"I'll fight right now, anytime.
I was ready to fight and forget the money at that ESPN
thing, but when it comes to the promoters and everything, they
want people to pay for it,
so I realize I have to store it up and save it for this fight."
Lennox Lewis
BY
ANDRE COURTEMANCHE
Fightnews.com
Former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis, 38-2-1 (29), spoke today about his upcoming rematch with conqueror and current WBC, IBF, IBO Heavyweight Champion Hasim "The Rock" Rahman, 35-2 (29). This was not the distant and sometimes arrogant Lewis of old. He was openly hostile on the subject of Rahman and professed a desire to settle their differences on the street. Joining Lewis was trainer Emanuel Steward, who among other revelations, claimed that Rahman told him he was about to quit when he landed the knockout punch.
If you win the rematch with Rahman, what sort of relationship
will you have with Don King?
You could say this fight is a tester for seeing how everything
turns out. Don King is a good promoter and he knows how to put
on big shows, but I remember saying a long time ago that I would
never work with Don King, but here I am working with him. We'll
have to see what happens in the future.
Are you obligated to him?
No, I'm not.
What kind of strategy will you use in the rematch?
For me, I realize that when I walk in the ring without getting
wet, these things happen. Other fighters have gone through it
in history where something has happened and they've gotten knocked
down and the fight is stopped. They come back and recovered
their title. For this fight, I'll have a bit more intensity
and be a bit more focused. Hopefully everything will come out
the way we want it to.
Emanuel, do you agree?
(Emanuel Steward) I agree with Lennox on everything. Lennox trained
extremely well for the first fight. I think the biggest difference
will be a lot more intensity and focus. Usually when a fighter
wins an upset and he is not as talented as the guy who loses,
he usually loses the rematch in about 90% of the cases. The
more talented fighter comes back. I always think back to Ali
losing a fight to a guy named Leon Spinks, or Floyd Patterson
losing to Ingemar Johansson. You go through history and see
things that happen continually. Ray Robinson lost to Randy Turpin.
With more focus and intensity, he should have a great victory. We'll just accept it as a part of boxing, particularly heavyweight boxing, as a guy who was winning every round and just got hit at a time when he was bouncing off the ropes with his legs twisted up in a bad position. He saw it coming and tried to get his hands up, but his body was in such a bad position and the punch came right at the split second where it was most effective.
We just have to deal with it. Lennox said forget it, it happened. We've very fortunate to be able to get a rematch and let's just prepare to get the title back.
Rahman showed he doesn't throw a lot of straight punches,
is that something you can take advantage of?
Absolutely. The straight punch always gets there before
a looping punch. I'm a person that really throws straight punches.
Sometimes the looping punches can get through, but I'm definitely
aware of that. I've had my sparring partners throw a lot of
looping punches, so I know how to deal with it now.
Emanuel, isn't it revisionist history to say Lewis was winning
every round?
(Steward) I'm surprised to hear that because I've looked
at the fight and even spoken to Rahman himself and he told me
the same. Maybe he's changed now because he's had time to become
a great public speaker, but he told me he felt he was losing
and the exact same round that Lennox lost was the round where
he was about to quit himself.
If you look at the tapes, it'll pretty much point that out. His eye was bleeding and at one point he looked at the referee to stop it. He was in the ropes; he also started to walk back to his own corner even. Just out of pride, you know, put up a good show so he's not criticized as bad as Tua, everything happened just right. He threw a perfect punch and Lennox was bouncing off the ropes at the perfect time and perfect angle and bingo.
No, Lennox had pretty much, without exerting much effort, had control of the fight I felt. I was not worried about a decision by any means.
You got knocked out quite brutally, why do you think it'll
be so much different this time around?
No, I didn't get knocked out brutally in the last fight.
What happened was I got knocked down and they stopped it. This
fight is going to be more intense. I've been concentrating on
the little things around the edges that definitely needed sharpening.
What will you weigh for this fight?
I haven't been weighing myself. I should and see what's
going on, but I've been training pretty hard and I believe that
my weight should come down a couple pounds and I'll be prepared
for this fight.
Have you seen Oceans 11 yet?
I've seen the previews on it and it looks pretty good.
Do you have any second thoughts about being involved with
that right before the fight?
When you look back in retrospect, there are a lot of things
I could have done differently.
Did you ever think you would be dealing with Don King?
In one sense, I see him not playing as much games as I thought
that he would have been playing. When Evander Holyfield started
working with him, I was a bit surprised when I realized his
history and his background, but then realizing that when you
look at a lot of the promoters out there, he does promote the
big fights and he is a good promoter. That's one thing that
boxers at this stage of their career need is a good promoter
and somebody to promote them well. There is always the possibility
of working with him.
