Lennox Lewis Wants to Set the Record Straight with Heavyweight Revelations in LENNOX LEWIS: THE UNTOLD STORY

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede With regard to the new Crave Original Documentary LENNOX LEWIS: THE UNTOLD STORY, the Canadian-raised former heavyweight boxing champ was asked about the “untold” part of it. Often when famous people participate in these types of in-depth projects, there’s something about the public record that they want to set straight. So, Lennox Lewis, what exactly needs to be clarified with this doc? He gave a surprising and revealing answer. “Oh, geez, I think there are a lot of things, but one of them is that I’m not arrogant,” Lewis said in a phone interview. “You know, a lot of people, because of my confidence, take that as arrogance.” If there’s a stereotype of what boxers are supposed to be like, Lewis – now 55 – has never quite fit the mould. Intelligent and soft-spoken, during his career he often fought against the unfair notion that he wasn’t tough enough to achieve the heights in a sport as brutal as boxing. But Lewis won a gold medal for Canada at the 1988 Olympics, and professionally he went on to become a three-time heavyweight champion of the world. In fact, Lewis is the last undisputed heavyweight champ, and he wound up defeating every man he ever faced – including his pal Mike Tyson, whose comments about Lewis in the doc will certainly get the attention of boxing aficionados. “Well, it’s kind of interesting, because I grew up in a world where boxers weren’t supposed to be smart,” Lewis said. “Basically, I just wanted to prove everybody wrong.” Lewis was born in London, England, and had a rough upbringing there, but he moved to Canada – specifically Kitchener, Ont. – when he was 12, to live with his mom. “Canada is the country that nurtured me,” Lewis said. “Canada really was part of my growth. And I was actually, you know, you could call me the first immigrant story. We immigrated to Canada for a brighter opportunity and we’re that story where my mother made it better for me, so I could be able to advance myself, she gave me that opportunity. Canada gave me the opportunity to be able to flourish.” There were some hard feelings in Canada when Lewis chose to box professionally for Britain – he has dual British and Canadian citizenship – but as he explained, “I had to go elsewhere to turn pro, because Canada didn’t really have a pro system. A lot of the guys before me went to America, they went to New York, they went to Vegas. I went to England, having that opportunity because I was born in England. And looking at who was over there, there was Franklin (Bruno), and Gary Mason, guys who felt like I was coming over and stealing their spotlight. So they always pushed the Canadian thing, ‘Oh, he’s not British, he’s Canadian.’ They really carried on that type of rhetoric.” Ultimately, Lewis saw himself as a champion for the entire globe – and he became exactly that, both literally and figuratively. LENNOX LEWIS: THE UNTOLD STORY, which is narrated by Dr. Dre, is a great reminder for sports fans of what a remarkably successful career Lewis had, even if other boxers are more bombastic and, to be blunt, more arrogant about their lesser achievements. “I want the documentary to bring back memories for people,” said Lewis, who agreed that being a boxer is kind of like driving a car: someone can be extremely proficient and careful for years, but all it takes is one moment of inattention for something bad to happen. “Okay, so my answer to that is, just watch a basketball player try to ‘play’ boxing,” Lewis said with a big laugh. “Like, boxing is so serious. You don’t ‘play’ boxing. You ‘play’ basketball, but we don’t ‘play’ boxing.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv