Heavyweight legend Lennox Lewis has had his fair share of dismissal as an undisputed champion despite winning four title belts at once.
As World Boxing News has reported on many occasions, Lewis continually gets overlooked by many outlets, more notably by Showtime Boxing and the BBC in the UK.
Lewis has fought against what many see as a lack of respect, especially when Josh Taylor won the undisputed title at super lightweight. Once crowned, the Scot was labeled the UK’s first undisputed champion of the four-belt era.
However, the truth is that Lewis won four belts during his spell as the king of the glamor division. Lewis retired in 2003, having been widely recognized by most in the sport as the only undisputed world heavyweight champion of the last quarter century.
Many fail to realize that Lewis held the WBA, WBC, IBF, and IBO after defeating Evander Holyfield in 1999. At the time, the IBO enjoyed a higher status than the newer-formed WBO. Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton, and Roy Jones Jr., who held the strap, helped the cause.
The WBO became more prominent around the same time Lewis held the belt as fighters like Joe Calzaghe and Prince Naseem Hamed lifted the new sanctioning body to elevated heights.
But at the heavyweight limit, the top fighters did not actively seek out the WBO despite a younger Vitali Klitschko claiming the strap for a brief reign when Lewis and Holyfield’s rivalry reached a fever pitch.
Champions like Chris Byrd, Corrie Sanders, Lamont Brewster, Sultan Ibragimov, Shannon Briggs, Siarhei Liakhovich, and even Vitali’s brother Wladimir failed to elevate the title to greater heights in boxing’s glamour division. That’s until the latter eventually got his hands on the unified crown, which included the WBO belt in 2008.
The WBO took a foothold among the heavyweights through the Klitschko’s, who eventually ensured that the significant organizations became four.
Therefore, Lewis has a very valid point regarding the WBO, which he shouldn’t have to defend as the promotion for his clash with Holyfield was called ‘Undisputed.’
In 2019, Lewis suffered a knock when Showtime stated on air that the all-conquering former champion was not undisputed in their eyes.
“With great respect to Lennox Lewis, we stand by Mauro Ranallo and our research team,” said Showtime, with Al Bernstein adding: “All the semantic debates notwithstanding, I can say for myself and my Showtime colleagues that we have the utmost respect for champs like Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield and would never intentionally diminish their legacies for any reason.
Steve Farhood also agreed: “If we recognize the WBO as a legit world title, we can’t pick and choose when we begin to recognize them. Lennox Lewis never held all four belts. He was unified but not undisputed. That’s as long as you recognize the WBO.”
Showtime failed to bring into the equation the IBO belt standing at the time. It’s the reason there continues to be confusion to this day.
Even when Showtime stood by the comments, the call reeked of a network dismissing an event televised by their fiercest rivals at HBO.
Lewis, forever cool in any situation, responded superbly to Showtime’s words.
“The fact that then WBO champ Henry Akinwande dropped his belt to fight me for my WBC belt says it all! Politics aside, I beat their champ, too! Done talking,” said Lewis.
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