Lennox Lewis made the third defense of his heavyweight crown on November 11, 2000 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas against the top contender available in David Tua. Tua had an impressive record of 37-1, had defeated three future heavyweight champions, and had a huge punch. Lewis had hoped to have the bout in Toronto, Canada, where he grew up, but it wound up in Vegas.
I went to my cousin’s wedding the Saturday night of the pay-per-view card, and watched the replay on HBO the following Saturday night. I knew that Tua had a tremendous left hook, was built like a tank, and had a puncher’s chance going in. When I got home from the wedding, I checked the local tv sports to find out the results, and was glad that Lennox had retained his belt.
When I watched the fight on HBO, I was surprised how easy the night was for Lewis. He easily outboxed Tua, was never really hurt, and won by a wide margin on the judge’s cards. David was too short to handle Lewis’s jab and was bewildered. I thought he would be more competitive that he was, but he was outclassed, further proving the greatness of Lewis. No one could argue he was hands down the best big man on the planet.
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