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Heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis retires
World heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis announced his retirement from boxing today at a packed press conference in London.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:05 AM IST
Read Time: 2 min
London:
World heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis announced his retirement from boxing today at a packed press conference at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London's Park Lane.
The 38-year old's last bout was in June last year when he stopped Vitali Klitschko after a scrappy fight - the undisputed world title holder lost just two of his 44 fights in a 14 year professional career after he won the 1988 Seoul Olympic super-heavyweight gold medal for Canada.
The Briton follows Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano by becoming only the third heavyweight to retire while still world champion - Tunney retired in 1928 and Marciano in 1956.
"On June 21, 2003 was my last fight as a professional boxer. When I first started boxing, I realised there was no stright road to to becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. I realised there's gonna be bumps in the road, I realised there's gonna be some potholes, there's gonna be some curves but there is no straight way to becoming heavyweight champion of the world. I learnt on the trip, to becoming heavyweight champion of the world, that if you lose, that doesn't mean that it is the end of your boxing career.
"When I first lost and everybody was saying: 'that's the end' and some of the media were saying that was it, it even had me believing that was it for a long time, But, because of the way I lost, I thought that, you know, I've just got to get up, brush myself off and go back at it. He may have beaten me in on this day but tomorrow he can't beat me. It is just one of those learning curves you go through in life," said Lewis.
In a dignified appearance, Lewis paid a heartfelt tribute to the family and friends who have helped him reach the pinnacle of his sport over the years.
He became the World Boxing Council champion by default in 1992 when American Riddick Bowe threw the belt into a dustbin and in 199, he became the undisputed champion with a unanimous points win over Evander Holyfield, then confirmed he was the best heavyweight of his era by stopping Mike Tyson in the eighth round of a one-sided fight in Memphis in June 2002.
Lewis lost just two of his 44 fights in a 14-year professional career after he won the 1988 Seoul Olympic super-heavyweight gold medal for Canada. (AP)
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