What does Lewis’ decision do to the division?
Janne Romppainen
29.01 - If there is truth behind the latest reports, the situation now is that against the original plan the WBC heavyweight champion of the world Lennox Lewis isn’t defending his title against his number one challenger Vitaly Klitschko but instead he will face the former champ Mike Tyson in a rematch. For the American promoters this decision is warmly welcomed as Lewis-Tyson bout is a much bigger event than a Lewis-Klitschko, but for the sport and for the division itself the move does nothing but harm.
In a business sense Lewis’ change of mind is indeed a clever one. Vitaly Klitschko is not worth of a risk. He is fresh, young, powerful and dangerous opponent for anybody, even Lewis. Despite that, he is still a ‘no-name’ fighter for the big audience and a victory over him wouldn’t boost Lewis’ status at all while a loss would drop it dramatically. Lewis knows this and probably that is why he has decided to retreat from the contract.
What Lewis knows too is that Tyson isn’t very dangerous of an opponent anymore unless he has been born again after the June 2002 when Lewis knocked him out after eight one-sided rounds. Tyson has done nothing to demonstrate that he can do any better this time. A probable victory over Cliff Etienne in the next February does not prepare him for a Lewis fight. It might help him rebuild his confidence a little but nothing more. Etienne is nowhere near Lewis in skill and his style of fighting is pretty much a contrary to Lewis’ and most importantly he is not a top-20 challenger. Tyson of course has a chance of winning anyone until he is fifty because of his tremendous power but that only shouldn’t be a reason to give him yet another chance. In addition of getting an easieer opponent, fighting Tyson brings Lewis approximately five times more money than facing Klitschko so Lewis’ decision is quite understandable.
What facing Tyson does not demonstrate by Lewis is sportsmanship. In my eyes changing an opponent to a less dangerous one because of money is not respectable even if it brings some more publicity to the sport. Personally I’d see Lewis rather retiring than fighting Tyson. He has done more than enough to deserve a place in the history, he doesn’t need to fight anybody anymore. If he decides to continue fighting as it seems, then he should respect some rules of the game. The champion should be fighting his present-day challengers, not the ones from yesterday. Klitschko is the rightful contender for his title and trashing another title belt wouldn’t do much good for the respectability of the official boxing instances. Of course the WBC can always strip Lewis from their title but what would that mean? The situation of the division could be described as a fairytale of Lewis and seven dwarfs. Lewis has demonstrated that he stands above the rest of the division and in the eyes of the public he is the champion as long as he retires of loses his title in the ring.
I feel Lewis should stop hanging around and make it clear what he wants. If he wants to retire, that is okay and he has my greatest respect. If he wants to continue being the champ and fighting, then he should fight the talents of the division who have earned their shots. The Klitschkos, Byrd, even John Ruiz if he gets past Roy Jones. Keeping them all in a waiting line is not fair for them nor for the fight fans. The original plan of fighting Vitaly, Tyson and Wladimir respectively before retiring sounded like all business but now it looks like Lewis has lost his ambition. If he does not want to lead the swarm anymore, then let the young lions to decide the leadership.
Comments/questions to: janneromppainen@hotmail.com
