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Heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis may retire
Lennox Lewis called a news conference for Friday amid reports he is set to announce his retirement.
Lewis' management office declined to confirm the boxer's retirement Thursday.
The 38-year-old Lewis has fought just twice in the past 26 months, knocking out former undisputed champion Mike Tyson in eight rounds in Memphis in June 2002 and stopping Vitali Klitschko in Los Angeles on June 21, 2003. The Ukrainian was ahead on points at the time, but the fight was stopped because of a cut.
The WBC has mandated a rematch and ordered Lewis to agree to the fight by March 1 or risk being stripped of the title.
Klitschko's manager, Bernd Bonte, said his fighter hoped Lewis would continue to fight and give him a rematch, or even make a comeback later.
"Vitali believes he was winning the last fight and he wants to go down as the man who beat the man," Bonte told The Guardian newspaper. "He will be very sad if he does not get another chance.
"But who knows what the future holds? Perhaps Lennox will get to the end of the year and find he is missing the limelight and there may still be a chance the fight can happen."
Lewis won the Olympic superheavyweight title for Canada in Seoul in 1988, but returned to Britain, where he was born, to turn pro. He is 41-2-1 with 32 knockouts.
Lewis first won the heavyweight title by default in 1992 when the WBC champion Riddick Bowe relinquished the crown. Bowe, in a dispute with the WBC, dropped the belt into a trash can at a London news conference.
Lewis' two losses — to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman — were huge upsets, but he went on to beat both in rematches. His one draw was against Evander Holyfield in a fight most observers felt he had won. He later beat Holyfield on points to become undisputed world champion. |
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