With the retirement of Lennox Lewis from the ring last year, boxing lost its personality. Vitali Klitschko's departure last month has left it without even a recognizable name. SPIEGEL spoke with Lewis about how to be a boxing champion, the attraction of Mike Tyson, and the sport's widespread corruption.


SPIEGEL: On Saturday the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship will be taking place in Berlin.

Lewis: Oh. Who'll be fighting?

SPIEGEL: John Ruiz and Nikolai Valuev.

Lewis: Who's the second one?

SPIEGEL: Don't you know Valuev?

Lewis: No.

SPIEGEL: A Russian. A big Russian; he's 2.14 meters tall.

Lewis: Never heard of him.

SPIEGEL: But you've heard of John Ruiz, right?

Lewis: Of course I've heard of him. He's been around for a long time, but he doesn't stand out as an exceptional fighter. That also applies to the other world champions, Hasim Rahman and -- what's the third guy's name again?

SPIEGEL: Lamon Brewster. From New York.

Lewis: Oh yes, Brewster. A nice guy, but he's not well known, but one great fight can change that.


SPIEGEL: Since your retirement in the spring of 2004, heavyweight boxing has been in crisis. You are regarded as the last great champion, and when you retired you held the world champion's belts from all four leading associations. Why can't a worthy successor be found?

Lewis: Perhaps Vitali Klitschko would have had the necessary attributes. At any rate, the current crop of contenders don't have what it takes. Not only are they poor fighters; they've got no personality at all. When I was growing up there were a lot of stars. Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, they were great fighters with extraordinary charisma. Guys like that don't exist any more.

SPIEGEL: You were a pro for 17 years, ten of them as world champion. That was a great period for boxing. Never before had so much money been earned. What made this era stand out?

Lewis: There were different heroes with different images. There was Mike Tyson, the animal, there was Evander Holyfield, the devout, the priest. And there was me, the thinker, the intellectual boxer. So there was something for every fan, if you like. The public could always identify with one of us.

SPIEGEL: Did the image of the intellectual boxer do you more harm than good?

Lewis: Sometimes it did. If a boxer has a reputation as an intellectual, some people no longer respect him as a fighter. With me it was always 'Lennox should react, not think'. But that's nonsense. Only the guy who controls his opponent wins.

SPIEGEL: You play chess. It's even said that before big fights you played a game to get yourself in the mood.

Lewis: Boxing and chess are similar. It's about the choice of means. Sometimes I need a pawn, a bishop or a knight to defeat my opponent. It's about finding the best way. A good boxer has to be variable. He doesn't just need to know how to punch. He must also know how to protect himself, how to defend, how to avoid the opponent's punches. Only a complete fighter can become champion.

SPIEGEL: How do you become a boxer like that?

Lewis: A great champion needs a background in amateur boxing, I'm convinced of that. There you learn everything that you'll need later as a pro. Someone who's got more than 400 amateur fights behind him no longer gets nervous before going into the ring and doesn't lose his nerve during a fight. You know all the boxing styles, you're prepared for anything, you've got the pedigree that you need to be a successful pro.

SPIEGEL: But how did Mike Tyson become the great hero of the nineties without having had a single amateur fight?

Lewis: Tyson fit the American ideal of a boxer. A fighter who jumps out of his corner and hits out fiercely. That's what he'll be remembered for. But good boxing doesn't work like that. Tyson never won on points. It was clear that he'd come a cropper some day.

SPIEGEL: When you beat Tyson in 2002, he was already down on his luck. So why was this, of all victories, so important for you?

Lewis: I had to shut his mouth. I could never stand big-mouthed types. I had problems with that at high school. I've still got the scars on my fists from the teeth of the guys I hit so that they'd finally shut up. I came from England to Canada, of course, and was often ridiculed because I had a strange accent. I was expelled from school and it was a long time before I could control myself. But the impulse remained: a punch in the mouth to get some peace and quiet.

SPIEGEL: You waited for Tyson for three years.

Lewis: Patience is a part of boxing. After I had missed out on the Olympic gold medal in 1984, a lot of people tried to talk me into turning professional quickly to make money. They told me that the next Olympics in Seoul would be boycotted again, that I was wasting my life, blah blah. But I still had unfinished business. I wanted the gold medal, and I got it in '88. Only then was I ready to turn professional.

