Lennox Lewis made the first defense of his WBC heavyweight title on July 12, 1997 against Henry Akinwande in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. His challenger was a 6’7″ lanky boxer from the United Kingdom. The fight on HBO was a dud, especially since Akinwande fought like a coward, grabbing constantly, and refusing to engage with Lewis at all. Finally in the fifth round, after holding onto Lennox for 19 seconds, referee Mills Lane stopped the whole mess with 26 seconds left. It was a disgraceful effort, and I hoped I’d never see the loser ever again. I’d have rather watched cartoons than this pathetic display.
Three months later, Lennox traveled to Atlantic City to take on Andrew Golota, the 6′ 4″ challenger from Poland. I had traveled to Atlanta, Georgia that weekend, and set my VCR to tape the bout. The Sunday morning after the October 4th fight, I asked the people I was with to not tell me the results from the night before. I was also careful at the airports not to look around, in case I caught a glimpse of a newspaper, or a blip on a tv screen.
When I sat down to watch the bout that Sunday night, I was shocked. I had seen Golota fight twice against Riddick Bowe, and he certainly looked like he was a legitimate contender. He did seem a little off mentally however, and who knows what part that played in the result.
Lennox easily forced Golota into a corner, and knocked him out at 1:35 in the opening round. Lewis had established himself as the best heavyweight in the world in my opinion, and his destruction of Golota proved it further to me.
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