The WBC stripped Mike Tyson of his belt in the fall of 1996, when he refused to fight the mandatory contender Lennox Lewis. The rematch with Oliver McCall was set for February 7, 1997 at the Las Vegas Hilton, and would be shown live on HBO.
I was rooting hard for Lennox to get his revenge as I sat down to watch the action. From the opening bell, McCall was never in the bout, and Lewis was landing jabs at will. McCall started acting strangely as the bout progressed, and refused to sit on his stool between rounds. Lewis continued to land hard shots, and after three rounds, it was obvious something was wrong with his opponent.
At one point McCall started weeping between rounds, and his cornermen asked him if he wanted to continue. He half heartedly agreed, but walked away from Lewis and refused to fight. Lennox landed was the punches he could, but finally in the fifth round, referee Mills Lane stopped the contest, ending what was one of the strangest nights I’ve ever witnessed in my years as a boxing fan.
McCall had a history of drug abuse, and was actually in rehab as he supposedly trained for this mess. Don King pretty much forced him into the ring when the guy wasn’t ready, not wanting to miss his payday. Lennox had his revenge, and had recaptured the heavyweight championship, but hardly in glorious fashion. It certainly wasn’t his fault, and he set his eyes on the other champion at the time, Evander Holyfield.
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