Lennox Lewis vs Phil Jackson

Lennox Lewis retained the WBC world heavyweight title by stopping Phil Jackson in the eighth round at the Atlantic City Convention Hall on May 6, 1994. Referee Arthur Mercante Sr. ended the contest at 1 minute 35 seconds after Jackson had been knocked down for the third official time. Lewis, making the third defence of his championship, weighed 235 pounds against Jackson’s 218 and improved his unbeaten professional record to 25 victories, 21 inside the distance.

Lewis had entered the fight after successful WBC heavyweight title defences against Tony Tucker and Frank Bruno. His seventh-round stoppage of Bruno in Cardiff had strengthened his position among the leading heavyweights, although the division remained divided between rival champions and promoters. Lewis had been awarded the WBC title after Riddick Bowe declined to defend against him, leaving the British champion still seeking the victory which would establish him beyond dispute as the leading heavyweight of the period.

The selection of Jackson created difficulties before the contest. The WBC wanted Lewis to begin negotiations with its leading contender, Oliver McCall, and initially refused to approve Jackson as the challenger. Arbitration allowed the fight to proceed, though Lewis remained under instructions to meet McCall afterwards. Lewis was reported to have earned $4 million, while Jackson received $500,000.

Jackson brought a record of 30 wins and one defeat, with 27 victories by knockout. His only loss had come against Donovan “Razor” Ruddock, who stopped him in four rounds in June 1992. Jackson and his trainer, Pat Burns, maintained that poor preparation had contributed to that defeat and promised a more determined showing against Lewis. Nevertheless, the challenger started as a 16-to-1 outsider. He was giving away five inches in height, approximately seven inches in reach and 17 pounds in weight to a champion whose principal weapons were a long left jab and a straight right hand.

Lewis, trained by Pepe Correa and managed by Frank Maloney, required less than half a minute to demonstrate the size of Jackson’s task. The champion took the centre of the ring, measured the challenger with his left hand and drove over a right which put Jackson down early in the first round. Jackson rose and completed the round, but the knockdown immediately forced him into a defensive contest. Lewis controlled the distance with his jab and showed little need to take unnecessary chances.

Jackson attempted to move beneath the champion’s reach during the second and third rounds, but he could not remain close enough to work without first passing through Lewis’s jab. The challenger occasionally threw a wide right or tried to reach the body, yet his attacks were generally made from too far away. Lewis stepped back from the punches, restored the distance and returned with straighter blows. Jackson remained willing, but there was no stage at which he appeared capable of disturbing the champion’s balance or confidence.

Lewis continued to win rounds without greatly increasing his pace. He used the left jab to keep Jackson upright and in line for the right hand, sometimes following with a hook when the challenger moved towards the ropes. Jackson’s defence depended upon retreating, ducking and holding when Lewis came close. He survived the early knockdown and remained on his feet through the fourth, but he was losing every round on the three official cards.

The fifth brought the contest close to a finish. Lewis found Jackson with a straight right late in the round and sent him down for the second official knockdown. The challenger remained on the canvas until the count had reached nine before rising. Lewis moved quickly to complete the stoppage, but the bell sounded during the attack. The champion continued punching, and Jackson went down again after the round had ended. Mercante deducted one point from Lewis for the late blow.

Lewis said afterwards that he had not heard the bell. The deduction was justified, although it had no practical effect upon the contest. Jackson had been badly hurt by the legal knockdown and returned to his corner with the fight already beyond his control. He showed courage by continuing, but his prospects depended upon Lewis becoming careless rather than upon any consistent success of his own.

The champion resumed his measured work in the sixth. He did not rush recklessly after the disputed ending to the previous round, instead returning to the jab and straight right. Jackson tried to circle away and occasionally lunged forward with single punches, but Lewis’s superior reach allowed him to strike first and move before the challenger could answer. The pattern continued through the seventh, with Lewis in complete command and Jackson absorbing enough punishment to make a stoppage increasingly likely.

Lewis began the eighth with greater purpose. Jackson’s reactions had slowed, and he was no longer moving his head sufficiently to avoid the champion’s right hand. Lewis forced him backwards and landed a four-punch combination which sent the challenger to the floor. Mercante stepped in immediately rather than administer another full count, deciding that Jackson had taken enough punishment. The official time was 1 minute 35 seconds.

All three judges had awarded every completed round to Lewis. The champion had controlled the fight through his height, reach and command of the jab, while Jackson had been unable to establish any effective offence. The challenger’s durability carried him into the eighth, but the result had appeared settled from the opening knockdown. Lewis had been too large, too accurate and too powerful for a man who could offer persistence but no tactical answer to the champion’s long-range boxing.

The victory was comprehensive without being among Lewis’s most demanding WBC heavyweight title defences. Jackson had entered with an impressive numerical record, but his previous defeat by Ruddock had raised doubts about his ability against the division’s strongest men. Those doubts were confirmed in Atlantic City. Lewis won every round, scored three recognised knockdowns and completed the stoppage without being placed in serious difficulty.

The fight also carried importance because of what followed. Lewis was ordered to defend the WBC heavyweight championship against Oliver McCall, whom he met at Wembley Arena on September 24, 1994. McCall stopped him in the second round, handing Lewis his first professional defeat and ending his initial reign as champion. The Jackson victory, therefore, became the last successful defence of Lewis’s first WBC title reign. On the night itself, however, there was no indication of the reverse to come. Against Phil Jackson, Lennox Lewis boxed as an unbeaten heavyweight champion in complete control of his opponent from the first bell to the last.

Phil Jackson arrived in Atlantic City with a record of 30 wins from 31 fights, but those numbers flattered him. His one defeat had come when Razor Ruddock stopped him in four rounds, and Lennox Lewis was a far more complete heavyweight than Ruddock. Lewis was taller, heavier, technically sharper and already growing into the champion he would later become.

The difference was obvious inside 30 seconds. Lewis measured Jackson with the jab and dropped him with the right hand. From there, Jackson was not really trying to win; he was trying to stay in the fight. Lewis controlled the range, kept him at the end of the left and brought the right hand through whenever Jackson stood still. Every completed round went to the champion. (BoxRec)

Jackson went down again late in the fifth. Lewis then caught him after the bell and quite rightly lost a point. He said he had not heard it, which may have been true, but fighters are responsible for controlling themselves. It was careless rather than malicious, and it made no difference to the outcome.

By the eighth, Jackson had been broken down. Lewis forced him back and finished matters with a four-punch combination, referee Arthur Mercante Sr. stopping it at 1:35 after the third official knockdown. (BoxRec)

This was not one of Lewis’s great victories because Jackson was nowhere near his level. But it showed Lewis doing the basics properly: owning the distance, punching straight and never allowing an overmatched opponent into the contest. The interesting part came four months later, when Oliver McCall exposed how quickly heavyweight boxing can turn.