MY FIRST TIME: LENNOX LEWIS
In June 1989, Lewis scored a routine second-round TKO over Al Malcom in his professional debut.
MY PERFECT PUNCH November 17, 2001 Opponent: Hasim Rahman, in a rematch of a fight Rahman won by fifth-round knockout seven months earlier – The Ring’s Upset of the Year. “He was disrespectful, and that definitely lit a fire under me that was dwindling. It’s like, ‘This guy’s being like this? This guy can’t beat me.’ I had to recharge and set that flame firing again and say, ‘No, he’s dealing with some disrespect.’ It was important for me to beat him even quicker than he beat me. That was a thing I said to myself: ‘I’m going to break that record; OK, he beat me in the fifth; OK, I’ll beat him in the fourth’ type of thing. The man’s got my titles on loan. “It was more of an adjustment punch. He put his hands out, and the whole dance of my movement walked him into that shot. I kinda danced and moved a certain way, and then I came with a swiping left hook and then a swiping right hand. “It was a natural adjustment. I’m used to throwing the straight right hand, and the straight right hand wasn’t working, but the looping right hand did. “It’s one of those punches where after it connected, I wished I could have connected harder. (laughs) It hit, the result happened (Rahman was knocked out in the fourth), and we had a great holiday after that. If you look after the fight, I said, ‘I told you they were on loan!’ “Because of the sound and the fact [that] I laid him out right over the Don King crown [on the canvas], it was like taking another misfit out of boxing. The guy came in, he’s rude, disrespectful – the man left South Africa (the location of the first fight) and didn’t even visit [Nelson] Mandela after the fight. He just left. I went. After that, I went on safari, all [the while] thinking about the revenge, the rematch.” Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk, and you can follow him on X @AnsonWainwr1ght.
defend it. “It was a big fight; it was a big ordeal. I was in camp like five weeks with [trainer] John Davenport. The training camp was important. “[I was] more nervous [about] the performance. I want to make sure I perform properly and everything goes well. Who’s this guy? Don’t know him. Don’t want to get hit with no silly shots. Don’t want to look bad. “[On fight night,] I felt more anticipation, a little bit uptight. It goes away, but you’re still in the moment. The lights are out there on you. When you look back, it’s really just being relaxed – you’re tense and your trainer is telling you to relax, which is the best thing for you, but you’re not understanding it at that moment. “He took a good shot and that shot hurt my hand. He wasn’t trying to follow the script. That was his opportunity to prove himself. He’s got a lot of fights, a lot more pro fights than I did. [Editor’s note: Malcolm’s record at the time was 11-12-1, 7 KOs.] It was my first. My script was trying to get rid of him as fast as possible. “I caught him with a good shot [in the second round], and he folded to the power. Before, he didn’t fold – got hit; he took it – but he’s not going to be able to take more of those shots. I think it was an overhand right. Looking back at the shot, I never caught him with a perfect shot; it was more of a grazing shot, and I didn’t know it was going to affect him like that. The result was he was on the ground.”
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