Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, , (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and remains the last heavyweight to hold the undisputed title. Lewis holds dual British and Canadian citizenship; as an amateur he represented Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division after defeating future world champion Riddick Bowe in the final.In his first three years as a professional, Lewis won several regional championships, including the European, British, and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. After winning his first 21 fights, he defeated Donovan Ruddock in 1992 to take over the number one position in the WBC rankings. He was declared WBC heavyweight champion in December 1992 after Riddick Bowe gave up the title to avoid defending it against Lewis. He defended the title three times before an upset knockout loss to Oliver McCall in 1994. Lewis avenged the loss in a 1997 rematch to win back the vacant WBC title.Lewis won the lineal title by defeating Shannon Briggs in 1998. Two fights against Evander Holyfield in 1999 (the first of which ended in a controversial draw) saw Lewis become undisputed heavyweight champion by unifying his WBC title with Holyfields WBA and IBF titles, as well as the vacant IBO title. In 2000, the WBA stripped Lewis of their title when he opted to face Michael Grant instead of mandatory challenger John Ruiz.Lewis was knocked out by Hasim Rahman in a 2001 upset, but this defeat was avenged later in the year. Lewis was forced to vacate the IBF title in 2002 after refusing to face mandatory challenger Chris Byrd. In 2002, Lewis defeated Mike Tyson in one of the most highly anticipated fights in boxing history. Prior to the event, Lewis was awarded the Ring magazine heavyweight title, which had been vacant since the late 1980s and was last held by Tyson. In what would be his final fight, in 2003, Lewis defeated Vitali Klitschko in a bloody encounter. He vacated his remaining titles and retired from boxing in 2004.Lewis often referred to himself as the pugilist specialist. During his boxing prime he was 6 ft tall, with an 84 in reach, and weighed about 245 lb. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, and also one of the greatest British fighters of all time. In 1999 he was named Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, and BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Bio from Wikipedia - See more on en.wikipedia.org Text under CC-BY-SA license