Lennox Lewis is a former professional boxer and three-time heavyweight champion. He has a net worth of $140 million. Many see him as the best British boxer of all time.
His bout against Mike Tyson in 2002 drew a then-record 1.95 million Pay Per View purchases. Lennox made hundreds of millions of dollars from guaranteed purses and, more significantly, PPV bonuses over his career.
He made almost $50 million from only one Tyson bout.
Lennox Claudius Lewis was born in West Ham, London, England on September 2, 1965. His parents were born in Jamaica. He came to Ontario, Canada, with his mother when he was twelve years old.
He went to Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute. He was quite active in athletics at school participating in Canadian football, soccer, and basketball.
Lennox decided to pursue boxing when he was thirteen. He began training and rapidly became a successful amateur fighter. He earned a gold medal at the Junior World Championships in 1983 at the age of eighteen. He was selected to represent Canada in the Super-Heavyweight event in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The International Boxing Association ranked him as the world’s sixth-best heavyweight boxer at the time. At the Olympics, he reached the quarterfinals before losing to Tyrell Biggs of the United States, who went on to win the gold medal. Following the Olympics, he opted to box as an amateur again to compete in the 1988 Summer Olympics.
He lost to Petar Stoimenov of Bulgaria in the 1986 World Championships. However, he won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games later that year. In 1987, he lost by decision in the Pan American Games, with South American judges siding with his Cuban opponent and US judges siding with Lewis.
Before coming to Seoul, South Korea for the 1988 Summer Olympics, he continued as an amateur and won numerous more titles. He was the first Canadian boxer to win gold in 56 years when he earned a gold medal for Canada in the super-heavyweight division.
Professional Career
In 1989, he returned to his native England to begin his professional boxing career. He signed with Frank Maloney, a boxing promoter, and went undefeated in his first twenty-two professional matches.
He soon ascended through the ranks, and in 1992, he agreed to face Donovan “Razor” Ruddock, with the victor going on to face either Riddick Bowe or Evander Holyfield. Bowe defeated Holyfield, the reigning champion, while Lewis knocked Ruddock out in the second round.
Bowe renounced his title rather than defend it against Lewis which led to Lewis being awarded the World Boxing Championship title in December 1992. He was Britain’s first world heavyweight champion in the twentieth century.
He was able to successfully defend his title three times. He lost it in a contentious battle in September 1994, which the referee ruled was a technical knockout. Even though Lewis had stood up by the count of six, he staggered forward and the referee finally ruled that he was unfit to continue.
Read more: Jerry West offended after Lakers owner Jeanie Buss leaves him out of 5 most influential members list