Heavyweight rematches

Dempsey (front) struggled twice against Tunney

BBC Sport Online's Sanjeev Shetty examines great boxing returns as Lennox Lewis wins his titles back from Hasim Rahman.

Lennox Lewis did not need history to tell him that losers could become winners again in heavyweight rematches.

In February 1997, he stopped Oliver McCall over two years after the American had knocked him out in two rounds in London.

So after his revenge victory over Hasim Rahman in Las Vegas, BBC Sport Online looks back at other famous recoveries in the ring.

Muhammad Ali v Leon Spinks 1978

Ali was the rematch master

Possibly the greatest heavyweight champion in history, Muhummad Ali, never lost a rematch.

During his 20-year career, he twice beat the likes of Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton.

But In the twilight of his great career, Ali lost his world heavyweight title to young professional Leon Spinks in Las Vegas on 15 February 1978.

Exactly six months later and clearly past his best, Ali avenged that points defeat with a unanimous points win over Spinks, the brother of Michael.

Ali was 36 at the time but still had the desire to get himself into shape and focus on the fight as if it was his last.

Jack Dempsey v Gene Tunney - 1926/7

Jack Dempsey, the legendary 'Manassa Mauler', believed in his invincibility after living the life of a hobo before beginning his boxing career.

Big Jack lost his world title to the classy Gene Tunney in 1926 after a long period of inactivity.

Dempsey was poor, with no timing and very little footwork. But such was his fierce fighting pride that he decided to try and avenge his defeat.

In a tune-up against Jack Sharkey, a man who would later hold the world title, Dempsey was in desperate trouble untiil the seventh round when a low blow and a shot to the head knocked his opponent out.

His rematch with Tunney saw the champion floored in the seventh round for what became known as the 'long count'.

Tunney was down for about 14 seconds but got up to win another clear decision, outboxing Dempsey much as he had done the previous year.

Joe Louis v Billy Conn 1941 and 1945 & Jersey Joe Walcott 1947/8

Louis's catchphrase "They can run, but they can't hide"

Another great champion, Joe Louis, had a pretty good record in rematches.

He avenged a loss to German Max Schmeling, as well as beating Abe Simon, Arturo Godoy and Buddy Baer twice.

But during the war period, he engaged in two fights which demanded rematches.

The first was against young light-heavyweight Billy Conn, who was ahead on points against Louis entering the 13th round of their battle in New York in 1941.

But the youngster Conn went for the knockout and ended up on the receiving end as Louis landed six successive punches to end his opponent's challenge.

Five years later, Conn could only last eight rounds as Louis showed him no mercy.

Towards the end of 1947, Louis defended his world title for the penultimate time against Jersey Joe Walcott.

Both men were in their 30s, but Walcott seemed the fresher man and there were gasps and boos from the crowd in New York when Louis retained the crown by decision after 15 rounds.

On 25 June 1948, Louis made the final defence of his world title with a knockout in the 11th round of his rematch with Walcott, who was again giving the champion a hard time.

Evander Holyfield v Mike Tyson 1996/7

Not surprisingly, given the bizarre nature of boxing in the modern day, the most talked about rematch in the sport's history came in recent years.

Holyfield's second fight with Tyson was more painful

Evander Holyfield had been a huge underdog the night he battered Mike Tyson in 11 rounds Las Vegas on 9 November 1996.

As with Tyson's previous defeat - against Buster Douglas in 1990 - the public refused to believe that he could be beaten twice and a rematch was ordered.

The date was 28 June 1997 and Tyson entered the ring as a slight favourite. But through the first two rounds, he appeared nervous, intimidated and mentally beaten.

Yet if his performance then was not memorable, his act of sinking his teeth into Holyfield's ear in the third round and spitting a chunk of it onto the ring canvas was unforgettable.

Tyson was disqualified, banned from boxing for a year and has not been the same since.