Accepting defeat can often be the hardest part of any fighter’s career, and one former heavyweight has now claimed Lennox Lewis didn’t beat him fairly.
Lewis overcame every man he faced in the ring, including Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall in vital rematches having been knocked out against the odds in their first fights.
Until the current two-time four belt ruler Oleksandr Usyk emerged in 2024, Lewis was the last man to be undisputed all the way back in 1999.
However, one fighter who is long retired – though he made a comeback in 2015 aged 51 and got two wins before being knocked out – is now disputing that and claims that he was robbed when he fought ‘The Lion.’
1990s heavyweight and fearsome puncher Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock, who was famous for his hybrid left hook and upper cut, fought plenty of big names, including the likes of Mike Tyson, Tommy Morrison and Michael Dokes. But, speaking to Boxing News, he explained it was the fight with Lewis that upset him.
“That’s the only one that’s really bothered me, because he [Lewis] used to be my friend, we were at school together [in Canada], and we trained together, and he took me to London and robbed me. [Mike] Tyson knocked me down; I got up, right? Only [the fight with] Lennox Lewis I never got up, because it was a nerve shot, to the back of the f***ing head. It was a f***ing shot at the back of the neck, OK?
“Look at the fight, man – they were rabbit punches to the back of my head. Everybody tried illegal shots with me. I cannot stand it. Just because they know they don’t have a chance. Lennox wouldn’t have had a chance of going three rounds, four rounds. What they did was find other ways to beat me, by cheating – just because I’m a bad n****r! These other n*****s, they try all kinds of s*** in fights with me.”
The fight took place in 1992 and saw Ruddock stopped inside two rounds in London. The Brit scored his first knockdown with ten seconds left in round one and, while Ruddock did duck low, it landed fairly. The challenger did catch one on the back of the head for the finish in round two, though it came during a charged and scrappy exchange.
