Day Lewis Won Fight And Klitschko Won Crowd

By Kunle Awosiyan

I have seen buffalo a few times rushing towards a lion with his horns and the big cat will just stoop down and grab the head of its prey.

Very few buffalos have survived this trap and when they do, their herds jubilate. The lucky buffalo may have escaped, it wouldn’t have left without injury. The wound may kill it later in life.

Such was the battle of one of the boxing finest, Lennox Lewis, nicknamed the Lion and Vitali Klitschko in 2003.

Having fought great battles and came top of the heavyweight division, Lewis never saw Klitschko as a formidable opponent. He underrated the Ukrainian and said the Klitschko had no skills at all to face him in the ring.

However, the match turned out to be one of the bloodiest fights in the heavy division at that era.

Klitschko came to show his skills, Lewis came to devour a prey. Against a lion, no animal shows skill to win but to escape. To many spectators on that day, it was Lewis that escaped but to me it was Klitschko that the referee saved from being devoured by Lion Lewis.

The two ran to each other as the bell rang. Klitschko did not show any respect to Lewis. He was outpunching the champion and winning on points but a tired Lewis was becoming more dangerous as the fight went on.

The crowd were hailing Klitschko and booing Lewis but the champion concentrated fully on his tactics. Lewis knew that the belt was steadily leaving him and that the only thing he could do was to knock Klitschko out.

He was looking for a killer punch but Klitschko was too fast until round four. Lewis cut the upper eyelid of Klitschko.

The champion put pressure and cut Klitschko again, close to the lower lid of the same eye, yet the crowd hailed Klitschko.

When they got to round five, there was no much gas in Klitschko but he was still throwing more punches that Lewis.

Lewis knew he could not outpunch the Ukrainian anymore, having being told by his corner that only knockout would help him.

In round six, Klitschko would throw one or two and clinch . He was tired. Even though Lewis was also tired, the lion had damaged his prey, he was only waiting for the right time to fall him.

The crowd kept Klitschko going but his corner and doctor knew he was being killed gradually. The referee also saw the damage, he saw what the crowd did not see that Klitschko was only enjoying the accolades.

He consulted with Klitschko corner before the round of seven and they threw in the towel and Lewis was declared winner by TKO.

Of course Klitschko was not happy, he wanted to continue but those who knew and saw what the crowd did not see took the biggest decision to save him.

If he had gone the next six rounds and survived the lion, he would never remain the same again. His boxing career might even end because he might lose one of his eyes.

After the match, the crowd hailed Klitschko but when Lewis was questioned about the fight, he smiled and said, “I knew he would give way. I was getting to him gradually. I saw the damage on his face. I knew he was deteriorating and it was a matter of time he will fall but the referee saved him.”

That is Lewis, one of the best ever with 44 fights, 41 win, two losses and one draw. He revenged the two losses with knockouts while the only draw was a travesty.

He retired this month in 2003.

@ Kunle Awosiyan