Advertisement

Speaking from experience, Lennox Lewis thinks Pacquiao-Mayweather should still happen

Carlo Pamintuan
Lennox Lewis hits Mike Tyson with a right hook in the 8th round during their WBC/IBF heavyweight championship bout on June 8, 2002 at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Moments after Manny Pacquiao regained his WBO welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Timothy Bradley, former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis tweeted his thoughts about a possible match between the Pacman and Floyd Mayweather.

Other pundits also have their opinions regarding the mega-fight but Lewis’ is different because he was also in the same situation years ago before he fought Mike Tyson.

Lewis-Tyson was on its way to being made in 2001 but it was derailed by a thunderous right hand from Hasim Rahman. After Lewis ended Rahman’s 15 minutes of fame in the rematch, the heavyweight fight the world waited for so long to watch finally happened.

Back then, Lewis had an exclusive contract with HBO while Tyson had the same with Showtime. The contractual obligations forced the two competitors to work it out.

In June 8, 2002, Lewis successfully defended his WBC, IBF, and IBO world title by knocking out Tyson in the eighth round. The fight generated US$106.9 million from almost two million pay-per-view buys, the richest in boxing history until it was surpassed by the fight between Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya.

Pacquiao fought in the undercard of Lewis-Tyson where he knocked out Jose Elicer Julio in two rounds to retain the WBO super bantamweight title. Twelve years later, no one could have imagined that the punching dynamo from the Philippines would find himself in a situation similar to Lewis and Tyson.

Lewis suggested that Mayweather-Pacquiao should happen in Showtime because Mayweather has an exclusive contract there while Pacquiao is a free agent.

He then defended the undefeated American, saying Mayweather is not scared of Pacquiao.

Although some people are saying that it’s too late for Mayweather-Pacquiao to happen, Lewis opined that it’s not the case.

Like Mayweather and Pacquiao, there was also serious beef between Lewis and Tyson during their time. Two years before the fight, Tyson made headlines after saying “There is no one who can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart! I want to eat his children! Praise be to Allah," aimed at Lewis.

Lewis and Tyson also brawled in the press conference leading up to their fight. The scuffle saw Tyson bite Lewis’ leg causing the former to pay US$335,000 to the latter in damages.

Although things never got physical between Pacquiao and Mayweather, they have not seen eye to eye in most things such as the fight purse and the drug testing procedure. But the biggest impediment to the fight is Mayweather’s demand that Bob Arum moves out of the picture for the mega-fight.

“It’s been so many years, months, days," Pacquiao said in the press conference after beating Bradley."But, like I have said, the line is open, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If [Mayweather] wants to fight, the fight will be on."