When legendary British boxer Lennox Lewis fought under the Canadian flag in the Olympic games to win the gold


When legendary British boxer Lennox Lewis fought under the Canadian flag in the Olympic games to win the gold

Lennox Lewis winning Olympic Gold under Candian Flag

Lennox Lewis was born in London to a dysfunctional family. His mother moved to Canada in pursuit of employment, and his father was never present to take care of him. Lewis’s Jamaican-born mother, who was concerned that her son would encounter legal issues if he remained in London’s risky East End, soon requested that Lewis be relocated to Canada.

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“The Lion” started the sport of boxing at the age of 15.  He saw boxing as a means to channel his rage within him but little did he who is about to become one of the Greats of the sport. By 1983 he had won the world amateur junior championships and the Canadian Super Heavyweight championship. Lewis was later selected for the 1984 Olympic team for his country and went on to make it to the Quarterfinals. He won a silver medal at the pan American Games in 1987. Four years later at the 1988 Olympics, he made history after bringing gold for Canada in the division after 56 years.

Shortly after winning the gold medal and bringing glory to his nation, he made a decision that enraged his supporters. “The Lion” decided to make his professional debut as a British, but this decision didn’t go well with both the British or the Canadian. Fans from both countries questioned the fighter’s loyalty to their nation.

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Lennox Lewis’s quest to capture the world heavyweight championship

Lennox Lewis
Lennox Lewis

Lennox experienced a slow but steady rise to the top in his professional debut. He got his first shot at championship gold after a 13 matches unbeaten run when he captured the European heavyweight championship in 1990. The subsequent year he went on to capture the British heavyweight championship defeating Gary Mason via a seventh-round TKO at Wembley stadium. In 1992, he defeated Donovan Ruddock to become the top-ranked boxer in the WBC rankings.

Later that year, after Riddick Bowe forfeited the championship to avoid facing Lewis in a title match, he was crowned the WBC heavyweight champion. Before suffering an unexpected knockout loss to Oliver McCall in 1994, he made three successful title defenses. In a 1997 rematch, Lewis exacted revenge for the defeat and reclaimed the vacant WBC belt.

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Lewis was the seventh gold medalist from the Olympics to win the heavyweight title. He was the first ever fighter to hold the British heavyweight title and the world title at the same time. He had an amazing overall professional record of 41 wins and just two losses. Lewis was ranked third among all-time heavyweights by Boxing News in 2018, behind Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali.

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