Lennox Lewis issues Showtime a stern history lesson

Lennox Lewis

HEAVYWEIGHT legend Lennox Lewis has issued US broadcaster Showtime a stern history lesson.

Lewis felt moved to use social media to remind the public that he was the last undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

โ€œSo apparently Showtime Boxing thinks they can rewrite history, by writing champions like myself, [Riddick] Bowe, [Buster] Douglas and [Evander] Holyfield out of it, by saying there hasnโ€™t been an undisputed champion since Mike Tyson in 1999. I personally recall facing Holyfield for that honour TWICE,โ€ Lewis declared. โ€œAs a fighter, being the undisputed champion was my ONLY goal. Fight the best to be the best. That was the legacy I fought my whole career for. So donโ€™t think Iโ€™ll take it lightly when Showtime Boxing tries to take that away from me or anyone else who deserves that honour.โ€

Showtime showed little contrition. Lewis continued, โ€œAnd for Showtime Boxing to try to defend their error instead of admitting your mistake, only goes to show the lack of knowledge and willingness to do their homework. Itโ€™s almost as if there is some other agenda going on here.โ€

Lewis won the WBC, IBF and WBA heavyweight world titles. The WBO belt was not taken seriously during his era. โ€œThe WBO belt was not a major or coveted belt in my days. I could have lifted it from John Ruiz had I ever believed that my status as an undisputed champion would ever be called into question. If people covet that belt in 2018, so be it … but not in my day,โ€ Lewis pointed out. โ€œThe politricks of my era and the amount of Mickey Mouse belts made it difficult to impossible to own every single fringe belt there was at the time, so I only focused on fighting the best of the best and collecting the major belts of the time.

lennox lewis

โ€œMy point of contention in this whole thing is that not only did Showtime Boxing get it wrong, but then they doubled down on it. I fought for glory and legacy first. Showtime Boxing has started the process of eroding that legacy through a revisionist lens. I canโ€™t be silent about that.

โ€œThe fact that then WBO champ Henry Akinwande dropped his belt to fight me for my WBC belt says it all. Politics aside, I beat their champ too.โ€

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