Return of the real Lennox Lewis

Lewis took matters into his own hands this time round

By BBC Sport Online's Sanjeev Shetty in Las Vegas

Two great rights, one great fight - not even Britney Spears could have topped this down the road at the MGM Grand?

Lennox did as he promised by delivering a classic one-punch knockout of Hasim Rahman, stripping the American of his dignity and his world belts.

This was the Lennox Lewis that his trainer Emanuel Steward always promised would appear - dynamic, fast, powerful and chillingly precise.

As for Rahman, the bare facts are that his tale will be just a footnote in boxing history, comparable to that of Buster Douglas or a dozen other heavyweight champions who failed to show their class on a permanent basis.

But for Lewis, the door which leads to legendary status is most certainly unlocked and ready to accept his entrance.

Rahman got carried away with his own hype

Hindsight is always a useful tool after such a short and snappy climax to a fight, but everything about Lewis on this night was right.

He seemed like a man charged with thoughts of his destiny, lean and ready to assume the role of a dancing destroyer.

Rahman however slipped into too much goading and not enough thought on his own plan of how he could repeat his South Africa success.

Lewis could easily retire here, with a Tyson fight still some way away from completion and very little genuine competition available.

Spare a thought for Howard Eastman too, who fought an exceptional fight against American William Joppy, only to see the judges award the latter the decision and the World Boxing Association middleweight title.

Unlucky Eastman

In the opinion of a not insubstantial group, myself included, Eastman deserved better than the majority decision awarded to Joppy, especially after flooring the new champion in the 12th round.

But Eastman is bound to come again, after a performance which proved that he does belong with the top middleweights in the world.

And finally, for the vaguely feel-good story of the evening - Oliver McCall's one-punch knockout of Britain's Henry Akinwande.

McCall, a notoriously unstable fighter, was only in the ring after receiving four days leave from his parole officer.

A former heavyweight champion of the world, McCall's life has been ruined by drink and drugs.

He was just 47 seconds from a points loss to the talented but often boring Akinwande.

Until he too found a right hand which turned out his opponent's lights and brightened up his own very dark life.