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Lewis a true world champ
LAS VEGAS -- In the frenzied confusion that followed his victory over Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis stood up and said he was taking his world boxing championship belts and bringing them home.
"Which home?'' someone asked.
"All of them,'' Lewis said, flashing a great big smile.
There have been other champions through other times but few who could claim to be as much of a world champion as Lewis. Born in England to parents of Jamaican descent, his family moved to Canada when he was 12 and after two trips to the Olympic Games for Canada, Lewis returned to England where economics dictated he begin his pro boxing career.
And now he owns a title which has almost been the exclusive property of Americans since it first rose to prominence -- the undisputed heavyweight boxing championship of the world.
The first Canadian in 91 years to be so honoured. The first Brit in 100 years. The first Jamaican ever.
No matter how controversial the achievement of Saturday night may seem.
Lewis fought Holyfield twice, once in March and again the other night. The first time he won easily and was robbed of the decision. On Saturday, he won or he lost or he fought to a draw -- any of those decisions would have been acceptable -- but for a fight almost impossible to score, he was awarded an overwhelming unanimous decision.
This may be what's called boxing justice, or an outcome for a sport that just can't avoid further contamination.
But Lewis can't be concerned about that anymore. When he finally had a chance to relax early yesterday morning, when he finally had a chance to reflect on what has happened to him, he was purely celebrating. "It's a great feeling,'' Lewis said. "It's basically been 10 years of trying to do this, with a lot of trials and tribulations along the way. I've always said I was on a mission to unify the heavyweight championship. But it hasn't been easy to get here.''
It hasn't been easy at all.
There are many who will scream that Holyfield beat Lewis on Saturday that this was another in the long history of travesty decisions in boxing. Most of those voices screaming will be American.
Holyfield thought he won but accepted the scorecards. So did his cornermen. They made little noise other than to say they were disappointed. The American boxing press won't be quite so forgiving. For reasons best explained as jingoism, Lewis always has come out on the short end with the American press. He always has been lacking something, and aside from his passivity that something was an American passport.
But Lewis answered the important questions on Saturday night. He wasn't dominant yet he won. The style he looked to inflict upon Holyfield wasn't overwhelming. Holyfield countered well, fought better than he did in the first fight, and in many rounds turned the bout from boxing to brawl.
That should have worked in his favour but it didn't turn out that way.
The warrior, when he had to be a warrior, was Lewis.
It was especially apparent after the fifth round, after Lewis was cut beside his right eye by a Holyfield head butt. At first, the cut looked to bother Lewis. He was beaten up in the fifth round and lost the sixth and seventh rounds on all three scorecards. The fight was turning in Holyfield's favour. This was more grappling than boxing.
Then Lewis lassoed the fight and brought it on home. One judge gave him the final five rounds. One gave him four. One gave him three. The momentum switch was apparent.
At the post-fight news conference, with a myriad of opinions still circulating over who really won and why, one reporter stood up and asked a question.
"You said Holyfield was not a man for not admitting he lost the first fight. Are you willing to be a man now and admit you lost this fight?''
Instead of answering, Lewis' manager, Frank Maloney stepped in and said, "Next question.''
But the question was pertinent for more than one reason. The question attacked the very nature of Lewis. If his arms raised in the air at the end were indication he believed he won, he should have said so just to reiterate the point, to demonstrate the strength and position that comes with being the heavyweight champion of the world.
Lennox Lewis will have to learn about his newfound position. His world, large as it is and sometimes as small as it can be from the perch of his mother's home in Brampton, has changed forever.
"Wasn't this something?'' Violet Blake said after watching her son win the heavyweight championship.
In boxing, it always is something.
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