Celebrity Apprentice – Lennox Lewis
Boxer Lennox Lewis is a champ in the ring, but he will be up against tough competition in this year’s “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Lennox Claudius Lewis was born in West Ham, London, England on September 2, 1965. However, the family moved to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1977 when Lewis was 12. A good athlete, he developed a love for boxing and was named the Junior World Super Heavyweight Champion in 1983. In 1984, he represented Canada in the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. He made the quarterfinals, but lost a controversial decision to Tyrell Biggs and finished in fifth place. In 1985, he was a silver medalist at the World Cup and he was a super heavyweight gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1986. In 1987, he won the North American Super Heavyweight championship.
Lewis fought as an amateur for four more years in hopes of winning a gold medal at the next Olympic Games. He did achieve that goal in at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics when he defeated Riddick Bowe in the second round with a TKO.
Right after the Seoul Olympics, Lewis turned professional and moved back to England. In 1990, he won the European heavyweight title in 1990 and the British heavyweight title in 1991. He was ranked as one of the top five heavyweight boxers in the world.
It was the knockout of Donovan “Razor” Ruddock in late 1992 that would put Lewis in the Number 1 contender position of the World Boxing Council (WBC). However, when then-champ, Riddick Bowe, refused to fight Lewis, his WBC title was declared vacant and Lewis was declared the champion in 1993. He was the first world heavyweight champion from Britain in the twentieth century.
Lewis would defend his title three times, against Tony Tucker, Phil Jackson, and Frank Bruno before he lost to Oliver McCall by TKO in September 1994. Lewis defeated gold medalist Ray Mercer and Tommy Morrison, but when he again became the Number 1 contender, then-champ Mike Tyson refused to fight him and again the WBC title was declared vacant again. This time Lewis and Oliver McCall fought for the title. McCall, however, refused to continue to fight in the fourth and fifth rounds and even began crying in the ring. The referee stopped the fight and Lewis was declared the winner. He then defended his title against Shannon Briggs, Henry Akinwande, Andrew Golota, and Zeljko Marovic. He said the fight against Marovic was the toughest of his entire career.
Lewis fought Evander Holyfield in 1999. At the time, Holyfield was the WBA and IBF champion and the fight was supposed to be a heavyweight unification bout. However, there was controversy when the bout was declared a draw because many observers felt Lewis had won. The two fought again eight months later with Lewis winning a close, unanimous decision.
Lewis refused to fight John Ruiz and dropped the WBA and IBF titles. He defended the WBC title three more times before being knocked out by Hasim Rahman. After fight between the two during a promotion of the rematch, Lewis defeated Rahman in the fourth round.
In 2002, Lewis and Tyson finally met in the ring in Memphis, Tennessee. Tyson appeared sluggish and he was knocked out. The fight was the highest-grossing pay per view event, generating $106.9 million. Lewis fought WBC Number 1 contender Vitali Klitschko in 2003. The fight was stopped by the ringside doctor after six rounds because Klitschko suffered a severe cut above his left eye.
Fans felt that Klitschko could have won the fight if it had continued and called for a rematch. Although Klitschko was named Number 1 contender, Lewis refused to fight him and instead retired with a record of 41 wins, 2 losses, and a draw.
Since his retirement, Lewis has become a boxing commentator for HBO and appeared in the movie Johnny Was. He married Violet Chang in July 2005 and the two have a son and daughter together.
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