Do you feel a need to pay more attention to your financial
dealings when you deal with Don than if you dealt with other
promoters?
Absolutely. Don King's history definitely speaks for itself
and even if you watched the Don King story on HBO, you're still
looking at him. Anytime he gives you a compliment, you're always
wondering if he's trying to do something against the confines
of the rules.
Throughout the course of your career have you ever been
this angry with an opponent?
No, absolutely not. I think one of the fights (that would
have made me this angry) would have been the ultimate fight
with Lewis and Riddick Bowe. Riddick Bowe always seemed to call
me names when there were a hundred people to protect him and
to stop us from getting to each other. I've always said that
I wanted Chicken Bowe and to definitely knock some of the stuffing
out of him, but I didn't get a chance to because Riddick Bowe
went and joined the army instead.
I figure that would have been the only other fight that I would have been self-motivated with a vendetta against him. He's a freshman(The Glass, TLLKOP Webmaster: I believe Lennox is referring to Rahman here, not Bowe. Bowe turned pro near the same time as Lewis.) in the game. I've been in this game a long time. He's coming in and saying that because of me he's able to buy his mother a house and able to buy a gold chain and this and that. I've been making money since long before he's even been heard of. I don't know what he's talking about. If he wants to talk about who's made the most money, I've definitely made more money than him and have more money than him. It just shows you his mentality. He's definitely an imbecile in that sense.
You sound a lot different. You're not as in control as in
the past. Do you wish the fight was right now?
I'm a warrior in that sense. I'll fight right now, anytime.
I was ready to fight and forget the money at that ESPN thing,
but when it comes to the promoters and everything, they want
people to pay for it, so I realize I have to store it up and
save it for this fight. I'll do my damage in the ring.
Emanuel, where do you see Lennox's legacy now? What does
he have to do to
remove the tarnish from his legacy?
(Steward) I think that the first thing he has to do is go
back and win this fight and whether he wins by knockout or whichever
way, we'll settle for it, but I think he will win by knockout.
Naturally, it's going to hurt a lot that he was knocked out
by a guy that wasn't considered a real, top-notch guy, but also
it's just part of his division. I think that when his history
is done he will still be very much respected because of what
he has done. If he wins this fight impressively, he's defeated
the two men that he's lost to.
Lennox fought all challengers of his era who would fight him except for Riddick Bowe, who threw the title in the garbage can and Mike Tyson, who gave up his WBC title rather than fight him.
Do you want a knockout, or how do you want to win this fight?
Definitely I would love to knock him out, but I remember
the last fight and that's what I was trying to do. I'm not going
to get caught up in trying to knock him out, I'm just going
to wait until the opportunity presents itself and take advantage
of it.
Do you have any comment on your split with (longtime manager)
Frank Maloney?
Frank is working for Frank Warren and there's a conflict
of interest there. We basically gave Frank a contract and it
was up to him to sign or not to sign and he chose not to sign.
Me and Frank don't have no problem. I can be self-managed. I've
reached the point where I can be self-managed now. I don't have
anything against Frank. Frank has to do what he has to do and
I
have to do what I have to do.
There are points in a career where people have to do things that suit themselves and I think I realized that Frank knows that my career is coming to a close and he needs to continue his career and being a manager and a promoter is a lot to handle. He wants to connect himself with people who are going to further his career. These are the choices that we make and this is the choice the he made. I'm disappointed, but these are things that happen in life. Frank and me will always be friends. This is just a business decision. Like I said, he's got a conflict of interest right now and you can't work for two bosses.
You two both testified that Lennox's skills were eroding,
were you guys telling the truth?
[Laughter] (Steward) Enough to win the trial! [More laughter]
Everybody's skills erode after a certain age, that's natural,
but maybe not eroded enough that he won't beat Hasim Rahman,
but its eroded enough where it would certainly affect him if
he had to wait another year, or so.
So was there a bit of a fib there?
(Lewis) I wouldn't say it was a fib. Every day that goes
by, as you get older, your skills diminish a little bit.
(Steward) Let me say this. Lennox Lewis has been boxing since he was 12. He's 36 years old. That's 24 years in boxing. You've got Hasim Rahman who is only 28 years old! Lennox has been boxing 24 years, so all these big-time international fights he's had in addition to being two-time heavyweight champion of the world, the Olympic games and all of that, so there's definitely wear and tear on his body as compared to someone who has not done anything. The next year or two are crucial, I think. He deserves a chance to get his championship back right away because, unlike when he lost to McCall, he was still in his twenties, so it wasn't that crucial. Now the man is 36 years old and he can't afford another two years and going through a lot of court battles like he had to do before.
The Glass: But then again, look at George Foreman's career! He was still fighting into his 40's!
In the second installment, Lewis talks about the hit list he has remaining in his career and why he didn't fire his whole staff after the loss.