LEWIS DECISIONS IMPROVED HOLYFIELD
by Chris Bushnell

With boxing’s popularity once again sinking close to record lows, perhaps the most encouraging news to come out of Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis’ rematch to unify the heavyweight title was that the sport survived. There was no controversy, no unjust decision, no bizarre turn of events that would once again call to question the legitimacy of the game. At a time when boxing can’t seem to do anything right, there was a great sense of relief when nothing went wrong.

Heading into this contest, there was no end to the preventative measures taken to minimize controversy. Judges were supplied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission instead of the sanctioning bodies. The fighters, who wore separate styles of gloves in their first meeting, were forced to compromise on a single brand. Coins were flipped to determine ring entrances and fighter announcements. When the opening bell finally rang, it was as it should be: up to the fighters themselves.

Evander Holyfield wasted no time in demonstrating his new wares: a renewed jab, increased energy, and effective aggression. In the first round, Holyfield set the pace, freely exchanging sticks with the longer armed Lewis. It was an inspiring beginning, because it promised what all boxing fans yearned for: a competitive fight.

Despite Lennox Lewis’ pre-fight claims that he would seek a knockout of the aging warrior, his game plan looked startlingly similar to his first performance. When Lennox Lewis got his jab working in the second frame, and Holyfield was kept at the end of it, Lewis seemed content to stay on the outside and play it safe. Eschewing the attack that trainer Emanuel Steward begged for, Lewis was content to box, and when Evander let him, it worked fine.

But in this bout, Evander didn’t always let Lennox have his way. In the third round, Holyfield sat outside Lewis’ reach eating pawing jabs and frequent, but unimpressive pot shots. Rallying late, however, Holyfield snatched the round away when a desperate overhand right caught Lewis below his left ear, and brought the crowd to it’s feet. Following up with four clean head-snapping punches before the bell, Holyfield returned to his corner confident that he could put his hands on Lewis and turn the tide.

Lewis returned in the fourth and fifth rounds with enough jabbing and moving to prevent Holyfield from committing to an attack. But as Lewis was having an easy time of it, his lack of aggression allowed Holyfield to bank some crucial body work. Pumping a firm jab into Lewis’ chest and clubbing Lennox’s sides in the clinches, Holyfield began wearing down the big man. This unspectacular tactic was effective as Lewis ate occasional left hooks and right crosses from Holyfield that, while not enough to win the rounds, kept the fight close. Lewis’ answer to Holyfield was to fill in the spaces between attempts with punches and clinches. It worked, but Lewis was tiring.

After five rounds of tactical but unexciting maneuvers, Lewis seemed winded and inexplicably took the sixth round off. Matching Holyfield’s inactivity, Lewis let Evander back in the fight with this respite. As Holyfield continued to thrust his left into Lewis’ sternum, Lewis’s hands dropped and his mouth hung open. Betraying the conditioning that had brought him in at a fit 242 lbs., Lewis lucked out, as Holyfield let him lean on the ropes and rest without attacking. At the end of halfway point, both fighters returned to corners that were outraged with their behavior.

Before the seventh round began, Emanuel Steward begged Lewis to step up his attack. At a time when Lewis’ jab was winning him unspectacular rounds, a stepped up aggression seemed to lend itself to a Holyfield rally. Sure enough, when Lewis charged Holyfield to begin the seventh, Holyfield gladly returned fire. As the fighters freely exchanged for the first time, it was a Holyfield left hook that caught Lewis flush and sent him into retreat across the ring. As Lewis lumbered around on weakened legs, Holyfield pursued, smiling at his own good fortune. Letting his hands go, Holyfield chased Lewis down, snapping his head left and right with well timed power punches. Lumbering from one corner to another, Lewis was looking for a breather, and again was visibly hurt by a crunching Holyfield hook. The Las Vegas crowd that had booed Holyfield on introduction was now cheering wildly. Finally a fight had broken out.

The eighth continued where the previous round left off. Holyfield again staggered the giant WBC champion with a left hook, and another miracle seemed to be happening before our eyes. Written off by critics as too old, too small and past his prime, Holyfield looked like the younger man as he fired punches that hurt, but never toppled, the fatigued Lewis. Through his exhaustion, Lewis found a home for his right uppercut in this round. Although his underhanded bomb had made cameos in several previous rounds, Lewis finally stemmed the tide by catching Holyfield through the gloves. This tactic slowed Holyfield enough to give Lewis the round, although Holyfield again rallied with clean combinations to end the frame.

