Boxing: How can David Tua beat Lennox Lewis?

By PETER JESSUP

Lennox Lewis is a great boxer, haunted by a single bad mistake.

In front of his home crowd at Wembley Stadium, Lewis made a classic error. He left an opening for the no-account Oliver McCall to steal his world title.

The right which McCall landed to knock the champion down in round two robbed Lewis of all right he had to the title "baddest man on the planet" - the description which traditionally goes with the heavyweight title, as far as United States fight fans are concerned.

That punch has haunted Lewis from September 24 1994 until today. His own right had missed, slipping over McCall's shoulder. It's exactly the sort of opening David Tua needs.

McCall ended his career having a nervous breakdown in the ring in the rematch with Lewis in Las Vegas in February 1997.

Lewis had already regained his World Boxing Council title from the rubbish bin where Riddick Bowe threw it rather than defend it. But no one really regarded Bowe as top notch.

This year Lewis, aged 35, has fought American Michael Grant in April for a second round technical knockout as the ref stopped the fight, and South African Frans Botha in July, with the same result.

Grant is 24, and inexperienced at top level. He lacked a real chance.

Botha calls himself the White Buffalo but is known by others as the White Elephant, and is similarly short on the speed and power required for a serious challenge.

In 1999 Lewis drew with, then beat, Evander Holyfield, but it was hardly commanding stuff against a man five years his senior and at the end of the line.

In 1998, Lewis fought then up-and-coming East European Zelko Mavrovic, winning a decision over 12 rounds, and New Yorker Shannon Briggs for a technical knockout in round five.

In 1997 he beat low-blow Pole Andrew Golota in one round. That's the Golota who quit in round two against Mike Tyson 11 days ago, later being found to have concussion, a herniated neck disc and a fractured cheekbone.

And Lewis won over Henry Akinwande by disqualification when the latter ignored repeated warnings for holding in yet another heavyweight farce.

But his last real test was against Ray Mercer in the middle of 1996. Mercer was not fully fit and, like Tua, was short on height and reach.

Also like Tua, Mercer was a slugger rather than a boxer. He repeatedly backed Lewis up until round four, then he started to run out of petrol.

Tua will be fitter, sharper, faster than Mercer. He won't run out of petrol. And Lewis doesn't like sluggers.

The Ring magazine's slogan is "The Bible of Boxing," and it is regarded as such.

In its October edition it profiles Lennox Lewis, commenting: "It's easy to watch Lewis and wonder how he keeps winning. He's still clumsy. He still doesn't fight with fire.

"He's still ridiculously hittable, and we'll never forgive him for struggling with Zeljko Mavrovic (Mavrovic not in anyone's Top 10 now)."

But, the magazine challenges, name someone who can beat him.

The heavyweight champion was born on September 2, 1965, in London, England, to parents of Jamaican origin. The family moved to Canada when Lennox was 12.

At Cameron Heights High School in Vancouver, Lennox was good at basketball, football, volleyball - and boxing.

He was a teenage national representative; among his boxing memorabilia is a photo of himself with Mike Tyson and his trainer Cus D'amato.

He boxed for Canada at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, losing to Tyrell Biggs in the quarterfinals.

Four years later, at Seoul, he won gold in the heavyweight division by beating Riddick Bowe in round two, then signed as a professional in England with Frank Maloney, finishing his amateur career with a record of 75 wins - including 58 knockouts - and seven losses.

He started with 20 straight victories for money, including 17 knockouts, 10 of them within the first two rounds.

He beat Donovan "Razor" Ruddock to earn a title fight with Evander Holyfield. In the meantime, Holyfield lost to Riddick Bowe.

Bowe refused to fight Lewis, dumping the WBC championship belt in a dustbin. Lewis was crowned by default.

He held the title against Tony Tucker (on points over 12 rounds), Frank Bruno (technical knockout in five), and Phil Jackson (same result in round eight).

Then came Oliver McCall.

Lewis has said of that night at Wembley: "McCall was a learning experience, and it won't happen again. What it taught me was caution, to rely on my boxing skills more.

"I'm glad it happened - it made me a better fighter. You have to go through these things, like Muhammad Ali when he lost. You come back from it a better man."

