Inside the Lennox Lewis training camp!
May 14, 2002
By Matt Richardson at Scotrun, PA
Photos by Steve Richardson
The trees are blooming. It's getting warmer. Families are starting to gather in anticipation of the summer. Quite and serene, the Caesars Brookdale Resort is gorgeous this time of year. But somewhere in the background is the unmistakable sound of a pounding speedbag. If you listen a little closer, you'll here the reggae tunes of Bob Marley. If you're a boxing fan, that's all you need to know. Lennox Lewis is here.
"It's his second home," Emanuel Steward tells us. "He gets up and runs about 4:30-5 in the morning. He's been boxing about 8-10 rounds. Shoots pool, plays chess, which I don't like. He's a total professional," Steward says.
Lewis is preparing for a fight that he will readily admit is "very, very important for my legacy." He's training for a June 8th fight against the incomparable Mike Tyson. It's a fight that Lewis, and the majority of boxing fans, have been waiting for for what seems like an eternity. "I've been waiting for this fight for a long time," Lewis says. "As soon as we step in the ring, I'm going to show him I'm the best," he says. "My confidence is great and I'm going to go in there and show I'm the best heavyweight in the world."
If only it were that simple. Many experts feel that as soon as Tyson realizes the seemingly insurmountable task in front of him, he will resort to fouling. Lewis has first hand knowledge of this. Tyson bit him at a press conference to announce the fight on January 22. "He saw my leg as a pork chop and he bit. I was punching him, he was biting me. I'm a fighter, he's a biter," he says. "Everybody knows Mike Tyson is a dirty fighter. He always tries to bite you. I'm going to insist he has a big lunch and dinner. I'm going to have my hair pinned up so he can't pull my hair," Lewis says. "True life is evolution, and he's shown he hasn't graduated." And while a referee has yet to be determined, Steward says that "the referee in this fight is probably the most important referee in the history of boxing."
Surprisingly, the two sparred as amateurs. "He gave me a fat lip, and I gave him a bloody mouth," Lewis remembers. He says they may have even slept in the same room, but that they didn't talk too much. Lewis says he remembers Tyson watching alot of old boxing films.
Speaking of which, Steward has been watching tapes of old fights with Lewis in training camp. Some of these included Sonny Liston-Floyd Patterson, Floyd Patterson-Ingemar Johannson and Tommy Hearns-Roberto Duran. What do they all have in common? They lasted three rounds or less. So is he expecting a short night? "No, I'm expecting the fight to go as long as possible. I don't get paid for over time, and if I see a point where I can take him, I'm going to definitely take him out." While Steward reminds us that "Lennox has shown he can be explosive early." How has Lewis looked in training? "Lennox is right up near the 100 mark now. He's doing everything now. I think the fight's that he's had he's learned from. The fights with Evander where he was on such on a high. With God, prophesizing the third round knockout, having destroyed Mike Tyson he was everything. The fight was in New York with everything against him Lennox fought a technical fight, he had all these things in his mind, he's learned to control them. I think Lennox has grown now. I think he is a complete mature fighter, he's had a lot of experiences. I think right now at this stage, he is very much comfortable with himself. And I think that the knockout loss to Rahman was a good revelation and it helped him a lot too,"
Steward says.
"We've got two legitimate punchers," Steward says. "Lennox wants to knock out Mike in the worst way. When you bring emotions and drama you get Hagler-Hearns, Leonard-Hearns. emotions are going to explode."
The speedbag is bouncing a little faster...the music is getting a little louder...it's starting to get noisy in here.
