“I’m gonna fight Lennox Lewis in September,” the former undisputed world heavyweight champion was quoted as saying by TMZ on Wednesday. At 55 years of age, Lewis is a year older than Tyson.
Lewis (42-2-1, 32 KOs) defeated Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) in eight rounds in June 2002 at The Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee, to remain the unified heavyweight world champion.
Originally scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, the fight was relocated to Memphis after Nevada authorities refused to grant Tyson a license following a brawl that erupted in January 2002 at a press conference held in New York City to promote the bout.
Tyson threw a punch towards one of Lewis’ bodyguards, who had stepped in between him and the Briton after the latter had appeared on stage. The heavyweight champions wrestled on the floor and staff from both camps joined the melee and Tyson was forced to pay Lewis $335,000 after admitting to biting the Briton’s leg.
Following the fracas, then-WBC president Jose Sulaiman filed a $56 million lawsuit against the two boxers after claiming he had suffered permanent physical and psychological injuries as a result of having been knocked out as he hit his head on a table during the scuffle.
“When he got up after being knocked out, Tyson spat on him and threatened to kill him,” Sulaiman’s lawyer told the Manhattan Supreme Court.
When the fight eventually went ahead, the two fighters exchanged jabs in the opening two rounds.
Tyson connected with a left hook to Lewis’ jaw in the opening stanza, only for the Briton to hit back in the second round with a series of powerful combinations and opened a cut above his opponent’s right eye in the third. Tyson hit the canvas in the fourth, only for the referee to ruled it a slip and then landed a couple of successful punches in the sixth round.
By then, however, Lewis had gradually seized control of the encounter, opening a cut above Tyson’s left eye and raining a series of devastating combinations in the seventh round. In following round, Lewis floored a visibly tired Tyson, who barely managed to get back on his feet only to be sent sprawling again from a heavy right cross blow from Lewis with 47 seconds left until the bell.
After losing to Lewis, Tyson fought only three more times. He knocked out Clifford Etienne in 49 seconds in February 2003, before losing in four rounds to Danny Williams in July of the following year and eventually retiring on his stool after six rounds of his bout against Kevin McBride in June 2005.
Lewis, meanwhile, vacated the IBF heavyweight title after deciding not to fight the then-mandatory challenger Chris Byrd, but retained his WBC, IBO and The Ring belts as he defeated Vitali Klitschko by technical KO at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in June 2003.
News of the reported fight with Lewis comes just a month after talks between Tyson and Evander Holyfield’s camps over a fight to be held on May 29 collapsed due to financial disagreements between the two parties.
Originally scheduled to be held in Miami, Florida, the bout would have marked the third chapter of a rivalry that defined heavyweight boxing.
Tyson and Holyfield twice fought for the WBA heavyweight title in the mid-1990s. Holyfield stopped “Iron Mike” in 11 rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in November 1996, before Tyson was disqualified for biting off part of his rival’s ear in the rematch in June 1997.
Tyson didn’t fight for 15 years following his retirement, before briefly returning to the ring with an exhibition tour in 2006 and then making a much-publicized comeback in September last year when he fought Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round exhibition bout.
