By the the end of summer 1992, the two top ranked heavyweight fighters on the planet other than Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe, who were fighting for the Evander’s undisputed title on November 13, were Lennox Lewis and Razor Ruddock. The winner of the Halloween night bout between them in London, England would be the WBC’s mandatory title defense for the winner of Holyfield vs. Bowe.
Lewis was the 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist and Ruddock was fresh off of two wars with Mike Tyson in 1991. The two huge heavyweights promised an exciting bout and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. My sister Lisa had HBO, so on Saturday night, October 31, 1992, I went to her apartment to watch the fight while she was working as a bartender. I wasn’t sure what to expect in the bout quite frankly, since both men were gifted and could both punch.
At the sound of the opening bell, it was obvious that Lennox wasn’t going to move from Ruddock since he stood toe to toe from the start. Both guys traded big bombs, but it seemed to me that Lewis had the better skills and had the edge as the round neared the end. Out of nowhere, with just seconds remaining, a howitzer of a right hand put Ruddock on the deck.
Lennox jumped right back on Razor as soon as second round began, dropping him for a second time. Not long after Ruddock got up, Lewis knocked him out with a series of punches, leaving no doubt in my mind how great the young fighter from Great Britain. Larry Merchant of HBO shouted the same sentiments after what he just witnessed, which shocked me with its brutality and quickness.
Two weeks later, Riddick Bowe defeated Evander Holyfield to become the new undisputed champ, but on December 3 deposited his WBC belt in the trash can on the prompting of his manager Rock Newman. The WBC named Lennox Lewis their new champion, the fair thing to do, but also leaving the heavyweight title fractured again. Lewis vs. Bowe was the new fight people started talking about, a rematch of their 1988 meeting in the Olympics in Seoul, Korea that Lewis one.
Lewis became one of my favorite fighters after his destruction of Ruddock. I admired his dignity, class and professionalism and knew that eventually he would rise to the top of the division, which he did. Though it only lasted two brutal rounds, the October 31, 1992 Lewis-Ruddock to me in one of Boxing’s Classics.
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