SPORTS PERSONALITY
Lennox Lewis CM CBE
Since Winning the EMMA Award
Lennox Lewis is a British-Jamaican boxing commentator and former professional boxer who announced his retirement from boxing in 2004 after receiving his EMMA honour in 2003. Lennox is one of only three heavyweights to retire alongside Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano, who eventually defeated all oppositions. Following Lennox’s retirement, he became a boxing analyst for HBO on Boxing After Dark from 2006 to 2010 and appeared on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice USA in 2008. Lennox also announced a public service against domestic violence for the international nonprofit organisation “Do Something”.
Lennox established his charity, The Lennox Lewis Foundation, which helps disadvantaged children in Canada, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Lennox was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2009. The documentary Lennox Lewis: The Untold Story, which highlights his upbringing, career, and rise to fame, was released in 2020. In 2024, he joined fellow London boxers Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn, and Chris Eubank for the “Four Kings” mini-documentary. Lennox Lewis CM CBE is regarded as one of the greatest British boxers of all time. He brought style and class to a sport that was a salvation for the poor and underprivileged.
Background (Before 2003)
Lennox Lewis CM CBE is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division from 1989 to 2003. Lennox was a three-time world champion, a two-time lineal champion, and held the undisputed championship. Born in West Ham, London, to Jamaican parents, he moved to Ontario, Canada with his mother at 12 and began boxing in 1978. He attended Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute, where he excelled in Canadian football, soccer, and basketball before developing into one of Canada’s best amateur fighters. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, he beat Riddick Bowe to earn the gold medal in the superheavyweight division for Canada.
Lennox returned to Britain in 1989 to pursue a professional boxing career. He became undefeated in his first 22 professional fights and earned a title bout against Riddick Bowe, who had become the heavyweight champion then. Lewis’ defeat of Donovan Ruddock established him as one of the world’s premier heavyweights. He was declared the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion in 1992 after Riddick Bowe was stripped of his title after refusing to fight Lennox Lewis. Lennox defended his title thrice until he lost a bout to Oliver McCall in 1994. Lennox regained the belt from McCall in 1997 and held it until his surprise defeat at the hands of Hasim Rahman in 2001, before regaining the title from Rahman later that year. Two fights against Evander Holyfield in 1999, with the first fight ending in a draw, saw Lewis become the undisputed heavyweight champion by unifying his WBC title with Holyfield’s World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles.
In 2000, Lewis went on to defeat Michael Grant, Franz Botha, and David Tua to retain his IBF and WBC heavyweight titles. After much legal and business wrangling, which began in 1997, Lewis’s fight with Mike Tyson occurred on 8th June 2002, during which he knocked Tyson out in the eighth round. That same year, Lewis relinquished the IBF portion of his heavyweight title. Lennox was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1999 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002.