Afterwards Lewis proved his smarts, as they say, by going to McCall's trainer, Emmanuel Steward, at the famed Kronk gym in Detroit where Joe Louis, Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, Evander Holyfield and others had trained.

Steward remains with him today and rates Lewis as the best there's ever been.

The former National Golden Gloves champion admits to being a knockout "junkie" and says all Lewis' training is geared towards the knockout.

"There is something magical and mysterious about a knockout that has always excited me," says Steward.

"Everything we do in the gym is based on knocking the opponent out."

Lewis has managed that 27 times from 37 wins as a professional. His only loss was to McCall and his only draw the controversial tie with Holyfield.

Steward says he hopes the public sees the true ability Lewis has before the champ retires, which he expects within 12 months. Lewis' last two knockouts, of Michael Grant and Andrew Golota, showed "a small glimpse of his unbelievable talent, which I would put up there among the best, including Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali," Steward says.

But he credits Tua with uncanny knockout power, and concedes that the champ will have to watch for the hook and cannot count on hurting the Samoan South Aucklander.

"Tua has a granite chin, has never been knocked down, cut or hurt. He might be able to withstand some of Lennox's heavy blows, forcing Lennox into new territory, which will create some exciting moments."

But the truth is that Lewis has never captured the imagination of American fight fans the way Tyson does.

He grew up in a middle-class home and still spends much of his time with his mother, Violet, in Canada. She travels with him and cooks when he's away from his London Tudor manor, at beach houses in Jamaica, Hawaii and Miami.

He drives an Aston Martin and listens to reggae. He has an English accent, drinks tea and lists chess as a hobby.

He was once a work jockey, and retains an interest in the racing industry with ownership of the galloper Friendly Warning, bred at the Aga Khan's stables.

All of which combines to give him the image of a prissy Brit as far as the Yanks are concerned. Don King once called Lewis "The biggest invisible man in the world."

So Tua will be home crowd favourite for his brutal demolition of opponents and because the Americans see him as their hope of bringing the title home.

Lewis' best hand is his right - the hook, the cross, the uppercut. His knockout punch is the right uppercut, which opens him up for the left hook, Tua's best punch.

So Lewis has been training with fighters of Tua's size, while Tua has been training with fighters of Lewis' size.

A number of factors will set the fight plan. Tua is clearly going to get hit as he goes in under Lewis' reach. So the outcome will depend on how often he can absorb the punishment and get inside, plus what he does when he gets there.

Steward's assistant, Harold Knight, with a 19-1 pro record as a lightweight, says the fight will be a classic boxer versus brawler as was Ali v George Frazier.

"Lennox will keep Tua at the end of his jab, setting him up for explosive combinations. I see Lennox winning a unanimous decision."

Lewis' big problem might be a lack of meanness. He will need to establish his credibility early because if Tua gets a start, he will certainly go on with it.

A hard and fast opening is ensured as each tries to impose his will.

Lewis has trouble imposing his will on anyone and frequently looks a scared fighter, moving forward behind jabs or sometimes an arm extended straight out for quick hits then a retreat. He is a great boxer when lording it over smaller intimidated opponents.

Going backwards, when hit hard, he looks short on defence, clumsy, prone to dropping his hands to allow free shots.

Lewis went into camp at altitude in the Pocono Mountains in rural Pennsylvania on September 17, and claims to have been training harder than he ever has. Sparring partners include Sam Hampton, who has worked Tua up to several of his previous fights, and former New Zealand-based Samoan Jimmy "Thunder" Peau.

He has had a specialist trainer working on strengthening his abdominals, obviously in preparation for the body work he expects to get from the shorter Tua.

He has been remarkably sedate, short on talk about his chances and not offering any real sledging of the opposition.

The Ring's staff writers have given their assessment in the magazine's latest issue. All see Lewis hanging on to the title.

Three have Lewis winning on points over 12 rounds, one predicts a 10th-round knockout and one a KO in round four.

If Tua goes four rounds on November 12 (NZ time) - his camp's worst-case scenario - he will have done enough to earn a rematch because only Tyson will command the same sort of money.

And that's what talks in this game.

Herald Online feature: Tua v Lewis