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13th March 1999, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis finally clashed for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. Negotiations between Holyfield and Lewis camps have been ongoing for a long time before this fight materialized. This fight was billed as “Undisputed". The WBC, WBA and IBF titles were on the line for both men.
In 1997, Lennox Lewis regained the WBC strap from Oliver McCall in a bizarre outcome, where McCall infamously broke down and unwilling to throw punches forcing the referee to stop the fight. In 1994, Lewis was shockingly upset by McCall in the second round via a controversial stoppage.
Lewis had defended the WBC title four times with wins over Zeljko Mavrovic, Shannon Briggs, Andrew Golota and also Henry Akinwande (in yet another bizarre conclusion as Akinwande refused to stop holding despite countless warnings by Mills Lane leading to a disqualification).
From 1996 to 1998, Holyfield enjoyed a 5 year win streak including a rematch victory over Michael Moorer, a decision over Vaughn Bean, a stoppage over Bobby Czyz and two notable victories over Mike Tyson; the first bout was a huge upset victory as Holyfield came in a huge underdog, and a disqualification victory in the rematch in the infamous ear biting incident.
In March 1999, Lewis-Holyfield finally took place. Holyfield confidently predicted a third round knockout but to the surprise of many, Lewis dominated the fight showing improved defense and effectively outboxing Holyfield throughout the fight. Lewis looks en route to his career defining moment until the official scorecards were announced; a draw. Although Lewis was robbed of his moment but this defeat won him tremendous respect in the eyes of the public who obviously see Lewis as the deserving winner despite the outcome.
Showtime analyst Steve Farhood stated “He would put this in the top five for the worst decisions he’s ever seen”.
13th November 1999, precisely 8 months after their first encounter a rematch takes place. This time it is rightfully billed as "Unfinished Business”. Lewis came in as a slight betting favorite against Holyfield. This time, the fight was closer than their first encounter as Holyfield showed marked improvement in his performance from the first bout. Although the fight was not as one sided as the first, but Lewis was overall the more effective through 36 minutes.
Lewis became the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion, winning by unanimous decision with scores of 117-11, 115–113 and 116-112. Lewis would go on to beat David Tua, Mike Tyson, Michael Grant, Frans Botha, Vitali Klitschko and Hasim Rahman (in a rematch) before retiring from the sport with a record of 41-2-1 and both losses avenged with rematches.
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