Dancing at Lewis’ School of Classical Boxing

By Kunle Awosiyan

Sometimes I dance when boxing gives me a nice rhythm. I dance to the pains the boxers feel and the blood they shed in the ring. It is not that I love the sight of blood but it is what boxing fans love to see.

They want to see a slugfest, the killer punches, the clubbing hooks, brutal uppercuts, the falls of the loser and jubilation of the winner.

When boxing match ends by unanimous or split decision, most fans boo the gladiators, they criticise the referee and blame the judges for not giving them what they paid for.

Decisions are not always accurate because it comes with so many factors, which include ring control, fight control, business angle and sadly the politics of the game.

The spectators want to see broken noses, a red eye and swollen cheeks. These are the features that produce the beat we dance to in the ring without which a boxing fight looks drab.

Muhammad Ali knew this earlier in his career when he intentionally introduced his unique dance steps in the ring to create a sporty atmosphere for the bloody game.

Only one boxer, Larry Holmes could learn Ali’s style. He mastered it and with the footsteps he climbed the heavyweight ladder where he ruled for six years.

However, Holmes lacks the personality of Ali. At the fading of his career, Mike Tyson surfaced with his own style of stooping and jumping, creating a unique footstep to knock out his numerous opponents.

Perhaps Tyson’s factor is among the reasons boxing rounds were shortened from 15 to 12 due to how he dispatched opponents in seconds.

He redefined boxing but with lesser artistry that we saw in the days of Ali and classical boxing that we later witnessed in the days of Lennox Lewis.

Lewis, the Olympic Gold medalist, former undisputed heavyweight champion, boxing Hall of Famer and one of the top five heavyweight boxers of all time turned the ring into a dance floor.

Lewis combined the athleticism of Ali with the brutality of Tyson to see off all his opponents in his 44 matches. He remains the heavyweight who revenged his only two losses in a sweeter way. His records; 44 fights, 41 wins, two losses and one draw.

He avenged the two defeats in a loss to Oliver McCall 1994 and the revenge in 1997; a loss to Hasim Rahman in April 2001and the revenge in November of the same year.

The loss to Rahman in South African was so devastating to Lennox that President Nelson Mandela had to calm him to activate his rematch clause quickly.

Mandela told Lewis, ‘ Rahman has caught you with a lucky punch. Put your jabs together again, you will beat him in a rematch.”

Lewis controlled the match he lost to Rahman and McCall. He created a nice Rhythm for the spectators to dance. His footwork were great,
his jabs, hooks and drama were delightful to watch but then stray punches ended his dance on the two occasions.

However, boxing fans, including Mandela did not only see punches in Lewis but also a new school of creative art, science of endurance and exercise of the brain. In his fight against Shannon Briggs dubbed “March badness” in March 28, 1998, Lewis’ Lion instinct was visible. He stood toe to toe against Briggs and knocked down the American twice before knocking him out in style.

The highlight of the match was that Briggs had outpunched Lewis by 59 to 41 punches in round two and looked better to win the match until the lion in Lewis roared towards the fifth round, knocking down the American twice.

Lewis made boxing sweet to watch when he lost a match that he was going to win in South Africa and when he revenged it in the US six month after in a spectacular way, knocking out Rahman in round four with a long clubbing hook.

He created a nice rhythm when he made McCall quit in a revenge of 1997. McCall was visibly shedding tears when it became clear that he had no answer for Lewis’ jabs, aggression and creativity.

Lewis till date stands tall among heavyweight boxers who created their own styles to reach the zenith of their career.

He is a lion in the ring, a British Canadian pugilist, calculative boxer of immense ability.