By Denzil Pinto
DOHA: Former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis has confirmed he would be happy to make a sensational return to the ring to fight either of the Klitschko brothers, but only for a staggering $100m pay cheque.
Ever since Lewis hanged up his gloves in 2004, the heavyweight category in the sport has been dominated by the Klitschko brothers (Wladmir and Vitali), with the Ukrainians holding the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and WBC heavyweight titles between them.
When asked if the British boxer would return to the sport for $100m - the biggest pay cheque in the history of the sport, Lewis replied: “Yes absolutely,” at the ‘Stars Chat’ session at Aspire4Sport in Doha yesterday.
The 1988 Olympic gold medalist, who represented Canada in Seoul, said he would be putting up his ‘legacy’ if he does return as the competition is not great in the heavyweight category.
He said: “I would come out of retirement. They (Klitschko brothers) don’t have good competitors right now for fighting. But I told them, for the legacy it is going to cost because that is what I’m putting up.”
Speaking of earlier media reports that stated numerous figures, Lewis said: “Well I told everybody that I would take off my pjamas for $50m so right now one leg is out of the pjamas.”
But the former boxer, who lost only two professional fights, said he should be fit and ready in one year, should he come out of retirement.
“Somebody asked me how much it would take for me to get back into the ring. I said it would take me a year to train because I have been out of the ring for a while. Somebody pushed out a number and I said ‘yeh’. Who would refuse that type of money even if they were retiring,” Lewis, who resides in Miami, said.
Nicknamed ‘The Lion’, Lewis believes the Vitali and Wladmir should fight to add credibility to the sport but can understand their reasons not to, stating he ‘would not be able to fight’ his brother.
“You want to be the king of the hill and that means being number one. When you have two brothers who decide not to fight each other and have won numerous titles along their years. For me, I had three belts. Now these brothers won’t fight each other. It kind of makes the sport shifty in a way as we are not getting the best of what we can get. Other people are saying should they retire? It’s really up to them,” the West Ham United fan said.
“I believe maybe they should fight each other because in tennis you have two sisters going against each other. Boxing is a bit different because if I had a brother, I don’t think I would be able to fight him,” the former heavyweight champion said.
During his 44-fight career that spanned from 1989 until his final bout against Vitali in June 2003 in California, Lewis said he did not get too carried away with a victory, and immediately turned his thoughts onto his next fight.
He said: “When you step into a fight, there can only be one winner. I was never over-excited when I did win a fight. When I did lose, I was able to accept that and say ‘I got knocked out’ but I was also thinking about the next fight which was the rematch as well as how my training was going to go.”
Since retiring, Lewis has enjoyed fame in various television programmes and films.
Lewis finished fourth in the Celebrity Apprentice in
2008. THE PENINSULA
