LENNOX Lewis is beginning the second phase of his career Saturday night at the Garden, a phase that will either script his legacy as a champion worth remembering or one that we’ll soon forget.
The WWF returns to the Garden in June, an event that is already a sellout. Saturday’s fight between Lewis and unbeaten Michael Grant is not, though 14,000 tickets have been sold and a large walk-up the night of the fight is expected. Still, it says something about Lewis’ appeal or lack of it when there are other happenings to capture the city’s sports attention like the Yankees and Mets off to good starts and the Knicks in the playoffs.
Lewis (35-1-1) is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, a title he earned by beating one the most courageous fighters ever in Evander Holyfield. But he is no Mike Tyson when it comes to stirring interest. For that matter, he isn’t even a Holyfield.
That’s why Saturday’s fight is so important to Lewis, who must impress enough to maintain interest in a division where its stars are either aging (Holyfield), yesterday’s news (Tyson) or unproven (Grant).
Seldom does an undisputed heavyweight champion have to prove himself and his marketability, but that’s Lewis’ objective in this title fight scheduled for 12 rounds.
“I don’t believe the fight will go the distance,” he said during a workout at the Garden’s Theater. “I feel confident and I’m going to go out there and prove I’m the best fighter on the planet.”
Grant, who is unbeaten at 31-0, is the benefactor of the muddled division, the only heavyweight who has stayed busy with three fights last year to peak some interest. He is also big, standing 6-7 and roughly 250 pounds. With Lewis at 6-5 and 240, the prospect of having two big men slugging it out in the ring, offers the kind of intrigue this fight badly needs.
“Traditionally, when he has fought tall fighters, he has fought them well,” Emmanuel Steward, Lewis’ trainer, said of his fighter. “Tommy Hearns was the same way. But Grant really hasn’t been in with a tall fighter, so that should work to Lennox’s advantage.”
Indeed, the Lewis camp is hoping Grant’s let’s-get-it-on style will make for a better fight than either of the two bouts with Holyfield. They were basically 24 rounds of jab and dance, with Holyfield wary of Lewis’ right hand and Lewis content to pepper him with jabs, uppercuts and combinations.
While their first fight on March 13, 1999 at the Garden was inexplicability called a draw, Lewis’ performance in the second fight was good enough to earn him a unanimous decision last November in Las Vegas. But it did little to excite fans about their new champion.
Though Lewis has 27 knockouts, it has been two years since he stopped Shannon Briggs in the fifth round and almost three years since knocking out Andrew Golota in the first round. Even Steward is growing impatient with Lewis’ lack of thunder.
“I no longer can brag about this great talent if it doesn’t come out in the fight,” Steward said . “I’m tired of saying it. I know it’s never been shown. I can’t keep saying it. I think Grant is a perfect opportunity for Lennox to step up to the plate.”
Having beaten Holyfield, it is important for Lewis to shape his legacy.
“I want it be positive all the way,” he said. “I want to show the world that this is a man who is basically an outsider who worked his way in and did it his way – a fighter who stayed away from bad promoters and bad managers.”
To rank among the heavyweight legends, it will take more than that. It will take dominating Grant and whomever else he fights over the next couple of years. Lewis has a gold medal won in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and now the undisputed heavyweight championship. But to become the real people’s champion, he must stir the public’s passion. That may be his toughest challenge yet.
