasim Rahman
|width="30%" align="center"|IBO World Heavyweight
7th champion
November 17,2001 - 2003
|width="30%" align="center"|Next champion:
 -
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Brian Nielsen
|width="30%" align="center"|IBO World Heavyweight
5th champion
November 13,1999 - April 22,2001
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Hasim Rahman
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Hasim Rahman
|width="40%" align="center"|IBF World Heavyweight 
10th champion
November 17,2001 - September 5,
2002
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Chris Byrd
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Evander Holyfield
|width="30%" align="center"|IBF World Heavyweight
14th champion
November 13,1999 - April 22,2001
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Hasim Rahman
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Evander Holyfield
|width="30%" align="center"|WBA World Heavyweight
champion
November 13,1999 - April 29,2000
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Evander Holyfield
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Mike Tyson
|width="30%" align="center"|WBC World Heavyweight
20th champion
February 7,1997 - April 22,2001
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Hasim Rahman
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Riddick Bowe
|width="30%" align="center"|WBC World Heavyweight
16th champion
December 14,1992 - September
24,1994
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champon:
Oliver McCall
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Previous
champion:
Hasim Rahman
|width="40%" align="center"|WBC World Heavyweight
22nd champion
November 17,2001 - 2003
|width="30%" align="center"|Next
champion:
Vitali Klitschko
|}