Lennox Lewis almost came back for one more fight. The former heavyweight champion recently revealed he thought hard about a rematch with Vitali Klitschko before hanging up his gloves for good.
Lewis wrapped up his career as the unified champion in 2003. He beat every man he faced in the ring and is now seen as one of the best heavyweights of the modern era. His journey to the top started with a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics. He turned pro in 1989 and won his first 21 fights.
A win over Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock in 1992 made Lewis the WBC's top contender. He got the full title when Riddick Bowe gave it up. Lewis went on to beat some of the biggest names in boxing. He took down Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson. He also got revenge on Oliver McCall and Hashim Rahman after surprise losses to both.
In 1999, Lewis became the undisputed heavyweight champion by beating Evander Holyfield. His last fight came in 2003 against Vitali Klitschko. Lewis won when the fight was stopped after six rounds due to bad cuts on Klitschko's face. Many thought Klitschko was ahead on the scorecards when it ended.
Lewis recently cleared up some questions about his retirement on X (formerly Twitter). He explained:
"Let me clear this up for you. Vitali was ALWAYS supposed to be my last fight but it got moved up. I took it on 10 days notice. No champ has ever taken on a #1 contender on such short notice. I looked forward to moment of starting a family and no more camps. I seriously considered a rematch, but in the end, decided to go with the original plan. Vitali went on to be a great champion in his own right. I also knew that Father Time was not in MY corner."
Lewis pointed out that he took the Klitschko fight on just 10 days' notice. He said no champion had ever faced a top contender with so little time to prepare. After the fight, Lewis thought about a rematch but decided to stick to his plan of retiring.
The British-Canadian fighter wanted to start a family and end the grind of training camps. He also admitted that age played a part in his decision to retire. Lewis left the sport as the unified champion, having avenged his only two losses and beaten every opponent he faced.