SPIEGEL: Did it have anything to do with the fact that your great idol Muhammad Ali was also an Olympic winner?

Lewis: Sure. I wanted to follow in his foot steps. We've had similar boxing careers in that like Ali I was able to comeback from my defeats. At one point people had written him off and didn't care, but he was able to show that he was a true champion by recapturing his titles. Ali defined his era and I defined mine.

SPIEGEL: Is Ali still important in your life?

Lewis: Recently I donated money to the establishment of the Ali Foundation in Louisville. I regard that as a kind of payback. He smoothed the way for us. He wasn't just a great person who had conviction, but made the sport of boxing great. He was the first superstar, he made our stock rise. Without him we wouldn't have earned so much. Americans from every walk of life have contributed to the foundation: Bill Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt. Unfortunately I was the only American athlete to make a donation. There's not enough respect in our business.

SPIEGEL: Have you spoken to Ali?

Lewis: I talk to him often. Most recently I visited him at his farm in Maine.

SPIEGEL: What does he tell you?

Lewis: He says 'I was the greatest. Now you're the greatest. I should think about making a comeback'. He always makes jokes like that, it's his kind of humor.

SPIEGEL: How important was it for you to go down in history?

Lewis: At first I didn't give a damn. I wanted to win. But the more I won, the more I thought about leaving something behind. Yes, it's as important as hell to me. I want to leave something that people will remember me by. Of course, a lot of boxers want to do that. But it's not easy. Take Larry Holmes, he was the big man after Ali, he wanted to emulate him, but for some reason the public didn't take him like they did to Ali. I think people won't fully understand what I contributed to the sport for years.

SPIEGEL: At least you managed not to destroy your own reputation in the end. You retired as champion of all three associations. Nobody else had done that since Rocky Marciano in 1954. Did you plan it that way?

Lewis: I thought about retiring long before I actually did it. My problem, though, was that I couldn't end my career without having fought Mike Tyson once. So it all took a bit longer.

SPIEGEL: When should a boxer quit?

Lewis: At the top, as they say. But that's complicated. There are plenty of people in boxing who make money out off you. And they tell you that you've still got it, that it's still getting better.

SPIEGEL: Is that why you carried on after Tyson and then fought against Vitali Klitschko?

Lewis: Maybe. It was said that a new era had begun with Klitschko. I wanted to show him something. He wasn't really a challenge for me, just the icing on the cake.

SPIEGEL: But it was quite a bloody battle that the referee stopped in the eighth round because of Klitschko's serious eye injury. Some experts said afterwards that you were lucky and that Klitschko was better.

Lewis: That's nonsense. Klitschko made a respectable showing, no question. I liked the fight, because he really stretched me. The people liked the fight too, because it was bloody and exciting. What most people didn't understand was that Klitschko would have lost badly if the fight had carried on. I made him tired over six rounds. It's like urging an inexperienced swimmer to swim further and further from the coast out into the open sea: sooner or later he'll drown.

SPIEGEL: Did Klitschko's retirement four weeks ago surprise you?

Lewis: I think it was sensible. If you've got physical weaknesses, you'll lose. Nobody who gets cut easily can be a champion, however strong and talented he is. Boxers are trained to see and exploit their opponents' weaknesses, they hit you on your wounds. Only the strongest survive in this sport. Klitschko would have been just another victim. He spared himself that fate.

SPIEGEL: Can his brother Vladimir now emerge as his successor?

Lewis: That depends on how he copes with his defeats.

SPIEGEL: So what makes a fighter throw in the towel?

Lewis: That varies from boxer to boxer. I was spurred on by my defeats at the hands of Oliver McCall in 1994 and Rahman in 2002. The people around me told me that my career was over. They said 'Shame it has to end like that'. I said 'Are you nuts?' What I mean by that is: you're alone when you've lost. You have to talk yourself up because nobody else will help you.

SPIEGEL: So what's it like to lie on the canvas in front of ten thousand people in the hall and the millions watching TV?

Lewis: Believe me, that wasn't my favorite place. You feel humiliated. It's like someone draining all the energy out of you. But boxing involves the possibility of defeat, I accepted that very early on. After all, there are only two men and one of them wins. Tyson, by contrast, thought he was unbeatable. That was part of his problem.

