On Halloween night of 1992, Lennox Lewis met Razor Ruddock in London in a WBC title elimination bout. The winner would be guaranteed a shot at the winner of the Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe championship fight set for November 13th. I went over my sister’s to watch the fight on HBO, and expected to see a competitive, exciting matchup.
What I saw was anything but. Lennox knocked Ruddock down with ten seconds down in the first round, and twice more in the second, forcing Joe Cortez to halt the action. The scintillating knockout made the world notice the British boxer’s talent, and I was certainly impressed as well.
After Riddick Bowe defeated Evander Holyfield in Vegas, and captured the heavyweight belts, he relinquished the WBC belt a few weeks later, saying he refused to be forced into a fight with Lewis. The WBC immediately announced Lennox as the new champion, and the heavyweight championship was divided once again.
Lennox traveled to Las Vegas in May to make his first title defense against Tony Tucker. The 12 round decision win impressed me, with the champ dropping Tucker twice enroute to a unanimous twelve round decision victory. The rivalry with Bowe escalated after Riddick easily knocked out Jesse Ferguson two weeks later, and it was the major bout the public called for.
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