Lewis back on top

Lewis stops Razor Ruddock in 1992

By BBC Sport Online's Sanjeev Shetty

Whatever way his career ends, Lennox Lewis has earned the right to be described as Britain's greatest ever heavyweight.

His latest unseemly scuffle with Mike Tyson aside, his reputation eclipses those of even his finest fellow countrymen.

Bob Fitzsimmons, Tommy Farr, Henry Cooper and Frank Bruno were all good fighters, but none could compare their feats to that of Lewis.

The 36-year-old did what few thought possible - beat a top American on his own turf.

Actually, Lewis did that on a number of occasions, although never as importantly as that night in November in 1999 when he beat Evander Holyfield to become undisputed heavyweight champion.

Natural athlete

Having beaten men of the calibre of Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, Tony Tucker, Michael Grant, David Tua and Andrew Golota, Lewis has proved his competence.

And, in Las Vegas, he avenged his loss to American upstart Hasim Rahman.

A natural athlete, Lewis twice competed at the Olympic Games.

He lost to American Tyrell Biggs in the quarter-finals in Los Angeles in 1984 before capturing the gold in 1988 with a stoppage of future heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe.

On the receiving end against Oliver McCall

After receiving a host of offers from major promoters, Lewis signed a deal with London-based Frank Maloney.

He wanted to be marketed as a British fighter, despite having represented Canada at the Olympics.

He was to be trained by American John Davenport.

Within four years, Lewis had established himself as a top contender with British, Commonwealth and European title victories.

Ultimately he was matched with Canadian Ruddock in October 1992, with the winner the top contender for the heavyweight title.

Underdog

A slight underdog, Lewis destroyed the highly-rated Ruddock in two rounds to set up a long awaited rematch with Bowe, who had defeated Holyfield for the undisputed title.

But Bowe refused to sign for the fight, and famously threw his World Boxing Council belt in the bin.

Proclaimed the WBC champion after Bowe's action, Lewis took his show on the road.

With another American, Pepe Correa, now in his corner, he made three successful defences of his title, including a seventh-round knockout of Frank Bruno.

Flooring Tommy Morrison

But each win showed deficiencies in his style and, in September 1994, little-known American Oliver McCall stopped him in the second round with a perfect right hand.

That defeat, which had seemed unlikely after Lewis had looked so devastating against Ruddock, was the cue for drastic changes.

Veteran trainer Steward was brought in to replace Correa, and Lewis' training was moved almost exclusively to America.

The road back to the title was not easy, as Lewis' defeat at the hands of McCall allowed American boxing writers the chance to christen him as yet another 'horizontal' British heavyweight hope.

But wins over contenders Tommy Morrison and Ray Mercer put him back into the frame, and when the WBC crown was vacated by Tyson in 1996, Lewis faced McCall for the chance to win his title back.

Hammering another American, Shannon Briggs

In January of the following year, Lewis achieved revenge for his only loss with a fifth round stoppage.

It later emerged that the American had suffered a nervous breakdown in the ring, due to his problems in overcoming drug and alcohol addiction.

Further wins over the likes of Andrew Golota and Shannon Briggs set up a unification match against Holyfield.

That meeting, in March 1999, will live long in boxing infamy, with Lewis settling for a draw after appearing to outpoint his veteran opponent comfortably.

The decision of the judges, one of whom was British, incensed the watching world, with an immediate rematch ordered.

Eight months later the rematch saw Lewis awarded a unanimous decision, to become the first British heavyweight to win a unified heavyweight title since Fitzsimmons in the latter stages of the 19th century.

Beating Holyfield, this time according to the judges

His three defences in 2000, against Grant, Francois Botha and Tua displayed the kind of authority that has sometimes been missing in his 11 year professional career.

But the defeat at the hands of Rahman prompted critics to question his credibility as a real champion.

Now that those questions have been answered in style, Lewis wants one more big-money bout against Mike Tyson to cement his legend.