With the fight too close to call, the ninth round began at a slower pace. Holyfield, whose punching had topped out in the previous two stanzas, now looked to pick his spots more carefully down the stretch. Lewis looked for a second wind and a way to reverse the momentum. Again the Lewis uppercut saved him, as a particularly furious blast banged Evander’s chin and shook him to the bone. Holyfield now held on, buying time to recover. As Lewis followed up with some wincing body blows of his own and a few good right hands, Holyfield fired back and again the two stood toe to toe in the center of the ring. It was Lewis who came out on top this round, and firmly returned control of the bout.

Having hurt Holyfield enough to keep him at a distance, Lewis again began boxing effectively. No longer standing still, Lewis circled Holyfield and kept landing the uppercut. For his part, Holyfield continued firing his jab, landing it frequently and effectively, while Lewis’ own jab was nearly non existent. But landing little more than jabs and occasional body shots, Holyfield was not offering enough to win the round. When this pattern repeated in the eleventh, Holyfield found himself behind the eight ball, needing a knockout in the final round.

To his credit, Holyfield gave it his all. Charging Lewis in the final round, he quickly turned Lewis’ skull left and right with hooks and crosses. As the crowd chanted "Holy-field! Holy-field!", Evander tried in vain to engage Lewis in one more exchange. Lewis would have none of it, tying up Holyfield, backing away from his aggression, and eating a number of blows that were good, but not good enough as the final bell eventually ended the contest.

Having put together a solid string of late rounds, Lewis appeared to have won a close but definitive decision. Still, the fight was now once again in the hand of three boxing judges, and boxing fans held their breaths as another draw or split decision loomed over a fight with many close rounds.

After some delay, there was an audible sigh released from the crowd as Jimmy Lennon proclaimed that the judges had reached a unanimous decision. Boxing would finally have a unified world heavyweight champion. After reading scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111, neither fighter seemed particularly sure of who would be announced as the winner. After a drawn out proclamation, Jimmy Lennon finally said the words that all observers hoped he would: Lennox Lewis.

Looking simultaneously overjoyed and shocked, Lewis finally raised his hands and cheered his good fortune. The new undisputed champion was all smiles, having finally righted the injustice that was bestowed upon him earlier this year. Across the ring, Holyfield appeared pleased with his own performance, regardless of the outcome. Despite having been separated from any claim to the title, he retained a grin of his own. In fact, everyone seemed to be smiling, thrilled that a major fight had come off without incident.

While boxing certainly didn’t falter, and while this bout was infinitely more competitive than the first, some post-fight analysis reveals that neither fighter did much to help their careers.

While Lennox Lewis won a majority of the rounds, this was not one of his finer performances. Lewis was often easy to hit, his schizophrenic jab again came and went at random, and Lennox’s condition left a lot to be desired, as a full half the bout was fought with his mouth hanging open and his hands down. Worse, the opponent most frequently mentioned for Lewis by his handlers, and even Lewis himself, was that of Mike Tyson. While Tyson represents the perfect blend of no risk/big money, he certainly doesn’t represent the type of fight that most people want to see. Alternatives include the dreadful WBA mandatory Henry Akinwande, once disqualified for hugging Lewis like a long lost relative...WBC mandatory John Ruiz, a fighter so unworthy of a top-ten ranking that even the WBC seems unwilling to force this fight...and IBF #1 contender David Tua, a fearsome puncher who could represent the biggest threat to Lewis’ reign. Who will Lewis fight? Can he hold the titles together? It remains to be seen....

As for Evander Holyfield, tonight’s performance was a mixed bag of results. Holyfield certainly shocked critics who had again written him off as shot, displaying that even at 37 years of age, he is good enough to adjust his style and improve upon his mistakes. In a perfect world Holyfield would now retire to his millions with his health intact. Unfortunately tonight’s performance was probably good enough to encourage Holyfield to continue. Locked out of the title picture for the immediate future, Holyfield too must consider his options. Perhaps the only fight that makes sense for him is a third showdown with Mike Tyson. This fight carries the same risk/reward equation for Evander as it does for Lewis, but the curiosity factor might make this an even more lucrative proposition. Beyond Tyson, however, Holyfield’s options are limited. He’s unlikely to fight any of the young up-and-comers in the division, and having fought on exclusively on pay per view for the last several years will likely price him out of many tune-up possibilities. Although he refused to announce his retirement in the ring after the bout, he also wouldn’t rule it out. Let’s hope that Evander does the right thing, as goes out on this respectable, if losing, effort.

When Holyfield-Lewis is looked back on, it won’t be remembered as a classic. There were no knockdowns, few moments of drama, and only sporadic action. But this fight might be remembered as the first step in the right direction: a major event that was executed without controversy, collusion or corruption. In any other year, that wouldn’t be worthy of mention. But in 1999, a year in which nearly every main event seemed tainted, this bout was a breath of fresh air.

Chris Bushnell
http://www.boxingchronicle.com

No, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield didn’t save the allegedly dying sport of boxing last night.

But what should have taken place eight months ago in Madison Square Garden finally reached fruition in Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mack Center, as Lennox Lewis was crowned the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world via a unanimous 12 round decision.

In a vastly more entertaining bout (though not close to the level of the Bowe-Holyfield trilogy), the decision resulted from a more active Lewis, and a Holyfield who at times looked downright bored in the ring. The scores of Jerry Roth, Chuck Giampa, and Bill Graham read 115-113, 116-112, 117-111, respectively. This reporter scored it 115-113 for Lewis.

Holyfield started the fight off in a more aggressive fashion, as Lewis looked bewildered and awkward in the opening moments. But Great Britain’s first unified champ since 1897 (Bob Fitzsimmons) settled into a groove in round two, landing sharp jabs to the head of the onrushing Holyfield.

Lewis added some hooks and crosses to his jabs in round three, but it was Holyfield who stunned Lennox with a hard right hand late in the frame.

In the fourth, Holyfield began to show frustration in his inability to get inside Lewis’ reach by trying to swat down the taller champion’s outstretched left arm. In the fifth, Lewis continued to play it cool, even as both men almost flipped over the top rope when engaged in a particularly tight clinch. Referee Mitch Halpern, one of the best in the game, took control of the fight at that point, and no more nasty incidents occurred from that point on. Holyfield’s head did produce a slight cut over Lewis’ right eye in that sequence, but the cut proved to be of no consequence in the fight.

The pace slowed to a crawl in round six, and the boo birds started to surface among the 19,000+ fans in attendance. Between rounds, Emanuel Steward pleaded with Lewis to start letting his hands go. Lewis replied with a nod of his head "Right Now". He wasn’t kidding. In the seventh, both men went toe to toe, blistering each other with solid shots, though neither man ever seemed to be in any danger. As TVKO’s Jim Lampley wisely noted "This was the best round these two have fought in two fights."

Lewis abandoned his outside game from that point, and chose to battle with Holyfield on the inside. One would think that this strategy would favor Evander, but this stretch of the fight clinched the win for Lewis. Lewis looked to be the more tired of the two fighters, but his punch output far outstripped that of his opponent. Holyfield tried to steal rounds in the final twenty seconds, but the judges were not swayed.

The "Championship rounds" displayed little in the way of drama, mainly consisting of an occasional flurry and a lot of clinching, but Lewis showed enough in the final frames to secure a victory.

The real drama was in the wait before the decision. Luckily, the right man won for a change. Eight months late.

Punchstat numbers gave Lewis an edge, 195/490 over Holyfield’s 137/416.

In undercard action…

Fabrice Tiozzo retained his WBA cruiserweight crown with a 7^th round TKO over Ken Murphy.

Sharmba Mitchell scored a unanimous (114-112, 118-108, 119-109) decision over Venezuela’s Elio Ortiz to retain his WBA super lightweight title.

Gilbert Serrano won the WBA lightweight crown as he stopped Stefano Zoff in the 10^th round due to a cut.

Josue Blocus of France raised his record to 9-0 (9 Kos) with a first round TKO over Clarence Goins.

Earlier in the evening, in Hull England, Paul Ingle took the IBF featherweight title from Manuel Medina. Ingle took a unanimous decision in an exciting fight which saw Medina down twice in the second and again in the eleventh. Medina decked Ingle in the twelfth but was unable to keep him there. Ingle wins the title in his twenty-third fight and perhaps sets up a rematch with Naseem Hamed.