SPIEGEL: Mike Tyson now seems like a fairground boxer. Perhaps he doesn't know what to do after his sporting career is over. Is that what makes it so difficult to stop?

Lewis: Not for me. You've got to understand that everything has its time. I had wonderful years as a boxer, I achieved everything. I don't miss anything.

SPIEGEL: And now?

Lewis: I've got a family. My son is one-and-a-half years old and we want to have more children. We're looking for a place to live. We lived in New York for a while, and now we've moved to Miami, where I'm taking acting lessons. In Oceans Eleven I played a boxer, and in an Irish feature film that being released soon I play a DJ. I've developed the concept for a reality show on TV, and I'm working with my sports management company, SEM, to expand its business in America.

SPIEGEL: So you don't see a future for yourself in boxing?

Lewis: Not really.

SPIEGEL: Has boxing become too corrupt for you?

Lewis: Oh, boxing always was corrupt and always will be corrupt.

SPIEGEL: But the sport's audience isn't tired. For years now, a man like Don King seems to decide who becomes world champion, it's not the boxers in the ring any more. There are different associations with different world champions. Everything seems arbitrary and confused.

Lewis: The three world champion's belts really are absurd. One single association, as in football, baseball or basketball, would make this business more reputable. But it's not just the promoters who aren't interested in a solution like that. Just as powerful as the promoters, if not more, is the media. The cable networks control the cash flow. King can stage fights, but it's the cable stations that pay big money to air the fights, essentially paying for the fights. You can't ignore the influence the media and the promoters have on the sport. They have a financial objective -- high ratings, selling pay-per-views and selling out arenas. Because of the system, the public may not be seeing the best the sport has to offer, but what sells.

SPIEGEL: What do you mean by that?

Lewis: The media can make boxers, controls who makes it big and who doesn't. They can build up fighters or knock them down. I think there was a huge focus on Vitali during our last fight because he and his brother were seen as the future.

SPIEGEL: Did American TV fall in love with the idea of the two white boxing PhDs?

Lewis: Exactly. But that's wasn't the reality, and they've got to recognise that now. The first, Vitali, has retired, and the second, Wladimir, maybe injures too easily. And now?

SPIEGEL: You've got to return. Has HBO asked you about a comeback?

Lewis: Yes, but so do a lot of people in the sport.

SPIEGEL: So what would it cost to get you back into the ring?

Lewis: It's not about the money. It's a big risk coming back again after such a long time. I'm 40, and I'd need at least a year to get back into form. Then I'd be 41. I've got a reputation to lose. And the people who are now begging for me to start boxing again are the first who, if it goes wrong, would say that I should never have done it. That's a game that you can't win.

**** lennox lewis

nice article

**** lennox lewis

Why that article was good and truthful, if he was from da U.S would you still be saying that??

Why that article was good and truthful, if he was from da U.S would you still be saying that??

Dude some people are really ignorant here..that guy is just hating on Lennox Lewis for no reason, I bet u if he wasnt British the USA would give Lewis so much support

Dude some people are really ignorant here..that guy is just hating on Lennox Lewis for no reason, I bet u if he wasnt British the USA would give Lewis so much supportI think the US media have giving Lewis all the support he deserved & then some. I personally think that the US media overrates Lewis accomplishments.

I think the US media have giving Lewis all the support he deserved & then some. I personally think that the US media overrates Lewis accomplishments.

I'm sure you mean Underrates..?!?

I'm sure you mean Underrates..?!?No I meant overrate him, this guy don't belong in the top 5 HW. If US underrated Lewis, why do they put him so high with some of the greatest HW of all time??? they always covered his fights & Lewis made alot of money for his fights, the media loved Lewis, get real.

ESPN always covered his fights, ESPN didn't even cover Pac VS. Morales fight, that's what you call underrating someone.

Lennox lewis is overrated he beat wash up Mike Tyson. He thinks he beat the Tyson of the eighties. Even Butterbean could of beat Mike Tyson when Lennox Lewis fought him. Danny Williams And Mcbride Beat Mike Tyson so are they on of the greatest heavyweights. "Hell No".

