Lennox Lewis vs Zeljko Mavrovic

WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis retained his crown with a unanimous 12-round decision over the previously unbeaten Zeljko Mavrovic at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, on September 26, 1998. Lewis weighed 243lb against the challenger’s 214¼lb and entered with a professional record of 33-1. Mavrovic, the European champion and WBC’s leading contender, was 27-0 with 22 knockouts. Referee Frank Cappuccino controlled the contest before approximately 4,000 spectators. The judges returned scores of 119-109, 117-111 and 117-112 for Lewis, while HBO’s unofficial scorer Harold Lederman had the champion ahead 118-110.

Mavrovic had done most of his important work in Europe and was unfamiliar to much of the American audience, but his unbeaten record had been earned, not manufactured. He had held the European championship since 1995 and possessed an awkward upright style, considerable stamina and a greater willingness to fight at close quarters than his lean frame suggested. Lewis, meanwhile, was making the fourth defence of the WBC title he had regained when Oliver McCall was disqualified in February 1997. He had since beaten Henry Akinwande, Andrew Golota and Shannon Briggs, and a unification contest with WBA and IBF champion Evander Holyfield remained the larger objective.

Mavrovic began better than many expected. Rather than remain on the end of Lewis’s jab, he attempted to shorten the distance and force the champion to work. He boxed tidily in the opening rounds, moving in behind his guard and occasionally getting close enough to land short combinations. Lewis appeared unusually laboured early. Trainer Emanuel Steward later acknowledged that the champion was breathing heavily by the third round despite having trained properly. Mavrovic did not possess the power to punish that lapse severely, but he gave Lewis enough problems to prevent the contest becoming the routine defence many had anticipated.

Lewis began taking firmer control in the fourth. He found the range with his right hand, landed several hard blows to the head and added a useful shot to the body. In the fifth, he increasingly established the jab and followed it with left hooks and another solid right to the body, which visibly affected Mavrovic. The champion’s principal weapons were the stiff left jab and the right uppercut, particularly when the challenger attempted to get underneath the longer punches and work inside.

Mavrovic’s durability soon became one of the fight's defining features. Lewis landed punches which had stopped more accomplished heavyweights, yet the Croatian continued advancing. The champion struck him cleanly with right hands, uppercuts and hooks without producing a knockdown. Mavrovic absorbed the punishment remarkably well and remained prepared to contest the exchanges, although his own punches lacked the weight required to make Lewis cautious. The size disparity was considerable, and whenever Lewis kept the contest at long or middle distance, the challenger struggled to mount enough offence to win rounds.

The seventh was Mavrovic’s strongest session. Late in the round he caught Lewis with two quick combinations to the head and briefly shook the champion. It was one of the few occasions when Lewis was forced onto the defensive by clean punching rather than by his own need to conserve energy. Mavrovic attempted to build upon the success, but Lewis recovered and again imposed the jab. From the eighth onwards, the champion’s control became clearer. Mavrovic later admitted that during the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh rounds Lewis repeatedly caught him before he could get inside.

Lewis could not force the stoppage, but he kept landing the heavier, more accurate punches. His right uppercut became increasingly effective as Mavrovic leaned forward, while the jab prevented the challenger from maintaining sustained pressure. Mavrovic never stopped trying to advance and remained physically strong enough to close the distance, but by the championship rounds there was little doubt about who was winning. His resistance earned admiration, yet surviving Lewis’s punches was not the same as matching his work.

The official scorecards confirmed the champion’s superiority. Tommy Kaczmarek scored the contest 119-109, Francisco Ciminale 117-111 and Bob Logist 117-112. The Associated Press also had Lewis ahead 117-111. Lewis had thrown considerably more punches and landed the greater number, while Mavrovic’s best moments had come in isolated passages rather than sustained periods of control. Lewis himself said afterwards that he had expected the challenger to move more and was pleased that he had adjusted when Mavrovic instead tried to fight at close range.

The victory was less spectacular than Lewis’s quick destruction of Golota or his stoppage of Briggs earlier in the year, but it was a useful test. He had faced an opponent who would not be intimidated, could absorb his hardest punches and continued applying pressure through all 12 rounds. Mavrovic suffered the only defeat of his professional career and never boxed competitively again. A planned return against Hasim Rahman in 1999 was abandoned because of injury, and subsequent health problems prevented him from resuming his career. Lewis, meanwhile, moved directly towards the contest which mattered most. Six months later, he met Holyfield at Madison Square Garden in the long-awaited heavyweight unification fight.

Zeljko Mavrovic was unbeaten, European champion and the WBC’s number-one contender, but his record lacked a proper world-class name. At only 214 pounds, he also looked undersized beside the 243-pound Lewis. Most expected Lewis to soften him with the jab and finish him once the right hand began landing.

Six months before this fight, I had travelled down to Crystal Palace Sports Centre in London with Henry Akinwande for a sparring session with Mavrovic. I was surprised when it took Lennox 12 hard rounds to see off the Croatian, because Henry had managed it so much more quickly. I do know that what happens in sparring stays in sparring, but when you have a unique view on something, it's hard not to let that out of the bag. Anyway, we are talking about 28 years ago when I wrote this.

Lewis won clearly, but Mavrovic made him work every minute. The Croatian was awkward, loose-limbed and far tougher than advertised. Lewis landed enough clean rights and uppercuts to stop most heavyweights, yet Mavrovic? kept walking forward. He had success in the middle rounds when Lewis slowed, particularly by stepping inside the jab and making the champion fight at a less comfortable range.

The difference was that Mavrovic could not hurt Lewis. He had courage, movement and an extraordinary chin, but his punches lacked the authority needed to make the champion cautious. Lewis landed 216 punches to Mavrovic’s 132 and won by scores of 119–109, 117–112 and 117–111. The 119–109 card was harsh, but there was no argument over the winner.

I would not call it a poor Lewis performance. The conditions were stifling, and Mavrovic proved exceptionally durable. Lewis remained in control, adjusted when the knockout would not come and completed the twelve rounds professionally. Mavrovic earned respect in defeat, but toughness is not the same as winning rounds. He survived Lewis; he never came close to beating him.