This is a continuing list of the fights I watched on HBO over the years.
71. Lennox Lewis vs. Shannon Briggs. March 28, 1998. I watched this one from Atlantic City Convention Hall, rooting hard for Lennox to exact some revenge for me. Briggs had been given a gift decision over George Foreman the previous November, and I wanted Lennox to kick his ass. Briggs got lucky and hurt Lewis in the opening round, but Lennox took over after that. He put Briggs on the canvas a bunch of times, before finally finishing him in the fifth. The heavyweight championship belt stayed where it belonged, around the waist of Lennox Lewis.
72. Roy Jones Jr. vs. Virgil Hill. April 25, 1998. Roy Jones was the light heavyweight champ, and his defense against ex-champ Virgil Hill was expected to be tougher than the others. Jones proved his greatness, when a thudding right hand to Hill’s left side in the eighth round knocked him down and out in writhing pain. George Foreman shouted “Unheard of!” in shock from the tremendous punch. It was a classic shot against a good fighter, and erased the doubts of anyone watched how great Roy was.
73. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Patrick Charpentier. June 13, 1998. I returned from a trip to the International Boxing Hall of Fame to sell my boxing collages that Saturday, and taped this one on my VCR. When I returned home on Sunday, I watched it on my big screen TV. The lights on the canopy at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas had broken because of the winds, and they were hanging low over the ring that night. Oscar had little trouble disposing of the overwhelmed French fighter, and easily knocked him out in the third round.
74. Roy Jones Jr. vs. Lou De Valle. June 18, 1998. I remember that bout vividly, simply because I was having pain in my groin, and would be diagnosed with testicular cancer a few weeks later. I was able to block stuff from my mind, but only so much. As I watched Roy get dropped for the first time in his career, I was barely paying attention. Jones got up and won a unanimous decision over a tough Del Valle at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York. My fears were realized on July 31, 1998 when I was officially diagnosed with cancer. Thank God, after surgery and 4 weeks of radiation treatments, I made a quick recovery, and have never had any recurrences the rest of my life.
32. Lennox Lewis vs. Zeljko Mavrovic. September 26, 1998. The thing I recall most about this bout from the Mohegan Sun outdoor arena, was how hard the HBO announcers were on Lewis. Both Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant criticized Lennox’s performance, but how could you expect him to get motivated against a mediocre opponent? Lennox did what he had to do against a tricky boxer, won the decision and looked ahead to a unification fight with Evander Holyfield in the spring of 1999.
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