[/INDENT] "they've got no personality at all". and this is Lewis saying this :eek: and did i miss something on this... SPIEGEL: But how did Mike Tyson become the great hero of the nineties without having had a single amateur fight? :confused:

Lennox Lewis is grossly over-rated in America, it's pathetic.

Lennox lewis is overrated because he beat guys who are mostly out of their prime.

Personally, I don't blame Lewis for retireing.If you can go out
"on top" then more power to you. But the man was overrated.
He gives himself props for coming back aganist McCall
and Rahman, but he should've beaten those two the 1st time around.

**** lennox lewis
**** you...... Lennox is a great champion and that was a great interview. :cool:

**** you...... Lennox is a great champion and that was a great interview. :cool:

Exactly man...too many ignorant fans here

Lennox lewis is overrated he beat wash up Mike Tyson. He thinks he beat the Tyson of the eighties. Even Butterbean could of beat Mike Tyson when Lennox Lewis fought him. Danny Williams And Mcbride Beat Mike Tyson so are they on of the greatest heavyweights. "Hell No".

u dum twat. tyson was the ***** that vacated the belt, and decided not to face lewis in 1996!

lewis sparred tyson back when they were young, it was a good fite, tyson was gettin his ass handed to him.

lewis sparred tyson back when they were young, it was a good fite, tyson was gettin his ass handed to him.
Kevin Rooney says that Tyson floored Lewis in 60 seconds, then Lewis just ran.

u dum twat. tyson was the ***** that vacated the belt, and decided not to face lewis in 1996!

lewis sparred tyson back when they were young, it was a good fite, tyson was gettin his ass handed to him.The Tyson that beat Spinks would've knocked Lewis out within 2 or 3 rounds.

u dum twat. tyson was the ***** that vacated the belt, and decided not to face lewis in 1996!

lewis sparred tyson back when they were young, it was a good fite, tyson was gettin his ass handed to him.

Yeah... Prime Tyson could knock anyone out and he was knocking everyone out in a sparring session, when Lewis came in the ring, Lennox was the only person Prime Tyson could'nt knock out, And Lennox was Blocking, Jabbing, Counterpunchin

Yeah... Prime Tyson could knock anyone out and he was knocking everyone out in a sparring session, when Lewis came in the ring, Lennox was the only person Prime Tyson could'nt knock out, And Lennox was Blocking, Jabbing, Counterpunchin

exactly, lennox was boxing with a brain.

ppl who follow tyson, just aint got a clue

The Tyson that beat Spinks would've knocked Lewis out within 2 or 3 rounds.

Are you out of your mind?

Man Lewis beat both Tyson and Holyfield...and you cant see they were out of their primes or they were old because Lewis is older than Tyson and only 2 year younger to Holyfield

TUNICA, Miss. (AP) -- The year was 1984 and Lennox Lewis was an 18-year-old spoiling for a fight. He found it in the Catskills against a young terror named Mike Tyson whose reputation was already known in the amateur ranks.

Lewis needed someone to spar with and for the better part of a week he and Tyson went at each other in a makeshift gym.

Tyson wasted no time in giving Lewis a fat lip. Later, Lewis would bloody Tyson's nose.

Cus D'Amato, Tyson's mentor, watched the talented pair in the ring and thought ahead. Someday, he told the two, you will meet in a big fight.

"I didn't think it would come true," Lewis said.

It will Saturday night, and they don't come much bigger. When Lewis defends his heavyweight titles against Tyson in Memphis, Tenn., each fighter will make some $20 million in a bout that could be the richest ever.

And, if the two go after each other like they did as amateurs, it might be a fight that actually lives up to its hype.

"Just like back then it was pretty explosive," Lewis said. "I predict Saturday will be explosive."

Lewis recalled the sparring session Wednesday at a news conference at a Mississippi River casino, where soft jazz played and then Lewis played chess with a 13-year-old chess club member.

Down the river a bit, Tyson entertained a group of children bused in by the Tunica Recreation Department and who got a chance to do what reporters have not been allowed -- ask the former champion some questions.

Third grader Jamal Cornes, who may have a future as a journalist, piped up:

"Why did you bite off Evander Holfyfield's ear?"

"That was a long time ago," Tyson said, laughing.

Lewis' carefully produced news conference was in sharp contrast to Tyson's appearance a day before, when he refused to talk but his assistant trainer delivered a profanity-filled monologue to an audience that included some children.

"Mike Tyson never knocked me out in four days," he said. "He did give me a fat lip but I gave him a bloody nose, too."

Lewis said Tyson was much the same kind of fighter he is today, though less seasoned. Tyson came right after him, much like Lewis expects him to do Saturday night.

"This cat rushed across the room and I gave him my Muhammad Ali impression. I was dancing around, boxing him," Lewis said.

Lewis' amateur trainer Arnie Boehm, who adopted him as a child, recalled the sessions in an interview with the fighter's hometown paper The Record in Kitchener, Ontario.

"As each sparring session progressed, his dominance progressed," Boehm said.

Lewis appeared calm and confident as he talked about Saturday's fight, then spent some time in the ring hitting mitts held by trainer Emanuel Steward.

At 6-foot-5, Lewis will tower over Tyson in the ring and plans to use his reach and stinging jab to control the fight.

"My jab will be popping," he said. "He's never seen a boxer like Lennox Lewis. He's never seen a jab like mine. Nobody has a jab like Lennox Lewis has a jab."

Tyson, who is listed at 5-11 and will likely enter the fight as an underdog for the first time in his career, has had trouble with taller fighters in the past and comes into the fight with only 18 rounds under his belt in the last five years.

In that same time, Lewis has fought in 12 title fights and, aside from a knockout loss to Hasim Rahman in South Africa, appears to be in his prime.

"Lennox is fighting better than ever," Steward said. "Mike Tyson is fighting second rate fighters."

Steward said he doesn't even think Tyson deserves to be fighting for the heavyweight title.

"Everyone is holding onto that image of Mike Tyson from 10 to 12 years ago," he said. "That Mike Tyson is gone."

Lewis, who has tried to portray the fight as bad versus evil, couldn't resist getting in a few last digs at Tyson before going off to play chess, one of his passions.

"I think he's scared of the press," Lewis said. "They try to psyche him up and get him ready because they realize he likes that kind of talk and excitement."

Dude some people are really ignorant here..that guy is just hating on Lennox Lewis for no reason, I bet u if he wasnt British the USA would give Lewis so much support


I respect lennox but if he wants to comeback he must do it .
He said that he has a lot to lose and that true . But if you want to fight go and fight

Kevin Rooney says that Tyson floored Lewis in 60 seconds, then Lewis just ran.
Ha ha ha ha....then lewis ran! Where did he go? Where was he running too?

[QUOTE=alt10ate]u dum twat. tyson was the ***** that vacated the belt, and decided not to face lewis in 1996!

lewis sparred tyson back when they were young, it was a good fite, tyson was gettin his ass handed to him. Say that to my face. Tyson was getting the best of Lewis when they were young. Tyson was not afraid of Lewis.

lewis had a great career, he's a ***** for not giving klitcho a rematch before he retired

lewis had a great career, he's a ***** for not giving klitcho a rematch before he retired

It's funny how much people's opinions change. Some people are washed up by 35-36 and told to hang up their gloves or they'll get hurt... they have families and life outside of boxing. Lennox does it and he's a *****? **** that. A Klitschko/Lewis rematch would've servee no purpose other than trying to help out Vitali's career if he can beat an aged Lewis which would never be held against him.

Lewis was the Best British Fighter ever...

Lewis sounds damn smart, I was watching Judah Mayweather the other day...I thought they should put him as a commentator on permanent position..

Yeah... Prime Tyson could knock anyone out and he was knocking everyone out in a sparring session, when Lewis came in the ring, Lennox was the only person Prime Tyson could'nt knock out, And Lennox was Blocking, Jabbing, Counterpunchin

if u guys dont know the sparring session jus SHUT THE **** UP!!. the sparred when they were younger and it wasnt a blowout in either ways. and like it said it wasnt when he was in his prime it was when he was alittle kid. ****!!!!!!

Lewis sounds damn smart, I was watching Judah Mayweather the other day...I thought they should put him as a commentator on permanent position..replaying to your own thread months later...

interesting :rolleyes: