BRIT VS USA BOXING SHOWDOWN: "JUST TELL LENNOX TO PREPARE FOR WAR"

The Sun ^ | Nov 17 | Pat Sheehan in Las Vegas

[jjbrouwer]

D-DAY has arrived for Lennox Lewis as he bids to regain his heavyweight titles from Hasim Rahman.

Victory will install Lewis as a three-time world champion, while defeat means retirement and kissing goodbye to a mega pay day against Mike Tyson.

So much will depend on tonight's opening round.

Rahman's fifth-round knockout of Lewis in Johannesburg last April ranks as one of the division's most spectacular.

And the WBC and IBF holder is expected to come out throwing more big punches.

Lewis' heart, chin and character can expect to be seriously examined in an opening three minutes which Rahman has declared will be a war.

Lewis' trainer Manny Steward said: "It could be one of the most crucial rounds ever in the history of heavyweight boxing.

"Rahman will try to dictate to Lennox, to dominate physically and overpower him. Everything is hanging on this fight for Lennox. He must prove he's better than the one-punch wonder who took his titles.

"Their last fight epitomised the challenger who was not respected, who was being beaten but who came out with a solid blow that shocked the world." Lewis, 36, insisted: "Some people think Rahman is coming in to run me over in the first round. Others have tried and failed like he will do.

"This fight is important as when — not if — I win it puts me in the same category as Muhammad Ali, who also won the title three times."

Rahman's victory was Lewis' second one-punch defeat after he lost his WBC title to Oliver McCall in September 1994.

Now he must restore his reputation to take his place among the heavyweight greats.

Rahman is talking a game every bit as good as his right hand and, at 29, he's in his prime. There is nothing false about the American's bravery.

He has been shot five times, seen pals gunned down, was pronounced dead after getting pinned under a truck and needed more than 500 stitches to repair his face when it became stuck to a flaming petrol tank. Fearful? Definitely not. Yet much depends on his ability to land a big right.

He makes little secret of his strategy, revealing: "Just tell Lewis to prepare for a war."

But Rahman has expended so much nervous energy saying he will knock out Lewis for a second time, you wonder whether he believes his own hype.

Certainly, he looked stunned when British fans greeted him at the weigh-in with boos.

Lewis had already arrived, although he threatened to walk out when Rahman kept him waiting. Both fighters were then separated by a perspex screen.

Yet Lewis revealed: "I didn't ask for it — nor the separate scales. To say Rahman has got under my skin is preposterous."

One of Lewis' favourite sayings is you can't walk in the rain without getting wet — and everyone knows he got soaked in South Africa.

This time I expect him to be home and dry on points.

Also from The Sun...

LENNOX LEWIS is one fight away from the biggest money-spinning bout of all time, writes PAT SHEEHAN.

Victory over Hasim Rahman in tonight's rematch in Las Vegas will hand Lewis a shot at Mike Tyson — and a £25MILLION purse.

Lewis was Britain's highest-paid sportsman last year with £16.5m and he will pocket around £7m tonight.

That will be dwarfed if he finally gets the dream fight against Tyson he has chased for years.

Rival TV chiefs have admitted for the first time Lewis-Tyson is on for next spring.

HBO boss Mark Taffet revealed: "We have put many, many months of negotiations into this.

"If Lennox wins, I fully expect him to be fighting Tyson next spring.

"It would be here in America because it would cost so much money to stage — we would have to chase the dollars from whoever offers the biggest site fee."

Tyson is bankrolled by Showtime TV, but they are willing to strike a deal with HBO in return for the rights to any Lewis-Tyson rematch.

One TV executive commented: "Broadcasters will show the fight simply for the prestige of being involved in one of the biggest fights of all time."

They will want to be able to say 'We did it'."

The former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world has been told his long awaited showdown against Mike Tyson will happen as long as he beats Hasim Rahman here tonight.

But Rahman is threatening to wreck any proposed deal and blasted: "There will be no Lewis v Tyson. How can that be when no title will be at stake.

"Tyson wants to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world so he will have to come to me because Lewis will lose on Saturday night.

"This is a business in which there is a lot of money to be made but only for a very small per centage of guys.

"I'm not going to mess around with small fights because this isn't a fooling around business.

"I'll fight the big fights against the likes of Tyson, pick up the big pay days and move on and live with my life."

[jjbrouwer]

[BritBulldog]

Brit? Didn't he box for Canada in the Olympics?

[usconservative]

Lennox Lewis is a classic cry-baby. Rahman all the way.

[jjbrouwer]

Didn't he box for Canada.

Yeah, but we will take what we can get. Anyway, he was born in Britain and his mum is a Limey so that will do for me. Better than that moron Bruno anyway.

[BritBulldog]

Lennox Lewis is a classic cry-baby. Rahman all the way.

From what I know of boxing Lewis is a good fighter. But the British thing, to me that's a marriage of convenience.

[Traitain]

LOL, trust The Sun to turn this into a war. All right then Yankees, prepare for death.
The British are coming, mwuhahaha.

But saying that, Lewis is practically American anyway. Have you heard his accent lately? It sounds like a bastardised mix of British and American accents. One minute he sounds like your average Londoner and the next he sounds like an American Gangsta from the depths of New York :)

Does anyone else think Lewis has gone a bit wobbely since starting training in America and dumping his former trainer?

Traitain

[usconservative]

From what I know of boxing Lewis is a good fighter.

IMO, Lewis has *always* been terribly over-rated. But then, I've never liked him. I don't like anything about him.

[jjbrouwer]

IMO, Lewis has *always* been terribly over-rated. But then, I've never liked him. I don't like anything about him.

Were you one of the judges in the rigged Holyfield fight at the Garden?

[usconservative]

Yes.

Hate to tell you this, but Holyfield won that fight.

[jjbrouwer]

Holyfield won that fight...

Yeah, right. And baseball is a sport.

[usconservative]

Baseball is no more a sport, than professional wrestling (or 'rasslin if you're from the south.)

Boxing is rigged. We all know that.

[jjbrouwer]

Next thing you will be telling me is that Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy don't exist.

[usconservative]

They don't. But that's OK because the Easter Bunny does.

PS - those really aren't chocolate eggs.

[jjbrouwer]

I'm not sure, I have always found something slightly sinister about the Easter Bunny.

[Channel_Islands_EANx_Diver]

Like I said bloke, its not in your genetic makeup to understand baseball. Its mano y mano. a game of placement and preciseness. Soccer is just a bunch of guys running around kicking a ball. Witness its cultlike popularity in Mexico and other 3rd World (places)

[sharktrager]

Winning the title for a third time won't come close to putting him in the same class as Ali.

Ali won his titles at a time when there were several great heavyweights. He also did it despite losing several of years in his prime over his anti-Viet Nam stance.

We may not like Ali's politics, but his talent and the strength of his beliefs puts him in a class boxers like Lewis can't even imagine.

[jjbrouwer]

We may not like Ali's politics, but his talent and the strength of his beliefs puts him in a class boxers like Lewis can't even imagine.

Noone is in Ali's class. He is one of the greatest sportsman of all time. And he is a great man, whether you care for his politics or not.

I had the pleasure of meeting The King when I covered a bout between his daughter Laila and some no-hoper they matched her with.

[jjbrouwer]

Okay, egg on face time. I predict Lennox will win inside ten rounds.

[jjbrouwer]

K-POW! Lennox wins in four rounds!!!

[jjbrouwer]

usconservative: '..he's always been over-rated...'

Yeah, right!

Lewis takes back title convincingly

LENNOX KO'S THE ROCK!

Lewis knocks out Rahman in fourth round!