Lennox Lewis Is ‘Down’ To Return To The Ring And Fight American Superstar

Kristan Caryl
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Lennox Lewis Is ‘Down’ To Return To The Ring And Fight American Superstar

Popular and legendary heavyweight Lennox Lewis has hinted he might be down for one more fight.

Lewis is one of few boxers who retired and stayed retired. He was the last undisputed heavyweight champion, having held all the major titles some 24 years ago now.

His final fight was a tough one against late stand-in opponent Vitali Klitsckho in 2003. He inflicted a huge cut over the Ukrainian’s eye which meant the bout was stopped after the sixth round and Lewis retained his WBC, IBO, and The Ring titles. He would hang up the gloves with a record that includes wins overs Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Hasim Rahman.

Since leaving the sport behind he has often worked as a pundit but has now apparently been speaking of a possible return.

Speaking on the Jaxxon podcast, MMA star, actor and wrestler Rampage Jackson was discussing bumping into Lewis in Saudi Arabia ahead of his own proposed fight with former Lewis victim, Shannon Briggs.

“Lennox Lewis came over to me, sized me up and grabbed me and said ‘hey, I heard you want to fight Shannon. I’ll train you!'”

He says that a few minutes later, the Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment, Turki Alalshikh, asked who wanted to fight Lewis.

“I look around, and nobody raise their hand, my coach was next to me and I raise my hand and said I’ll fight Lennox Lewis once I’ve beat Shannon’s ass.”

He claims Lewis then accepted the fight.

“He raised his arm and he was like, I’m down.”

Whether anything comes of it remains to be seen, and Lewis has so far avoided any exhibitions. However, if somewhere can make it happen it’s Saudi.

With Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk set to face each other in the first undisputed fight in almost a quarter of a century next year, Lewis will be watching on closely.

Kristan has been writing about music and sport for 20 years. He’s done cover features for the most influential music magazines on the planet, written books about the world’s top DJs and most celebrated clubs, interviewed footballing heroes and profiled Tour de France legends. He joined Boxing Social in the summer of 2023 as a news and feature writer.

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