Mike Tyson Lennox Lewis fight part 1

Zeenish Ahmed

8/10/2024

Transcript

00:00♪♪

00:10The following is a special presentation of HBO Sports.

00:14The Network of Champions.

00:19For the anti-hero Mike Tyson, it began as a love story.

00:22The romantic portrayal of how the elderly, eccentric trainer

00:25liberated the boy from a reform school

00:27to educate him in the secrets of combat art

00:29won fans by the millions.

00:31And the boy paid it all off

00:33with a dressed-down warrior persona

00:35and a string of sensational knockouts.

00:37True to the old man's prophecy,

00:39he became the youngest-ever heavyweight champion

00:41and embarked on a path toward immortality.

00:44Down, down, down!

00:47He's down again and in serious trouble.

00:50A path marked by glamour, gargantuan consumption,

00:53and excess.

00:55A path made darker and more complicated

00:57with each shedding of the superstar's skin.

00:59A path that ended abruptly in Tokyo

01:02with the once-invincible destroyer

01:04forlornly searching for his lost mouthguard.

01:07He would never again be the same,

01:09but his public was still blinded by romance.

01:12For a long time, Lennox Lewis beat everyone

01:15but couldn't satisfy anyone.

01:17Despite many dominating performances,

01:20Americans considered him too cautious,

01:22especially for a big man

01:24and well too British,

01:26the un-Tyson.

01:28Self-inflicted wounds

01:30when he arrogantly let his guard down

01:32years apart to two Buster Douglas-class opponents,

01:35Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman,

01:38weren't fully healed by emphatic revenges.

01:41The judges who gave him a draw

01:43when he clearly beat Evander Holyfield

01:45seemed to be reviewing him, not the fight.

01:48Through it all, Lewis kept getting up

01:50and getting better,

01:52determined to be recognized as the best of his time.

01:56What could only happen if he fought Mike Tyson?

01:58And nothing, nothing would stand in the way of that quest.

02:02So last Saturday night,

02:04the faded shell of the former comet

02:06met the less spectacular solid citizen

02:08for the heavyweight championship

02:10and for ultimate superiority

02:12in the three-man round robin

02:14they have shared with Evander Holyfield.

02:16When Mike Tyson confirmed his instability

02:18at a bizarre press conference,

02:20major boxing states denied him a license.

02:23So a heavyweight championship fight

02:25became an outlaw event

02:27that wound up in the home of the blues,

02:29Memphis, Tennessee,

02:31which wanted an economic jolt and a party.

02:34In the end, conventional wisdom

02:36dictated the conclusion of the saga.

02:38Lennox Lewis's victory

02:40was more than just the final coronation

02:42of the best heavyweight of his era.

02:44It was the emphatic triumph

02:46of excellence over exhibitionism,

02:48of competitiveness over carnal pleasure,

02:50of substance over style.

02:52It was the definitive destruction

02:55of the myth of Mike Tyson

02:57and a statement on Lewis's now lofty place

02:59in the history of heavyweight boxing.

03:25Hello again, everyone.

03:27I'm Jim Lampley,

03:29along with HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant.

03:31We talked for years about the possibility.

03:33So clearly did many of you.

03:35And last Saturday night,

03:37it finally took place,

03:39Mike Tyson's long-awaited opportunity

03:41to move back to the top

03:43of the heavyweight division

03:45where he could face

03:47the world's greatest heavyweight champion,

03:49Larry Merchant.

03:51I'm Jim Lampley.

03:53Mike Tyson was able to move to the top

03:55of the heavyweight division

03:57where his many fans thought he belonged.

03:59Lennox Lewis's chance to prove

04:01once and for all

04:03that Tyson was nothing more

04:05than a carefully preserved and marketed myth.

04:07Larry, in an overall sense,

04:09what took place in Memphis?

04:11Lennox Lewis gambled his reputation

04:13on one defining fight.

04:15And in winning that huge bet,

04:17he exposed an illusion,

04:19the Tyson of the 90s.

04:21But it was his signature in the 80s

04:23that he was able to sustain that image

04:25by raging through minor opposition

04:27for a decade.

04:29All the while,

04:31descending from the fictional story

04:33of a redeemed bad boy

04:35to a proudly unredeemable,

04:37troubled felon.

04:39In Memphis, Lewis made Tyson

04:41the minor opposition.

04:43And he established himself

04:45as one of the great heavyweights.

04:47As you're about to see,

04:49we'll have a conversation

04:51about the fight with Lewis himself

04:53and his increasingly legendary trainer,

04:55Emmanuel Stewart.

04:57Well, even in the final days

04:59as the boxing world gathered

05:01in an environment so big-fight exotic,

05:03it may as well have been

05:05this generation's Kinshasa Zaire.

05:07Skeptics speculated on what untoward event

05:09might knock the bout out again.

05:11But at 10.15 Central Time last Saturday,

05:13the two fighters finally exited

05:15their respective dressing rooms.

05:17To hear how Fran Charles called the fight

05:19in company with Larry

05:21and George Foreman.

05:23Let's take a look at the tail of the tape

05:25for this World Championship heavyweight bout

05:27between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.

05:29Lewis is 10 months older than Tyson.

05:31Tyson will turn 36 at the end of the month.

05:33And it's Lennox Lewis enjoying

05:35a 6-inch height advantage

05:37and a 13-inch reach advantage.

05:39When both fighters stepped on the scales,

05:41Lewis weighed nearly 15 more pounds

05:43than Tyson.

05:46Apparently, both camps expected their fighters

05:48to come in at about 5 to 6 pounds lighter.

05:50Apparently, there was a problem

05:52with the scale.

05:54Five of the last seven Mike Tyson fights

05:56have ended in controversy.

05:58Rules of the bout now with unofficial ringside

06:00scorer Harold Letterman.

06:02And now Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson

06:04will fight for 12 rounds using the rules

06:06of the Association of Boxing Commissions.

06:08There is no standing-eight count,

06:10no three-knockdown rule.

06:12Only the referee can stop the fight.

06:14You go to the scorecards if the four rounds

06:16have been completed, and you cannot be saved

06:18by the bell in any round, including the 12th

06:20and final round.

06:22This is the moment

06:24the crowd here

06:26at the Memphis Theory Arena

06:28has been waiting for.

06:30Here comes Iron Mike Tyson.

06:32Born and raised

06:34in the Brownsville section

06:36of Brooklyn, New York.

06:38For the first time in Tyson's

06:4055-bout career,

06:42he will enter the ring

06:44as an underdog.

06:46Lewis is an 8-to-5 favorite.

06:48But when he enters the ring,

06:50Fran, he'll find out

06:52that he is surely

06:54the favorite

06:56in this ring.

Mike Tyson Lennox Lewis fight part 1

Category

Transcript

Recommended